Skeptical Believers

"Of all the barriers encountered by the human mind,none would seem more difficult to penetrate than death"(Dr.Sally Rhine Feather)
Does anything really exist beyond our physical world? Ghosts,spirits,cold spots,disembodied voices and other-worldly phenomenon?Some humans and cultures have long believed throughout history that there was more than just our physical reality but this remains for most a fleeting belief and not fact.
I have come across many people who for religious reasons do believe in spirits and survival beyond the phsyical realm.However most of these same people cannot or will not except the possibility of a ghost or other paranormal phenomenon? They make broad general statements that if it isn't directly Godly according to the Bible,then it is 'evil' or of the occult and therefor bad.I have had the Bible quoted to me on the subject of spirit guides,apparitions and other ghosts for example-Isaiah 2:6 "They are full of superstitions from the East;they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with the pagans" or Acts 16:16 "Once we were going to the place of prayer,we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future.She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune telling.This girl followed paul and the rest of us,shouting 'These men are servants of the most high God,who are telling you the way to be saved'.She kept this up for many days.Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit...in the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her! and at that moment the spirit left her". Was it something she said? In religious views and bible quotes the paranormal is referred to as 'divination,magic,necromancy,soothsaying,sorcery,witchcraft and spurious miracles'! All considered bad and evil in religious views and yet they are of paranormal nature.In the old testament king Saul went to a medium on a regular basis for advice and the prophet Samuel appeared to him and basically chewed him out for going to a 'fortune teller' and told him to get his guidance from God and not the medium.Well now that to me is interesting because this medium must have been pretty good because he got the prophet Samuel to appear and wouldn't that make Samuel a ghost?and the fact that Samuel spoke to king Saul well that would have made for some amazing EVPs!
My husband is very religious and has also experienced paranormal phenomenon first hand in the form of toys without batteries doing their thing as it were,and yet he is skeptical AND of the belief that is must have been 'evil'.He doubts to this day what he saw and what he heard for a year long period of this activity.It is in our human nature to doubt ourselves when we experience something outside of the normal range of human experiences.Our brain needs to categorize our sensory input and if it doesn't fit neatly into a box that we are familiar with we doubt what are brains are telling us is real.
All to often we hear or read about someone who was a complete skeptic until they have a paranormal experience-sometimes it changes their belief system all together,makes a new box.Other times they simply cannot accept what their senses are telling them and try as they may to find reason and explanation for their paranormal experience,they cannot and so they say it is bad or 'evil' or make up explanations and drop the matter entirely.I wonder at night when they are alone in bed and in their thoughts if they can still deny unexplained occurances? There are still others that have a box for the grey areas-they neither believe nor disbelieve and may or may not be religious...they are open to unexplained occurances but need the facts a first hand experience and then they simply accept it as something new (I think these people live in Missouri the Show Me state).
I myself am a skeptical believer even though I am in the paranormal field.Do I doubt what my senses tell me at times? you bet but I am also open to all phenomenon.I know what the human brain and human instinct dictate and so I also doubt first hand experience after the fact..."Did I really see that?" "Did I really hear that?" and then I look over the evidence or lack of it and I share my experiences with others who were or weren't there and then I make a finding or decide I need more evidence.
So does anything really exist beyond our physical world experiences? There is much evidence to suggest that yes there is-does anyone claim to know what 'It' is? Well yes some do claim to know outrageous things and I believe them to be self seeking and misguided people who are in desperate need of their 15 minutes of fame.There isn't a respectable person in the paranormal field that will make such an outrageous claim as to know what a ghost is or what happens after death or what caused any certain phenomenon-just that there is something and that we are on a search for the truth and the facts.
At one point in human history the world was believed flat and that if you sailed far enough on the sea you would fall off the edge...as rediculous as that belief would be now because we simply know it not to be true,I believe that proof of the paranormal is just on the horizon and that the skeptics will one day have to just believe as well because it will be a cold hard fact.
-Jeannette ghost2ghost.org