Supernatural. A vaguely specific term. Soul, spirits, the dead, forces, invisible powers, miracles, ghosts, angels, demons, God, gods, visions, fortunetelling, tarot cards, incantations, afterlife, prayer, sins, rituals. These things are, or tied to, supernatural. Most dictionaries define it as not physical. Something to do with something there yet not there. Invisible power affecting everything around us. Unexplainable by natural law or phenomena. Out there. Alien. Unearthly.
Almost everyone believes in some form of supernatural. Many believe in God or pray to another deity. Psychic mediums claim to speak to the dead. Thousands of stories and people claim places - homes, ships, lands - to be haunted by ghosts.
There are millions of examples of miracles across the globe. Religions explain them. Scientists study them, hoping to see if there is truly divine intervention. If the supernatural is really there. That in the end can it be proven?
Countless ghost stories and horror movies desensitize children and adults alike to the "inner feeling" of evil powers in the world that are beyond our control. Ancient myth and superstition taught that some garlic and a crucifix kept vampires and demons away. That crossing yourself and spitting on the ground protected you from all sorts of things. The jack-o'-lantern was originally intended to ward off the spirits of the dead. Hallowe'en is a huge holiday in America. But at the end of the day, most people don't give a second thought to anything but their physical day-to-day survival and pleasures.
For those of you who have read my previous posts, this will surprise you. But I say this: there is no supernatural.
Let me explain.
Whenever you put "super" in front of a word it means you found something "above or beyond" the original. But my beef is that angels and demons are natural. (We could argue about them being normal: standard, common, average, and discuss super-normal vis-à-vis abnormal but what about natural?)
There's quite a few angels and demons. Very busy beings. As they have been for a while. Being a person who believes that there is a God who created everything on this planet, I also believe He created very powerful beings to be His messengers - and some of them rebelled so He punished them by kicking them out of heaven - to "down here." Some call them demons. I prefer the term evil spirits. Demon has become a word of yesteryear. It means all kinds of things nowadays.
Anyway, they have become the norm down here. They're all over the place causing trouble. How do we know? Now this is really going to cook your noodle. Forget for the moment I said that they're not supernatural. What is associated with supernatural? Seeing something that others don't. Feeling something there when no one else seems bothered by it. Hearing voices. Always (it seems), when dealing with the supernatural, those "in tune" with or in the presence of said spirits, one or more of the five senses is heightened (to become what some people call sixth sense, though I'm not sure I buy that story).
People claim to see ghosts, have visions, dream dreams with meaning or telling the future in them. This is probably the most common. There are countless examples and documentaries and shows about ghosts and ghost stories. But anyone can pretend to see something and quite a few drugs can cause hallucinations.
People claim to hear voices. Dead loved ones, spirits talking to them and telling them what to do. Or God speaking to believers. One example is Joan of Arc. A heroine who believed that a group of voices led her to lead the war. To tell you the truth I don't know what to think about that one. God does indeed speak to some people directly, but again a lot of people have claimed to hear divine words across the centuries.
People claim to feel when a presence is in the room, to sense things of the spirit world. There are several religions that have unique people who "can" do this. Lucas Film's Star Wars had something called "the Force." Again, it could be argued that people lie about what they feel or are drug-induced. But I'm not going to argue over cases either.
Sense of smell? I've heard of dogs following the scent of ghosts, and I know this is one fellow who had unusual reactions to different people (he claimed he was sensitive to poor hygiene) but (pardon the pun) it smelled fishy to me.
Taste? This is the rarest one. I've had to this day not found one example of a person claiming to taste something of the supernatural.
But for me personally, it's none of the senses. It's emotion. When I'm in God's presence, I have immense joy and peace. I want to laugh and dance and sing and sit quietly and dizzily happy all at once. I can't describe it. It's beautiful. But when there is evil working on someone I know or trying to get at me and God is warning me - I have this feeling of dread. Not anger or hurt and not exactly fear either. Dread is about the only word that can describe it.
Call them what you will - evil spirits or demons - they are here. God made them but they chose the wrong way to go. They are natural. It is natural to feel temptation. It is natural to deal with the problems of good and evil. And evil spirits like the two extremes - to be obsessed with them and witchcraft and death or to deny their presence completely. Yes they are powerful and we cannot stand against them alone. But God is more powerful. He made them and gave them power in the first place. In the end He will end their freedom on Earth. He is above them.
I guess I just refuted myself. I just said there is nothing supernatural. Then I said demons are natural. And God is above them. So God is Supernatural. The One who made "natural" what it is. Now that's a supernatural idea isn't it?
Almost everyone believes in some form of supernatural. Many believe in God or pray to another deity. Psychic mediums claim to speak to the dead. Thousands of stories and people claim places - homes, ships, lands - to be haunted by ghosts.
There are millions of examples of miracles across the globe. Religions explain them. Scientists study them, hoping to see if there is truly divine intervention. If the supernatural is really there. That in the end can it be proven?
Countless ghost stories and horror movies desensitize children and adults alike to the "inner feeling" of evil powers in the world that are beyond our control. Ancient myth and superstition taught that some garlic and a crucifix kept vampires and demons away. That crossing yourself and spitting on the ground protected you from all sorts of things. The jack-o'-lantern was originally intended to ward off the spirits of the dead. Hallowe'en is a huge holiday in America. But at the end of the day, most people don't give a second thought to anything but their physical day-to-day survival and pleasures.
For those of you who have read my previous posts, this will surprise you. But I say this: there is no supernatural.
Let me explain.
Whenever you put "super" in front of a word it means you found something "above or beyond" the original. But my beef is that angels and demons are natural. (We could argue about them being normal: standard, common, average, and discuss super-normal vis-à-vis abnormal but what about natural?)
There's quite a few angels and demons. Very busy beings. As they have been for a while. Being a person who believes that there is a God who created everything on this planet, I also believe He created very powerful beings to be His messengers - and some of them rebelled so He punished them by kicking them out of heaven - to "down here." Some call them demons. I prefer the term evil spirits. Demon has become a word of yesteryear. It means all kinds of things nowadays.
Anyway, they have become the norm down here. They're all over the place causing trouble. How do we know? Now this is really going to cook your noodle. Forget for the moment I said that they're not supernatural. What is associated with supernatural? Seeing something that others don't. Feeling something there when no one else seems bothered by it. Hearing voices. Always (it seems), when dealing with the supernatural, those "in tune" with or in the presence of said spirits, one or more of the five senses is heightened (to become what some people call sixth sense, though I'm not sure I buy that story).
People claim to see ghosts, have visions, dream dreams with meaning or telling the future in them. This is probably the most common. There are countless examples and documentaries and shows about ghosts and ghost stories. But anyone can pretend to see something and quite a few drugs can cause hallucinations.
People claim to hear voices. Dead loved ones, spirits talking to them and telling them what to do. Or God speaking to believers. One example is Joan of Arc. A heroine who believed that a group of voices led her to lead the war. To tell you the truth I don't know what to think about that one. God does indeed speak to some people directly, but again a lot of people have claimed to hear divine words across the centuries.
People claim to feel when a presence is in the room, to sense things of the spirit world. There are several religions that have unique people who "can" do this. Lucas Film's Star Wars had something called "the Force." Again, it could be argued that people lie about what they feel or are drug-induced. But I'm not going to argue over cases either.
Sense of smell? I've heard of dogs following the scent of ghosts, and I know this is one fellow who had unusual reactions to different people (he claimed he was sensitive to poor hygiene) but (pardon the pun) it smelled fishy to me.
Taste? This is the rarest one. I've had to this day not found one example of a person claiming to taste something of the supernatural.
But for me personally, it's none of the senses. It's emotion. When I'm in God's presence, I have immense joy and peace. I want to laugh and dance and sing and sit quietly and dizzily happy all at once. I can't describe it. It's beautiful. But when there is evil working on someone I know or trying to get at me and God is warning me - I have this feeling of dread. Not anger or hurt and not exactly fear either. Dread is about the only word that can describe it.
Call them what you will - evil spirits or demons - they are here. God made them but they chose the wrong way to go. They are natural. It is natural to feel temptation. It is natural to deal with the problems of good and evil. And evil spirits like the two extremes - to be obsessed with them and witchcraft and death or to deny their presence completely. Yes they are powerful and we cannot stand against them alone. But God is more powerful. He made them and gave them power in the first place. In the end He will end their freedom on Earth. He is above them.
I guess I just refuted myself. I just said there is nothing supernatural. Then I said demons are natural. And God is above them. So God is Supernatural. The One who made "natural" what it is. Now that's a supernatural idea isn't it?
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