When someone dies, God sends them to either Heaven, Hell.....or Earth?

[superstarr]

Apparently, when someone dies, God sends a person to Heaven, or Hell depending on how they lived and who they worshiped. But what about ghosts and spirits? Does God say "You were a good person, but you were evenly a bad person too. So I'm gonna keep you on Earth as a spirit until you become one or the other."? And please don't say "I don't believe in ghosts" because this topic isn't about whether ghosts are real or not, even though evidence supports the idea of ghosts being real.

[Edwardo Piet]

Assuming this is hypothetical then, still, how should I know?

[Entropist]

Well, more to the point, according to Christianity, your faith or lack thereof is the main determining factor. (the only way to the father is through Jesus, one is not "saved" by works but through faith, the theif on the cross yada yada yada) If you are not a Christian, it really doesn't matter how well or badly you treated others-- you're going to hell regardless.

Hypothetically speaking, Stalin and Gandhi are both in hell for the same reason: neither of them were Christian. Stalin's terrible acts have no bearing on it, nor does Gandhi's good acts. Unbelievers do not go to hell because they are bad-- they go because they do not assent to the Christian god. If one cannot (according to the Bible) be "saved by works," then neither can they be damned by them.

Behavior only becomes a factor once one becomes a Christian-- though there is some disagreement among Christians even on that point.

As far as ghosts, I can't say. Even back when I was a Christian (fundie or of the liberal variety) I never believed in ghosts.

[chatpilot]

The bible does not make any references to ghosts or Earth bound spirits in any way as far as I know, but it does make a reference to demons (fallen angels) being cast down to the Earth after their rebellion against God. 1 Samuel 28 also talks of Saul seeking the counsel of Samuel who at the time was dead and he sought out the help of a "woman who had a familiar spirit". She was obviously shocked to see that the real spirit of Samuel had appeared and not her fs which she was accustomed to working with. Our church taught that this was a special circumstance and that so called ghosts were nothing more than demons impersonating the dead.

[DiRNiS]

For you to believe in ghosts, you have to believe people have a soul or a spirit. Since there is no evidence that human beings have souls or spirits, there is no evidence at all for the existence of ghosts.

The supernatural and paranormal can be fun and scary at the same time, but I find it hard to consider the existence of things that fall outside the confines of scientific explanation.

I am not sure how Christians exactly view this matter, but I remember asking a pastor about ghosts a long time ago and he said that ghosts cannot be real as the spirit leaves this world as soon as the body dies to go to heaven or be punished for eternity in hell. He said the bible mentions this somewhere but I can't recall the passage.

[superstarr]

So basically, Christians don't believe in ghosts because they think that a person dies and goes immediately to hell or heaven. It seems to kind of change their rules of heaven and hell when bringing in ghosts into the process. I was once told from my church pastor back a couple years ago that ghosts didn't exist because of the idea of God sending people to heaven or hell immediately after death of a person. That's a horrible explanation regarding the existance of ghosts though.

[The Omnissiunt One]

Ghosts most likely have numerous naturalistic explanations:

1) magnetic fields messing with the brain and causing feelings of unease
2) human psychology; fear based on reinforced myth and the creepiness of the surroundings (very few ghosts are 'seen' in modern flats)
3) faulty ventilation causing a chill, sounds from outside, etc.
4) idiocy

[Nitsuj]

But if ghosts do exist, that's one giant punch in the gut for theists!

[everythingafter]

Apparently, when someone dies, God sends a person to Heaven, or Hell depending on how they lived and who they worshiped. But what about ghosts and spirits? Does God say "You were a good person, but you were evenly a bad person too. So I'm gonna keep you on Earth as a spirit until you become one or the other."? And please don't say "I don't believe in ghosts" because this topic isn't about whether ghosts are real or not, even though evidence supports the idea of ghosts being real.

When someone dies as I understand it, he's not a ghost or anything else. He then is immediately shuffled off to whichever destination was appropriate based on his belief (or not) in Christ. There are a few instances in the Bible of formerly dead humans reappearing as spirits but so far as I know, these instances seemed constrained within the parameters of the Bible, where, as we all know, all kinds of crazy shit happens. These cases have no bearing on current religious practice or thought, other than to simply amplify the exceptional tales of the Bible.

From a Christian (or at least Protestant) standpoint, there are no such cases of an equally good and equally bad person. It's one or the other based on whether one believes or not. The Catholic purgatory is probably more along the lines of what you're referring to. That's the spiritual "holding pattern" for souls.

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So basically, Christians don't believe in ghosts because they think that a person dies and goes immediately to hell or heaven. It seems to kind of change their rules of heaven and hell when bringing in ghosts into the process. I was once told from my church pastor back a couple years ago that ghosts didn't exist because of the idea of God sending people to heaven or hell immediately after death of a person. That's a horrible explanation regarding the existance of ghosts though.

Well when we leave the physical world and begin talking about the spiritual realm and God, ghosts or anything else aren't out of the equation. That's one of the problems with religion. Any unusual happening, medical miracle can all be happily explained away with one word: god. So, I think many believers wouldn't necessarily say there are no ghosts. It's just that they aren't terribly relevant to the message. God, they would probably say, could, if he chose, have ghosts wonder around earth or do anything else, but the important thing is whether one believes or not.

[FadingW]

Don't christians at least believe in a Holy Ghost?