Whether in Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or any other religious belief; we tend to follow the faith into which we were born.
A child born to Roman Catholic parents will be brought up in the doctrines of Roman Catholicism. It will be reinforced every Sunday when the parents bring the child to church. He is told to listen to the priest. A Jewish child will learn, and automatically accept, the teachings written in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh.
Children are naturally curious and will ask questions. But, they will not have any reason to question whether they should look for an alternative religious belief.
Even children who are not taken to church, synagogue, or mosque, will respond that they are Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim, if asked what their religious belief is.
In England, most people would say they are “Church of England” when asked or when completing a census form. They attend church only for weddings and funerals. Finding faith and truly believing may come later.
The Holy Trinity
The holy trinity of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in ONE person is not easy to understand.
However, one way to understand it, is to consider, for the moment, that all three of these statements are correct.
1. The Father is God. 2. The Son is God. 3. The Holy Spirit is God.
We then ask, of course, how can three persons be one person. To the human mind that does not seem logical or possible.
Let’s take it further. And, initially that makes the concept even more confusing. But, the three statements below are also correct.
1.The Father is NOT the Son. 2. The Father is NOT the Holy Spirit. 3. The Son is NOT the Holy Spirit.
Let’s think about the two apparently contradictory statements. This diagram from one of the many on the internet may help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G2S5ziDcO0
Why it’s difficult to understand.
As humans, we live in a three-dimensional world. We can move sideways, upwards, downwards, and in any direction in a 360-degree sphere. We don’t challenge that. That’s what we are used to.
But, that doesn’t mean that there are no other dimensions. It’s quite possible, and not illogical, that God operates in a dimension of which we have no understanding. Some of us accept that as a matter of faith. Some say there is no such dimension other than the three-dimensional world in which we live.
The reasoning behind accepting that there can be further dimensions can be illustrated by the following examples.
Let’s assume there’s a spherical creature of 1cm diameter that lives in an endless tube of the same diameter. You could tell it to go forward or back. However, he would not comprehend if you told him to take a left or right turn. He would not understand you. He knows only the dimension in which he lives.
If we transferred him into an endless parallel plane 1 cm apart, we could tell him to turn left, right, or at a 65-degree angle. The creature would understand that.
Assuming we put him in a sphere, much like that in which we live, his understanding would be greater. He would accept that particular dimension. The creature would be freed from the limitations he had in his former dimensions. He would realise that there are several dimensions of which he was not previously aware.
It is, therefore, plausible and logical that there ARE dimensions which exist of which we are ignorant.
One such dimension could be the dimension in which God operates. I can’t explain what that dimension is. I can’t “prove” that that dimension is similar to that discussed above and shown in the diagram. We can’t, and must not, question God or the mysterious ways in which he performs. Of course, we can accept it if we have Faith.
There will always be some people who cannot think of the possibilities of there being other dimensions. World churches are having difficulty in getting this across to their congregations.
Do you believe ghosts exist?
The husband of the church warden in my church in England did not believe in ghosts. After a ghost was pointed out to him one evening, he visited the graveyard the next morning and proved that the “ghost” was actually a white newspaper hanging in a tree!
So, it’s correct that not all sightings are true.
The question of whether you believe in ghosts is relevant in this context since the Holy Spirit is also referred to as the Holy Ghost. And, it’s relevant as many people can’t get their heads round the possibility of ghosts being part of a further dimension.
I’ll talk of some personal experiences.
My mother told me that she saw the ghost of her father the day after he died. Together with the rest of her family, they watched as he waved them goodbye from behind the garden wall. Their description was detailed and vivid.
The appearance lasted only a few minutes and then disappeared. My mother never had that experience again.
When my father died in South Wales, I was working in England and drove down the following morning to the chapel of rest where my father’s body lay.
I then went for a pie and a pint at a local pub. It was a hostelry which my family often visited. As I was walking through the door, the “ghost” of my father walked passed me. It was not an optical illusion or my mind playing tricks. The publican confirmed he had seen the same image, though not realising it was my father.
Two final true stories from when I was a 14-year-old in secondary school.
In the 1960s, a group of “teddy boys”, as we called them, decided to dare one another to sleep in the grounds of the reputedly haunted ruins of Castleton Castle. Although regarded as rough necks, they were actually normal teenagers in the process of growing up. Some went on to be doctors and other professionals.
There was a lot of drinking and fun-making going on before they retired for the night in their sleeping bags. One of the lads went behind some bushes to pee. Of course, that woke the others up. Particularly when they heard howling noises and scary movement from the bushes. Everyone howled with laughter at his attempts at frightening them.
Until, that is, they looked at his sleeping bag and found that he was inside, sound asleep.
Bogdan was from a family of Polish refugees.
The family lived in an upstairs flat, reputedly haunted, in a house near the school which I attended. However, Bogdan and his family had never seen a ghost in their home. I was around 14 when he invited me and some other school friends around to meet his family. One of them brought his dog with him. Straining at the leash, the dog refused to go upstairs.
You may also like a story I wrote, related to this topic.