ghost-buster?

Halloween. It's the time of the year when people don on costumes and try to out-scare one another (unless you're wearing the Disney Princess costume). It's the time of the year when kids run to and fro knocking on every door for candy. It's the time of the year when the old ones run up and down the stairs every time the bell rings. Spirits are alive (no pun intended) with Jack-o'-lanterns, trick-or-treating, ghost stories, and haunted houses. I got startled myself the other day when I was greeted at the front door by a hanging skeleton with a cape (I know, what a wuss). Tonight, people will be dressing up as witches and warlocks, skeletons, vampires, zombies, and of course, ghosts.

Now we know that witches and warlocks are, in a mild sense, real. There are people who practice black magic. We also know that vampires are real. It's all recorded in just the greatest book ever written--Twilight--NOT! My apologies to Stephenie Meyer. Pastors indiscreetly poke fun at others too, you know. Anyway, at least to my knowledge, we know that vampires, zombies, and the walking dead are not real. But how about ghosts? Are ghosts real?

I, for one, believe that ghosts exist and I have 2 reasons why.

1) I have never seen a ghost but I've heard stories from friends who've seen ghosts and who see ghosts on a regular basis. Now they could just be telling a good story or trying to scare me but who would do that to a pastor right? OK, fine, they would do that to a pastor. But when my friends retell of their ghost sightings, I can sense that they're serious about it. They have nothing to gain from lying to me and if it's just a joke, it has been on for too long now. But how about the Bible? Does the Bible say anything about ghosts?

2) And this is the second reason why I believe in ghosts. Jesus himself indirectly alluded to the existence of Casper, the friendly ghost, and his buddies. After resurrecting from the dead, Jesus appeared to his disciples. The disciples "were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost" (Luke 24:37 NIV, emphasis added). Jesus assured them that he was not a ghost by saying, "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:38 NIV, emphasis added). Jesus didn't say to his frightened friends, "No, you shouldn't believe in ghosts. They're not real." Instead, he indirectly confirmed their existence by saying, "Ghosts don't have flesh and bones. And since I have flesh and bones, therefore, I am not like one of them ghosts." And so in a nutshell, I guess that's why I believe in ghosts.

Happy Halloween!