What is a ghost? My understanding of ghosts came directly from my culture. A ghost is usually invisible. It sees everything that happens in the visible world and can interact with the visible world. However, there are rules that it must follow. A ghost can be good or evil. It can be scary or nice. It can help a person, or it can bring destruction upon a person. God is a super-ghost. God does everything that a ghost can do, but more. Whereas a ghost is limited to certain places, God can travel vast distances very fast and be almost anywhere at once. God can read our thoughts. God can control nature. God can do a lot of things, but chooses not to most of the time. Instead, God sits on his high throne in heaven, and only comes down occasionally. This was one of my earliest images of God.
On a different topic, as I was reading Mark, I kept wrestling with the whole issue of miracles—if they are real. Certainly, miracles in the Gospels (and the Bible) can not happen in the natural world as we know it today. In addition, many authors do embellish their stories with supernatural details. I do know that God’s acts can supersede the laws of nature, so that miracles could happen. I do not doubt that miracles can happen, but I remain a skeptic. Perhaps it is just my own personality that makes me skeptical of miracle stories. If I did not see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or touch it, it may not be true. But more importantly, the authenticity of these miracle stories has no bearing on my personal faith. What matters is that Christ came to die for humanity’s sins, he ascended to heaven, and he is coming back to judge the living and the dead. That much I believe whole-heartedly.
Why do we fear things that we do not know? An example is terrorism. From the way some politicians talk, they seem to fear the concept of “terrorism” more than any actual threats. “We must fight terrorism!” What is terrorism? Who are the terrorists? This is not a computer game where the bad guys can be distinguished easily from the good guys. This is not a battle between humans and orcs. It is a battle between humans and humans. I know that after 9/11, every time I heard the word terrorism, my anxiety level shot up. But as the war has progressed with no clear solution in sight, I wonder if terrorism was ever the problem in the first place. After all, the terrorists are fighting for God and country, just like us.
What am I afraid of? Terrorists, maybe. Ghosts, for sure.