The Greatest Thrill of All

People seek thrills in many ways, be it storm chasing, wingsuit flying, high stakes gambling, sports competitions, and the like. Would you add “ghostbusting” to the list?

He didn’t call himself a ghostbuster like the movie series, but Matt sure would have fit right in. As far as I could tell, it was for the thrill of close encounters with the supernatural that Matt and his friends would travel to haunted locations with electronic gear in hand in order to encounter what he believes to be the ghosts of people who have died with unfinished business to take care of before leaving this earthly realm.

I asked Matt to describe some of his experiences, and he could only smile and shake his head, with a “you don’t really want to know” sort of look. I imagine that’s the same sort of answer many thrill seekers give, the feeling like they have stood on the brink of death and looked over the edge, only to be unable to describe the experience to those who prefer comfort and security.

But what makes these close encounters with death so thrilling for some? I would say that, ultimately, getting past the possibility of pain and the fear of the unknown, its actually the fear of encountering God – on His terms.

But do we have to risk death in order to do that?

The Bible says that God is “a consuming fire, jealous God.” This comes from Moses, who first encountered God in the form of a burning bush, and who warned his fellow Israelites that God “will not share His glory with worthless idols.” Moses had learned what it meant to encounter God on His terms, and not his own.

Death may be the ultimate event in our lives where God has the final word about who He is and who we are in relation to Him. Maybe thrill seekers are actually trying to defy that final word. In the end, though, don’t they know they will lose?

As much as he believes in ghosts and spirits, Matt actually denies that God could exist, which I found unusual. Most people seem to understand that the presence of ghosts and a spiritual realm makes the likelihood of God's existence even more probable.

Maybe Matt gladly accepts the possibility of ghosts, yet flatly denies the possibility of God because he knows that, for the most part, he can control his encounters with ghosts, but an encounter with God would be out of his control. Maybe his denial of God is a last-ditch effort to control God by claiming He doesn't exist.

Matt gave a few other reasons for his lack of faith: a religious and controlling family upbringing, and the death of his long-time girlfriend just after high school due to a drunk driver.

I couldn't be sure of the reasons, but just tried to explain that yes, we are to enter into a relationship with God on His terms, that God can't be controlled like Aladdin's Genie. A "god" that could be controlled, like the worthless idols that inspired Moses to describe God as "a consuming fire", wouldn't be a god worth believing in.

In my experience, the more Christians are "all out" for a relationship with God on His terms, the less likely they are to be and live a boring life, and the more likely they are to describe that relationship as simply "thrilling". I want to encourage others to a place of total surrender to God, but not for some sort of cheap thrill - that would be pursuing God on our own terms - but simply because God is a consuming fire, and deserving of our all-out faith and commitment.

(Thanks, Matt, for allowing me to record our conversation. My intent is to use these conversations as an inspiration to write about different aspects of Gospel outreach, and I post these videos not to promote my YouTube channel but just to provide some context to my writing.)