My novel Secondhand Sight won the 2013 Reader's Favorite international book award for Fiction in the Horror category. However, the novel is not one that I'd recommend to everybody because the plot involves paranormal activity. Ghosts are treated as real entities in my book, because I believe they really exist. I do realize that not everyone believes in ghosts. It even seems that some of my Christian friends agree with my non-Christian friends about the subject of ghosts, even though they disagree about practically everything else. Most atheists reject the idea of ghosts because they don't believe any supernatural or paranormal phenomena is real. Yet I've had Christian friends also say they don't believe ghosts are really the spirits of dead people. They think ghosts are actually demons pretending to act like a dead human, presuming that we know how disembodied spirit should normally behave. Some of my Christian friends don't think there is a biblical basis for believing that ghosts are real, but they are mistaken. In my opinion, Christians should be open to the possibility that ghosts exist because of something that's in the Bible, words spoken by Jesus himself. Luke 24: 36-39 describes the first encounter that Jesus had with the disciples, after his crucifixion and resurrection. The New International Version Bible (NIV) reads: 36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be upon you." 37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a ghost. 38 He said to them, "Why are you troubled, … [Read more...]
My most intense ghost story: why I believe in ghosts, part II
I promised to write a guest blog about my most intense ghost story for A Book Lover's Library today, but due to an error (mine), we posted my first ghost story instead. Please accept my apologies. Here's the story I promised to tell today: Supernatural phenomena play a prominent role in my latest novel, Secondhand Sight, and it occurs to me that some readers may believe it’s silly for adults to believe in ghosts. Earlier on this blog tour, I recounted my first ghost encounter, one of many I experienced at my friend’s truly haunted house. As I explained in part I of Why I believe in ghosts, if I had only one or two similar experiences, my rational mind would most likely have found a way to explain them away. But one particular experience could not have been a figment of my imagination. I know what I saw. More importantly, I know what I felt… Jim and I were playing chess, each of us sitting hard backed chairs with a short table between us holding the board. The room was barren of furniture except for a rocking chair, positioned where a spectator would have had a perfect side view of the game, except that chair was empty. The room was well lit, obviously, so we could see to play the game. I don’t recall the time of year--probably fall, given it was comfortable enough for us to play chess in an attic room. It was Jim’s move. The sense of movement distracted my attention from the game. I glanced over to notice that the rocking chair had begun moving in a distinct rhythm, just as one might expect if someone was sitting in the chair, enjoying the relaxation of … [Read more...]
Sam Harris versus Eben Alexander: Clash of neuroscience
Dr. Eben Alexander has written a book called Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, about his near death experience that resulted from a severe case of bacterial meningitis. Newsweek magazine recently published a cover story titled Heaven is Real: A Doctor's Experience With the Afterlife, about Dr. Alexander and his book. I was vaguely aware of the news. However, I've been busy with the current virtual book tour for my own recently published paranormal-thriller titled Secondhand Sight, and so I hadn't really had time to read stop and read it. If interested, you can follow my tour at The Virtual Book Tour Cafe. I'll be sure to tell a couple of my best personal ghost stories along the way to keep things interesting. I only mention ghost stories because I believe that near death experiences are real phenomena due to a number of my own personal experiences with ghosts. By simple extrapolation, I believe that ghost encounters could be considered as nothing more than After Death Experiences. Granted, some of them are more interesting than others. But then I noticed a very intelligent Facebook friend had offered his opinion on this subject, posting that atheist author Sam Harris had completely "demolished" Alexander's account, at least from a scientific perspective. Curiosity naturally got the best of me. My friend's strongly stated opinion made me wonder what exactly Harris had said about Alexander's NDE. I've read several books by Harris, most recently Free Will, so I am familiar with the author's work. Because my friend is a … [Read more...]
The science of eternity
I'm somewhat accustomed to receiving presents on my birthday, but it was something of a surprise when a friend sent me a present on his birthday. I felt pretty bad, because I didn't get him anything. His gift was a link to the website for the Campaign for Philosophical Freedom, specifically directing me to a page featuring a program divided into eight parts called The Science of Eternity. It's the best present I've ever received to commemorate someone else's birthday. It turned out to be quite educational. I learned something about Sir William Crookes, the brilliant British scientist. Crookes was a chemist who discovered the chemical element thallium, essential for medical equipment such as MRI machines. He was also a physicist who invented the vacuum tube, essential discoeries making the computer monitor and television screens possible. The program also exposed me to the work of Sir Oliver Lodge, another British physicist who invented wireless telegraphy, which also contributed to the invention of television by Scottish engineer John Logie Baird. All three men were also founding members of the Society for Psychical Research, and the video claimed these men allegedly carried out experiments that "proved" life continued after physical death of the human body. The substantiation for those claims turned out to be a bit difficult to find; the interviewee and presenter alluded to the existence of proof of the afterlife, but didn't describe or elaborate on it. The definition of scientific proof offered was "repeatable experiments backed up with a theory that has a … [Read more...]
