Dear Sister Alma,

Belief in ghosts is common all over the world. Among us Filipinos, the general belief is that there is an immortal soul that separates from the body at death. As long as this soul has not found its way out of this earth, it is able to affect and influence people, especially relatives and others who have had dealings with the deceased, either in a positive or negative way. It is believed that on the third night, the soul makes its final attempt to influence the living before it finally departs for another world. It is also believed that sometimes the soul stays on, and that is why there are haunted houses. That is also the reason why people are afraid of cemeteries.

This belief in an immortal soul is a Greek idea. The Greek philosopher Plato believed that an immortal soul attached itself to a human body at birth, and when the human body dies, that immortal soul leaves its bodily prison in order to join the divine spirit.

The biblical idea is somewhat different. In fact, there is only one verse in the Bible that mentions the soul and relates it to the body and the spirit. That verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:23, which in the Good News Bible reads,

"May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being - spirit, soul, and body - free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

What then does the Bible teach? Not immortality of the soul, but resurrection from the dead. That means that death is real: it is the person who dies. But then, because of God's goodness and because of our faith in Christ, God raises us from death and gives us a new body.

The New Testament anchors the belief in resurrection in the very resurrection of Jesus Christ. Note the following verses from 1 Corinthians 15:20-22: "But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised. For just as death came by means of a man, in the same way the rising from death comes by means of a man. For just as all people die because of their union with Adam, in the same way all will be raised to life because of their union with Christ."

Note also 1 Corinthians 6:14: "God raised the Lord Jesus from death and he will also raise us by his power."

Finally, we should note that it is the resurrected Christ who becomes the figure and model of what we shall become. So 1 John 3:2: "My dear friends, we are now God''s children, but is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is."

What this means then is that when our loved ones die, they do not linger around as ghosts, but God raises them from the dead because of their union with Jesus Christ.