MovieChat Forums > The Others (2001) Discussion > Christian scripture dismisses ideas of g...

Christian scripture dismisses ideas of ghosts, so their faith was wrong?


They were Catholic, and the mother was 'educating' her kids about purgatory etc, but in the end they turned out to be ghosts, which is incompatible with biblical accounts. So is that to conclude that because they were actually ghosts, their faith was incorrect?

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Catholics believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost/Spirit.

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Ahh, but does the Holy Ghost realize it's dead? And if not, will the Father and Son reveal the truth to it?

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No indeed Scripture does not dismiss ghosts, the paranormal, or the afterlife. It merely warns or cautions declared faith believers or followers about engaging in or *teasing* with the Pagan practices (seances, Ouija, taro, ghost-hunting, etc.)

Most folks are commonly curious about afterlife or paranormal. And it still mystifies me that even nonbelievers suddenly stir or get excited (or spooked) when dabbling in dark-world paganism, to witness an *occurrence* as if nothing actual or real is going to happen. So elementary it's pathetic.

A family member many years ago, teased the cemetery transference thing - and then near fainted in shock when dark spiritual *activity* began to stir (her hubby was filming the *experiment*) and then [dumbly] stated "There's definitely something out here! I think I woke it up"
(umm... ya think?)


Peanutlee33

You were supposed to be my first. It's what David wanted.

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Scripture does not dismiss ghosts. Saul went to the witch of Endor who called up Samuel's soul from Hades. In the New Testament, the disciples see Jesus walking on the water and think he's a ghost. After the resurrection, Jesus eats with the disciples and tells them that he is not a ghost. Thus, ghosts were presupposed by the biblical authors. They probably condemned deliberate conjuring of ghosts, but the reality of ghosts was a given in their culture.

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They were Catholic, and the mother was 'educating' her kids about purgatory etc, but in the end they turned out to be ghosts, which is incompatible with biblical accounts. So is that to conclude that because they were actually ghosts, their faith was incorrect?


At the end of the movie the kids ask her something like, "Are we in limbo" and she says, "I don't know." I can't remember exactly how the conversation went, but I remember thinking that she was telling them that she wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

I saw [vampires] before they were trendy!

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Good point. From the writer's point of view, if this was a dig against religion, it doesn't really work to use fiction as a counter argument to the fiction that is religious faith. That's if it is in fact intended as a dig...

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I don't think it was a dig. She didn't repudiate her religion. She said to her daughter "I'm no wiser than you are." She's less of an absolutist than she was - letting go of her rigidity.

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Nothing to see here, move along.

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I agree, I don't think the story was meant to denigrate Catholicism, only to show how fanatical Grace has become about it in her huge effort to deny or disavow what she'd done. When she finally accepts her act and her death, she also admits that she has no clue, about limbo, god or the afterlife, only that she loves her children.

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They were in limbo or purgatory. So her Catholic beliefs were correct. Of course if you're in limbo or purgatory you are a "ghost" you're dead.

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