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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 2:42am
pangtongshu
4,480 posts
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So..I'm sure this was once a thread...but I haven't seen it at all recently so I don't want o go looking for the possible previous one
Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not? etc
"But pang..why is this in WEPR? This should go in The Tavern!"
Don't worry..I gots this covered..
Do you believe ghosts, if they were real, would be valid proof that there is an afterlife as believed by many religions? (which, I'm sure if you go deep enough, would eventually become a "does god exist argument"...but that isn't the question...so...yeah)
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 2:47am
Devoidless
2,907 posts
Moderator
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You...you!
I was going to make this same sorta of thread -right now-, but more along the lines of if someone can be atheist but still believe in ghosts. So, um, mind if we kinda merge the two together?
With your permission, I'd just add to the title '/Can atheists believe in them?"
I just do not want two ghost threads going at the same time, detracting from the conversation on one another.
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 3:49am
MageGrayWolf
9,140 posts
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Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?
No, because I don't believe we have a dualistic existence. All the evidence we have currently points to our consciousness, our being as being the result of elector chemical interactions in the brain.
but more along the lines of if someone can be atheist but still believe in ghosts.
Yes atheists can believe in ghosts. The only defining factor to be an atheist is to lack belief in a deity, a god. This doesn't discount ghosts, bigfoot, the loch ness monster, UFOs, astra projection, ESP or the theory of Atlantis. So if you are a god, than no...
And of course I wasn't watching Ghostbusters for the umteenth million time. What ever would give you that idea?
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 12:01pm
HahiHa
4,240 posts
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No, because I don't believe we have a dualistic existence. All the evidence we have currently points to our consciousness, our being as being the result of elector chemical interactions in the brain.
^this.
Do you believe ghosts, if they were real, would be valid proof that there is an afterlife as believed by many religions? (which, I'm sure if you go deep enough, would eventually become a "does god exist argument"...but that isn't the question...so...yeah)
If ghosts existed, that would merely evidence that we possess some kind of soul that parts from the body after death, so an afterlife in a more vague definition and not e.g. a specific place. Ghosts would actually be quite a sting in the side of the church, as pontifical organs, as far as I know, have always banned belief in ghosts, witches etc. as pagan heresy (inquisitions, among others, being mostly separate organs).
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 12:10pm
GhostOfHorror
789 posts
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Do you believe in ghosts?
Yeah.
Maybe not them in physical presence more to a hologram but I do believe that they're real.
Sometimes, you can also feel an energy around you, someone else's presence and whatnot.
if they were real, would be valid proof that there is an afterlife
An afterlife?
I'm not too sure.
I'd like to believe there is an afterlife, that when we die we're not just buried in the ground, cremated and left in an urn and other means of dying.
However, as far as I realistically think, I'd question the fact of an afterlife.
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 4:21pm
xXxDAPRO89xXx
1,647 posts
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Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?
No. How would ghosts be real? Spirits that can do things with real materials in real-time... Definetly not real.
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 4:59pm
HahiHa
4,240 posts
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@GhostOfHorror, how do you reconcile your two statements? To me they sound conflictive, unless you say that ghosts are entities of non-human origin (are not dead people as they are usually described).
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 5:08pm
pangtongshu
4,480 posts
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So, um, mind if we kinda merge the two together?
Go right ahead! Had I not made this in the middle of the night I probably would have added something in the OP along those lines haha
No, because I don't believe we have a dualistic existence. All the evidence we have currently points to our consciousness, our being as being the result of elector chemical interactions in the brain.
So...for what others see as "evidence"..what do you say of those?
For example - a personal experience of watching what would be considered ghostly activites
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 5:23pm
ProfessorOak
776 posts
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How would ghosts be real?
How are you real? In reply to the thread, it really depends on my definition of a ghost. I don't believe in generic ghosts simply because I haven't been given a reason to believe.
For example - a personal experience of watching what would be considered ghostly activities
I would think the only reason they believe it is ghost activity is because they have been exposed to the thought of ghosts. If nobody ever introduced the fun thought of spirits walking among us, no one would ever report about them. It's all in their head, either for attention, or because they're very gullible.
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 5:26pm
blk2860
3,002 posts
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Not only do I believe in ghosts, I've Seen Ghosts. I've even been haunted before. Ghosts DO exist. I believe that ghosts are souls that haven't ascended to heaven because they haven't tied up all there loose ends or, in other words have something they haven't done in life.
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Posted Nov 20, '12 at 6:13pm
MageGrayWolf
9,140 posts
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So...for what others see as "evidence"..what do you say of those?
For example - a personal experience of watching what would be considered ghostly activites
Most if not all of it can be explained by other things.
EVPs, are often just not words at all but us just trying to find patterns where there aren't any.
Feeling a presence, and even seeing a ghost can because by high electromagnetic field if the person is sensitive enough to them or by infrasound.
More on seeing ghosts, any number of visual hallucinations can cause this and would first have to be ruled out. Also hallucinating doesn't mean you're crazy either. It's actually quite normal. It's actually normal for people under the age of 16 to hear and even see things that aren't there. This is going on because the brain is still developing. The occurrence of it will often lessen or even go away as the brain developed more. Ever wonder why little kids seem to see and hear ghosts more than adults? That's why.
I have also often heard of dreams being mistaken for ghostly activity as well.
Objects moving by themselves can be caused by any number of phenomena, small unnoticed tremors, EMF of the right intensity has been shown to levitate objects that aren't even magnetic just to name a couple.
Strong EMF signals with no apparent source is nothing unusual either. The earth can naturally generate stray EMFs all over the place.
Really there is a lot that would need to be ruled out first (and often isn't) before we could even say it was possibly a ghost.
Not only do I believe in ghosts, I've Seen Ghosts. I've even been haunted before.
I once got a group of kids to believe I was a ghost haunting a stretch of road. That is what their personal experience and what they saw told them. How is yours any better?
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