Are Paranormal Phenomena Compatible with the God Paradigm?

 

      For thousands of years, there have been reports of what today are called, paranormal phenomena.  These reports include a wide array of topics, including fortune telling, communications with spirits, extra-sensory perception (ESP), telekinesis (moving of objects by thought), reincarnation (memories of previous lives), mind-reading and various others.

      To this day, many people believe, to one degree or another, that “paranormal” events do occur, at least sometimes.  Anecdotal evidence is abundant, in terms of what people report to have experienced.

      Natural-materialist scientists, however, are exceedingly skeptical.  In many cases, what was (at first) thought to have been strong evidence for paranormal events has been explained as coincidence, optical illusion, and even downright fraud.  Scientists have looked into the matter, and have not produced any compelling, scientific reasons to believe that paranormal events are physically real.

      How is the ordinary person to decide?

      Of course if you have personally encountered such things, for example “ghosts,” then you might be inalterably convinced that spirits of the departed can inhabit (or haunt) a house.  The problem is that, simply being convinced, however firmly, is not proof, unless you can persuade skeptics, based on hard evidence.

      One of the best arguments against believing in fortune telling (to use one example) is that no fortune teller has ever become a millionaire by predicting the outcomes of horse races.  For that matter, none of the reported paranormal phenomena have been useful in any way as far as producing consistently reliable, productive results.

      By contrast, science has produced useful results that are astounding to such a degree that only a few decades ago, say in the 1700s, one might have been burned as a witch for demonstrating the technology that today we take for granted.  It was not ESP that sent men to the moon, or produced microwave ovens.  We do not need merely to “believe,” nor to rely on isolated reports, to credit the rules of science for producing the magnificent gadgets we use every day.

      Why, given all that, do so many people continue to believe in the paranormal, and why do most scientists adamantly reject it?  Are people ignorant?  Are scientists stubborn?  Or are these simple cases of misunderstanding?

      I am an example of someone who has personally encountered paranormal events.  I cannot explain them in “normal” terms, yet at the same time, I understand that there might in fact be a “normal” explanation, although I doubt that there is one.  In that sense, I am somewhat of a microcosm of society in general, and in another sense, in the “no man’s land.”  What am I to think of these experiences?

      As a Christian, I turn to the Bible.  The God Paradigm accepts the Bible completely, and is totally subordinate to it.  Everything in human affairs is best understood in the context of Bible teachings, beginning with the Creation, continuing with the Golden Rule, and finally culminating with our eternal destiny.

      What then, does the Bible say about the paranormal, and how does it compare with what science says?

      In the Bible, the First Book of Samuel, Chapter 28, deals with what today would be called a spiritual medium, someone who communicates with the spirits of the dead.  On the eve of a great battle, King Saul of Israel, in disguise, consults the medium of Endor, and asks her to summon forth the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel, who had anointed Saul as king.  The medium is very reluctant to do so, for Saul himself had strictly enforced the Jewish law against the summoning of spirits (i.e., divination).  When she relents, and summons Samuel, the woman becomes greatly distressed, for then she perceives that Saul is the one in disguise— but he calms her fears, and commands her to proceed with the séance.  Samuel, for his part, is not pleased at having been disturbed from his place in the spirit world.  Saul then asks Samuel what he should do.  Samuel responds with bad news, predicting that in the battle, Saul and his sons will die, a foretelling which comes to pass.

      In the New Testament book, The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 8, verse 9, there is a further account of divination: “But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:”

      These are two instances (there are others) in which the Bible seems to accept the paranormal as a matter of course.  At the same, time, we must bear in mind this passage:

      Leviticus 20:27 - A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood [shall be] upon them.

      This is the passage which refers to the Jewish law that Saul had enforced, and for which reason the medium at Endor was vexed, in 1 Samuel 28, which we recounted a few lines ago.

      Deuteronomy Chapter 18 deals with proscriptions against divination in the context of the Israelites entrance into the Promised Land, which includes modern day Israel.

      These Bible passages (and others) give us an important picture of how we are to think about the paranormal.  First, the paranormal is real.  Second, we are to steer clear of it.  We are to avoid involvement with spirits of the departed, with fortune telling, and with magic.

      The physical world is connected to the spiritual realms through two avenues of access.  One of them is evil, the other is good.

      In the New Testament book of Matthew, Chapter 4 presents the account of Jesus being tempted by Satan.  Here is an excerpt.

      8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

      9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

      I think that an important point being made in all of these passages is that evil things appeal to our selfish nature, and that when we seek to obtain the false promises of evil, we must worship false gods, thereby losing our souls to evil.  It is vital, then, that we avoid involvement with the paranormal spirit world, and instead restrict ourselves to the physical world, except that we pray to the one true God, and no other.

      If we do happen to encounter the paranormal, how are we to know whether it is good or evil?

      In 1 John Chapter 4 we find this:

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.…

 

      Natural-materialism rejects the Bible, and is therefore a false philosophy.  It is leading science astray, and impeding its progress.  Divination is evil, and also leads us astray.

      The third way is God’s way, and it is our only productive path.