Ghost? A dialog among Buddhist, Catholic and Christian (Christian and Catholic point of view, author's comment)
-This would be last post of the dialog-
Throughout the talk, Pastor Enoch and Father Huang had kept their speeches easy-to-understand for the non-Christian faith followers.
Pastor Enoch had pointed out that it is important to understand between medical condition and paranormal activities.
#1 Ghost. Angel or Demon?
According to Pastor Enoch and Father Huang, ghost can be either be good or evil. Good ghost is called an Angel while evil ghost is called a Demon. Demons are fallen angels. Lucifer rebelled against God and was casted down to hell. He purpose is to lead man astray and away from God, using either fear or delusion.
Angels were created to serve man (Genesis 24:40) and not to be worshipped . He who is worthy of praise and worship is God alone (Deuteronomy 4:19). In the Quran 3:64 and Mark 12:28-31 emphasized that there is no commandment greater than worshipping God and only God. Worship no angel, no man, no idol but God alone.
Fear. Fearing demon possession and paranormal attacks, people starts to give offerings to the demon. Indirectly fear is bringing us to him, worshipping the rebel of God.
Delusion. Delusion is the biggest problem we will ever face. Satan will deceive us using wondrous miracles, powers and authority. In 2 Cor 4:4, it is said that the Satan blinded us to be astray from God.
How do we identify God? Have you ever seen faith healing, praying in the name of Jesus Christ heals many sickness and done wondrous miracles in transforming people's life? Even false gods, false prophets, false Christ are able to perform miracles, how are we to be spared.
With strong faith, even without the blessing from God, miracles can happen. Jesus said in Mark 5:34, faith has healed the bleeding woman (Story can be found in Mark 5:25-34). Faith alone can do miracles, thus the devil misuses the name of Jesus (Matthew 7:22) to perform miracles and disguise themselves as the living Christ (Matthew 24:24). Satan is the master of deception, therefore, beware even if they claim that they are the loyal followers of Christ and prayed in the name of Jesus Christ. Not all churches are the true follower of Jesus Christ. We were warned.
#2 Avoiding contacting the spirits
Pastor Enoch Lam warn us about contacting the spiritual realm. People who provokes the spiritual realm are prone to be possessed or encounter paranormal activities. Why should we, rather than inviting the righteousness in to our life, we invite the devil?
Even Confucius said in Analects, 敬鬼神而远之, respect the gods and supernatural but do not befriend with them.
#3 Attitude towards ghost
Pastor Enoch Lam also expressed that as Man, we should not be the servant of devils (ghosts/fallen angels).
He gave a very earthly example. Before entering the hotel room, most superstitious act done was to knock and to "inform" the ghost in the room that you will be sharing a room with them and plead for forgiveness for intruding. THIS IS WRONG! Why should we be afraid of them? In earthly view, we PAID for the room. The ghost is the one should leave the room and let the rightful owner to reside in it.
Amazing story told yet spoken with authority. We should be awaken. We are created with the breath of the Lord. We are the blessed creation on earth.
afterword by the author
I would like to thank all the readers who had followed all the post regarding this little dialog I attended. I hope I was able convey the message brought by the two venerable monks who represented Buddhism, Pastor Enoch Lam representing Christianity and Father Huang representing Catholicism.
I hope my humble comment and addon were able to bring you to a better understanding towards Buddhism and Christianity. If you have futher questions about Buddhism and Christianity, please send them to properfaith@gmail.com. I will try my very best to find the answers to your questions.
Showing posts with label lucifer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lucifer. Show all posts
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Ghost? Christianity vs. Buddhism (Part 5)
Ghost? A dialog among Buddhist, Catholic and Christian (Christian and Catholic point of view as heard by the author)
-This is the 4th post of the dialog-
It has been a week since the dialog, memory is fading. I'll try my best to recall with the help of my notes.
The dialog started with Venerable Hui Xuan, Father Huang, Pastor Enoch and ended with Venerable Chang Hui
Pastor Huang started his speech after Venerable Hui Xuan
In Catholicism , we can categorize ghost into two the good and the evil. When Lucifer rebeled against God, he was banished from Heaven and casted into Hell. From thereon, the good ghost we call them angel, while the evil one is known as demon.
To be truthful, when I was a young boy, I was afraid of ghost. Not because I had ever seen a ghost, it was because the illusion and perception generated. During my schooling days, the toilet was rumored to be haunted. Although no one ever confirmed the existence of ghost there, the seculded toilet from the main building which had an eerie dark environment encouraged every one to think so. We fear because we do not see.
About exorcism or repelling evil spirit, we use the holy water, which has been sanctified by a priest of bishop.
Pastor Enoch continued after Father Huang
Ghost, in Christianity, is viewed as evil spirit sent by the devil. The devil existed for two purposes, to cast fear into us and to confuse us from the path of the righteous.
As the ghost has no form, it takes form to your greatest fear or greatest earthly attachment to mislead you. For example, they can transform to take form of your parents, relatives and friends to lead you astray. For example in Hong Kong, during paranormal discussion, people who encountered paranormal activities sighted the ghost as to be in long hair, white robe and floating. This, however, is a typical TVB (Hong Kong television) ghost.
Being possessed by evil spirit is another grave problem. However, we should clarify whether the victim is really possessed and in need to exorcism or he/she is suffering schizophrenia which in need of medical care. Both being possessed and schizophrenia show very very similar symptoms. As a rule of thumb, being possessed will show supernatural activities. For example, possessed and schizophrenia victims hear voices (asking them to commit suicide etc), but possessed victims will do supernatural activities such as maybe perform a few somersaults while he/she was not capable of doing so before possession.
Pastor Enoch also stated that people who are prone to paranormal activities are people who invite such or born with such capability. Playing Ouija board, tarot cards etc are ways to attract ghost to you.
He also told a story about a girl who played the kokkuri (spirit communication via board) which attracts a spirit to follow her home. However, she became friends with the spirit. The spirit even took care of her when she was sick. One day, the spirit asked her to commit suicide. The spirit became very pushy. The girl went to Pastor Enoch and she invited Christ into her life and the spirit left.
Pastor Enoch also gave a few example of paranormal encounters such as haunted hotel and what kind of attitude we should have if encounter ghost in the hotel room.
Pastor Enoch too emphasized that angels were created to serve man. Fallen angels (demon) want us to serve them instead. Since we are created to be above angels, why should we be afraid of them.
To avoid being disturb by paranormal activities, invite Christ in your life and with the Lord on the throne, no evil spirit may delude you.
(Hope this is as close as possible to the dialog on that day. Please forgive if there are any things left out or added on. If you have a better overview, please email it to properfaith@gmail.com)
-Proper faith-
-This is the 4th post of the dialog-
It has been a week since the dialog, memory is fading. I'll try my best to recall with the help of my notes.
The dialog started with Venerable Hui Xuan, Father Huang, Pastor Enoch and ended with Venerable Chang Hui
Pastor Huang started his speech after Venerable Hui Xuan
In Catholicism , we can categorize ghost into two the good and the evil. When Lucifer rebeled against God, he was banished from Heaven and casted into Hell. From thereon, the good ghost we call them angel, while the evil one is known as demon.
To be truthful, when I was a young boy, I was afraid of ghost. Not because I had ever seen a ghost, it was because the illusion and perception generated. During my schooling days, the toilet was rumored to be haunted. Although no one ever confirmed the existence of ghost there, the seculded toilet from the main building which had an eerie dark environment encouraged every one to think so. We fear because we do not see.
About exorcism or repelling evil spirit, we use the holy water, which has been sanctified by a priest of bishop.
Pastor Enoch continued after Father Huang
Ghost, in Christianity, is viewed as evil spirit sent by the devil. The devil existed for two purposes, to cast fear into us and to confuse us from the path of the righteous.
As the ghost has no form, it takes form to your greatest fear or greatest earthly attachment to mislead you. For example, they can transform to take form of your parents, relatives and friends to lead you astray. For example in Hong Kong, during paranormal discussion, people who encountered paranormal activities sighted the ghost as to be in long hair, white robe and floating. This, however, is a typical TVB (Hong Kong television) ghost.
Being possessed by evil spirit is another grave problem. However, we should clarify whether the victim is really possessed and in need to exorcism or he/she is suffering schizophrenia which in need of medical care. Both being possessed and schizophrenia show very very similar symptoms. As a rule of thumb, being possessed will show supernatural activities. For example, possessed and schizophrenia victims hear voices (asking them to commit suicide etc), but possessed victims will do supernatural activities such as maybe perform a few somersaults while he/she was not capable of doing so before possession.
Pastor Enoch also stated that people who are prone to paranormal activities are people who invite such or born with such capability. Playing Ouija board, tarot cards etc are ways to attract ghost to you.
He also told a story about a girl who played the kokkuri (spirit communication via board) which attracts a spirit to follow her home. However, she became friends with the spirit. The spirit even took care of her when she was sick. One day, the spirit asked her to commit suicide. The spirit became very pushy. The girl went to Pastor Enoch and she invited Christ into her life and the spirit left.
Pastor Enoch also gave a few example of paranormal encounters such as haunted hotel and what kind of attitude we should have if encounter ghost in the hotel room.
Pastor Enoch too emphasized that angels were created to serve man. Fallen angels (demon) want us to serve them instead. Since we are created to be above angels, why should we be afraid of them.
To avoid being disturb by paranormal activities, invite Christ in your life and with the Lord on the throne, no evil spirit may delude you.
(Hope this is as close as possible to the dialog on that day. Please forgive if there are any things left out or added on. If you have a better overview, please email it to properfaith@gmail.com)
-Proper faith-
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