Do you believe in ghosts ?

Really Agnia there really aren't evil spirits. Despite what I wrote earlier, I don't know what I experienced, whether it was a ghost, or me tuning into something bad that had happened in the building in the past, or whether it was just steps creaking behind me, given that it was full of old timbers and your imagination can run wild when you're left alone and it's dark outside. But even if it were a ghost, I came away completely unharmed. And it's very rare to hear of anyone who's actually been injured by what they think is a ghost.

I take from what you say that you think evil spirits "make" people do bad things. Quite honestly we have to own up to our own responsibilities, we cause the problems, not celestial entities. Humans have an enormous capacity for imagination and intelligence, and they can use it to do good, with compassion and kindness, or they can use it to do wicked "evil" things. You don't need to imagine that spirits are responsible for this, that they direct the behaviour of humans, humans choose to do good and bad things all by themselves. If you're basing your ideas from the Bible, refer to Genesis, where it says humans were given, above all the animals, and above the angels, the power of choice. No one else, no evil spirit, is responsible. We are not empty vessels on which evil spirits act. Believing there are gives you a feeling of powerlessness, but the power to change ourselves lies in our own hands, not in the spirit world.

Hi Agnia,

I agree this is too big a topic to discuss in depth here, but in general terms I respectfully have to disagree with you. There is absolutely no scientific evidence for demonic possession, the devil and so forth. I'm afraid it's harking back to the good old days of mythology and superstition. And yes of course everyone has the right to their own opinions, but the real problems start when these opinions are broadcast as "facts". This was after all how so many poor old women and their cats were burnt at the stake and drowned in duck ponds. And this was the basis for the thousands executed during the Inquisition. Beliefs that cannot be easily disproved can become incredibly dangerous, especially for the most vulnerable in society who would prove easy scapegoats for the woes of others.

As regards demonic possession, I would say this has been disproved time and time again by medical advances, which would have proved ineffective if your claims were true. As for the existence of the "devil", actually the meaning of the devil / "satan" has changed dramatically over hundreds of generations, from it's initial meaning in the Old Testament. The satan used to mean any angel which was sent by God to test the faith of Jewish people. As such it was a label, "a satan", not a specific demon, and as an angel it was fulfilling the work of God. (I'm not speaking as a fundamentalist Christian, just an interested party) If you look at the early books of the old Testament, eg Numbers or Job, you will see this was the meaning of Satan.

It only takes on the meaning we know today many centuries later, for example by the Essenes, who were a radical sect based around the Red Sea, ostacised by the orthodox Jews, who used it to good effect to bolster their own self-belief (normal Jews were supposed to be in league with Satan). This meaning was taken up by the early Christians, who were mostly Jews to start with and ostracised from synagogues by their contemporaries. Jews who weren't Christian were labelled in league with the devil. And again, when Christianity spread through the Roman empire, the remaining pagans, including the Roman power base, became the target for being under Satan's power, when being a Christian could mean a death sentence in the arena.

In actuality there is not such thing as Satan, anymore than demonic possession. The horned devil we associate with Satan was a fabrication by the Romans to destroy the Celtic religion, they believed in a horned god who was the protector of the forests and believed to look rather like a stag, and aligning him with the devil was a good way to dissuade the local population.

We should try to base our beliefs in scientific fact, not revert to superstition and their associated dangers.

Yes you're right Kimmy, I should have said "no scientific evidence to show the existence of demons" etc rather than a flat-out denial. I'm more concerned about how this sort of belief could sway public opinion, as per the witch-hunting trials mentioned. We need to think very carefully before making unproven claims. Just because they're are written about in religious texts such as the Bible, or because people think they've seen something, doesn't make them real…