Expert: Hoyt Roberson - 2/16/2011

Question
Hoyt,

I have never believed in ghosts mainly because I was raised to not believe. However, I know a few people who seem very trustworthy and honest to me that claim to have seen ghosts when they were younger. Whether it be a spirit of a girl that lived in the old farm house long before they did or a visit from a dead uncle waking them in the middle of the night to tell them the house was on fire.
I don't want to call them a liar but I would like scriptural evidence that ghosts no longer walk the earth. Can you help me with this? Where in the bible does it speak of ghosts in the sense of lingering souls or spirits that hang around and haunt others? Does it speak against their existence or confirm it?

Thank you,

Rob"

Answer
The most famous, if not the only reference to a "presence of a dead person" is when the Witch of Endor calls up Samuel's spirit for Saul. Another reference is when the disciples thought that it was Peter's "angel" at the door to Mary's house. This second reference is specifically to an angel rather than a ghost, but the folks in the story thought that it would be possible for a "presence" to appear rather than the actual person. Whether this is the same as a ghost or not, we aren't told. The last example I will reference is found in Peter's first epistle. This passage says that Jesus went and proclaimed to the "spirits" in prison - the souls of dead nonbelievers. This last reference doesn't say that those spirits could leave "prison" and walk around the Earth, but it does suggest they exist in some sort of sentient state.

The Bible (at least the people in it) seems to accept the idea of ghosts, and the Witch of Endor story is presented as truth including Saul's reaction to the apparition.

The Bible does not say that magic and witchcraft are bogus; rather it simply says that God followers are not to participate in or rely on the results of such activity.

Hope that helps,

Hoyt