The Hebrew Torah and the Bible contain few references to ghosts, associating spiritism with forbidden occult activities cf. Deuteronomy 18:11. The most notable reference is in the First Book of Samuel (I Samuel 28:3-19 KJV), in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor summon the spirit/ghost of Samuel.
In the New Testament, Jesus has to persuade the Disciples that he is not a ghost following the resurrection, Luke 24:37-39 (note that some versions of the Bible, such as the KJV and NKJV, use the term "spirit"). In a similar vein, Jesus' followers at first believe him to be a ghost (spirit) when they see him walking on water.
In several cases, the Bible excludes ghosts, in the modern sense, from being associated with the dead. The general argument of these cases is that in death, there is a cessation of all consciousness, effectively the non-existance of the identity. Eclesiastes 9:5,6,10.[27] states "For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing... Also, their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished... for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going." This must not be understood that there is no afterlife, only that there is a time lapse between the resurrection and death, during which there is a period of non-existance.
As such, much of the Christian Church considers ghosts as beings who while tied to earth, no longer live on the material plane.[28] Furthermore, some Christian denominations teach that ghosts are beings who linger in an interim state before continuing their journey to heaven.[28][29][30][31] On occasion, God would allow the souls in this state to return to earth to warn the living of the need for repentance.[32] Nevertheless,Jews and Christians are taught that it is sinful to attempt to conjure or control spirits, in accordance with Deuteronomy XVIII: 9–12.[33][34]
Accepting, but moving beyond this position, some ghosts are actually said to be demons in disguise,[35] who the Church teaches, in accordance with I Timothy 4:1, that they "come to deceive people and draw them away from God and into bondage."[36] As a result, attempts to contact the dead may lead to unwanted contact with a demon or an unclean spirit, as was said to occur in the case of Robbie Mannheim, a fourteen year old Maryland youth.[37]
According to one Christian source, appearances of orbs of light that are attributed by some authors to ghosts,[38] can be explained by II Corinthians 11:14, which states that "even Satan disguises himself as anangel of light" (NRSV).[39]
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