The most common element of all mankind is the fact they die. This happened right after sin entered in the world. The Bible even says that sin brings forth death. People the world over mourn or grieve over the death of a loved one. They sometimes wonder if the person lives on in a different existence, are in a fiery torment (those who are hell bound), or are in heaven enjoying a peaceful life with God and Jesus. Because some people don't want to accept the truth, and are afraid to face it, they conjure up theories that circulate regarding the dead and whether the person lives on after death.

In fact, many religions created the theory or teaching to support their members, even if such teachings were wrong. For example, Hindus think that if they cremate the body and scatter the ashes along the Ganges River, will guarantee the dead of eternal bliss. Or, what about the Buddhists. They burn paper effigies of cars, homes, clothes, and money in the belief that the deceased will be able to use such possessions in the next world. In Africa, alcoholic drinks are poured out at the graveside, with the idea that this offering will benefit the dead one.

Even Catholicism teaches that if a person dies without repenting of some "mortal sin" the person has excluded himself from God's favor. Obviously people, who are Catholic, know this to mean hell. But, if the person who has favor in God's eyes can hope to attain the ultimate happiness that one can obtain: being with God in heaven, but only after being perfectly purified. And this purification may require the person to spend time in purgatory to endure a "cleansing fire" as punishment for errors that were committed, in order to have them forgiven. And while these people are in purgatory, the person's surviving family go to the office of the church and pay a price to have prayers offered for them.

But are these methods, traditions, or practices of dealing with the dead scriptural? If you read very carefully, you will find that all the practices mentioned above are based on the belief in the immortality of the soul. But is this what the Bible teaches? Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10 relates "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun .... Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom."

Based on this scripture when people die that is it they are dead. If this is the case, then why do people see ghosts? The answer to this one may seem obvious if you review and evaluate it. Look at Ecclesiastes 12:7. It says "And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." It you read this text correctly it states that the physical body becomes dust again as God had formed it in the beginning. But the spirit or life force that God breathed into the body goes back to God. By analyzing this scripture we find that the spirit goes back to God. Even Native Americans realize this. They believe that when a member of their tribe does, their spirit leaves and flies into heaven in the form of an eagle. No matter the outcome, the fact remains, the spirit goes back to heaven with God until God is ready to put the spirit back into the body. He promised to do this at the time of the resurrection.

Again, if the spirit goes back to God, why do we see ghosts (those who can see them)? This is because when you read the scripture you will notice there is no timeline between the death of the person and when the spirit goes back to God. The Bible does not say specifically that the spirit goes back to God immediately. Therefore, there must be a gap there somewhere. However, based on sightings from people (this goes for psychics and those who can see ghosts), it appears that most of the ghost haunting that occurs in the world, most if not all are involved with ghosts who are not friendly. Based on these findings, it would seem that most of the ghosts are bad spirits or spirits who had their lives cut short for some reason. So what is the answer to this? Why would some spirits go right to God whiles other do not? At this point we have to stop and think about this. For we could get dissuaded by false reasoning if we are not careful.

When people die on TV, the show depicts the angel of death having come for them to take them away to heaven. If this is so, why don't all spirits go to heaven right away with the angel of death? If you ever saw the movie Ghost, Patrick Swayze plays Sam Wheat who is murdered because he uncovered a plot in the bank he worked in where one of his co-workers was going to embezzle about $5 million dollars. Sam did not go to heaven immediately. Instead his spirit came out of him and lingered on earth long enough for Sam to clear his name. After he was able to clear his name and rid himself of his enemies, he was able to go to heaven. Going by this, it is apparent that those who died suddenly, or were falsely accused of committing wrong and died before proving the claims false, were given the chance to stay on earth to redeem themselves. Also, those who were bad people and died, were told to stay on the planet until they either turned over their bad ways and became good, or until someone, who had the ability to do so (psychic or ghost hunter), could tell them to leave.

When we read of certain events that occurred in the Bible, we must realize that everything has a timeline. The bible writer was not given the command to write down every single word of sequence of actions that occurred during a certain event. They were only told by God to provide a summary of what is in fact laws that God set forth for us to know. We were just told to follow what is there knowing that in a certain time, what we don't understand will be revealed to us. An example of this regarding timeline can point to the Jews when they left Egypt. We know many of the steps or sequences that occurred from when they left Egypt to when the remaining Jews entered the promised land. But we don't know the timeframe involved. Some people would read the account and think it happened within a day or two. This would be inaccurate. For the time frame between the day the Jews left Egypt and when certain ones were permitted to enter the promised land was well over 100 years. As a matter of fact, the Jews wondered in the wilderness, eating manna from heaven and drinking water from a rock for 40 years. So when we read the bible, we cannot always assume that everything happened in a certain time frame or one right after another. It did not happen that way. There will always be a gap in time.

There is always a reason for everything that happens in this world. We just have to learn to understand it and accept it the way it is. We also have to read the Bible and learn between the lines what the truth really is. Some people will try to twist the scriptures for their own good. When this happens, they must stop and remember, that God promised that those who do misread and misuse the scriptures for their own gain, will suffer eternal destruction.