Monday, October 30, 2017

HALLOWEEN, THE SUPERNATURAL AND THE PARANORMAL





Yesterday, I attended a secular discussion group on the subjects of Halloween and the supernatural. I was amazed to hear hardened skeptics speak about supernatural encounters that they had had. While they wouldn’t allow these experiences to interfere with their skeptical beliefs and commitments to naturalism and materialism (the denial of the spiritual), they couldn’t deny what they had seen.

Several finally concluded that there might not be any ultimate answers and that life was just about holding incommensurate beliefs in tension. One even remarked that we need this tension in order to be open to others and to experience.

But open for what reason? It reminded me of people who claimed that life was about seeking but also believed that there was nothing to find – no ultimate conclusions to embrace or overarching wisdom to live by. I remarked that we had to seek to attempt to harmonize what we know in hope of assembling an accurate roadmap of reality so that we can navigate it. In order to do this, we need to answer some basic questions like “Why am I here, and how should I live my life?” The discomfort was palpable.

Nevertheless, the consensus was that the spiritual world was real. However, they weren’t ready to consider the possibility that certain spiritual beings might be evil. I remember how gullible I had been when I first experienced the spirit beings through the Ouiji Board. Even though the spirits addressed my girlfriend and me in a vulgar way, I was always ready to give them the benefit of the doubt. After all, I was convinced that these were evolved superior beings, and such beings couldn’t do wrong. If I found their communications crude, it was only because I wasn’t as evolved as they.

These skeptics were also naïve about the spirit world. One older gentleman remarked that he had visited a witch but came away convinced that she only meant good. Why? Because she had been nice to him!

I began to think, “What if they asked me why they should believe in my God, whom they had never seen, rather than the spirits that they had encountered and the paranormal they had experienced.” What rational reasons could I give that could complete with what they had already experienced?

This sent me into a flurry of note-taking, but I also realized that without God’s intervention, there was nothing I could say that would make a difference. Nevertheless, here is the essence of my notes:

1.    An assembly of spirit beings could not provide an adequate explanation of this harmonious and benign world. Instead, this cosmos would reflect a patchwork of their competing objectives.

2.    Spiritistic cultures are not only backward, but they are also highly violent and self-destructive. If these spiritual powers were benign and supremely powerful, we should expect that the cultures which call upon them would be the most advanced and benign.

3.    In contrast, post-Christian Western nations still remain the most advanced.

4.    Jesus proved His love for humanity by willingly suffering the worst imaginable death on the Cross, proving that He is the true Shephard.

Nevertheless, I knew that this answer would be inadequate. However, I saw something else. Although they were impressed by their experience, they were also spooked by them and seemed to be determined to maintain a healthy distance. They were older and therefore more hesitant to embrace this exciting world then they would have been in their youth. They talked about mediums and witches but were not ready to go to one themselves.

However, this would change. Jesus prophesied that, in the end, there will be a proliferation of spiritistic manifestations. Times will be so difficult and the manifestations so profound that all will be deceived, except for those who are prepared (Matthew 24:21-24).


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