Methodists needed !

[Emmameeks]

Hi, I'm currently investigating the questions "Does religion affect our belief in the paranormal ?" for my dissertation in university and I'm finding it very hard to get participants that are Methodist. If you could spare 10 mins to fill out a questionnaire and help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWHZW3J

 

[Angela53510]

I'm not a Methodist, but the paranormal is not really part of the Christian belief system. Things that happen which are not normal and come from God are called "supernatural". Like Christ dying for our sins and being raised from the dead, for example.

I think that you have started out with the wrong question for your survey. We consider ourselves to be people with a relationship with God, not an exterior religion. So both the start and end of your survey question are quite far from the mark!

Praying you will come to know Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

 

[John_agape]

This is the problem with academic research. I participated in a study where it was impossible to give honest accurate answers, since it had to be academically neutral or unbiased.

Science studies the material world. Spiritual and paranormal do not exist in science since they are by definition not material.

I used to be a scientist, chemist and geochemist, and have experienced spiritual reality from time to time in my life. I do not understand and cannot study the spiritual in a scientific context, but I am aware it is as real as the bricks of my cottage, if not more real. In quantum physics I can accept that my cottage does not exist, it is an illusion, just like my body. Although with my aches and pains this illusion seems pretty real to me.

So Emmameeks, I wish you luck, but there is an element of spiritual insight missing from the survey. How to solve this quandary outside of a Church environment, I do not know. Even the question of religion and religiosity has a cultural and a spiritual component. Science can statistically study the cultural aspect, but again is not able to evaluate the spiritual one.

 

[Camarasaurus]

Your survey rejected me!

I was raised Methodist, but not currently attending a Methodist church. Is that why it rejected my submission?

When you say "Does religion affect our belief in the paranormal?" that is a question that I find lacking in focus.

Am I supposed to speak for myself or others? When you say "religion" - to me this means to me that you are asking if a set of rules and regulations not necessarily based on true faith affects our belief in the paranormal. Is this what you meant, or are you asking if ones true FAITH and BELIEF in God and Jesus Christ at our Lord and Savior affects MY personal belief in the paranormal?

I will answer you here if I may.....As a born again, spirit filled Christian I have seen and experienced my share of the "paranormal" as you call it. It is real, and it is the activity of the Devil and his minions. Non-Christians call this "paranormal activity" but in reality it is the work of Satan. Ephesians 6:12 - For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

There are many Methodists who do not believe this, and there are many who do. The Methodist Church (i.e. United Methodist Church) has a wide range of perspectives in its ranks - in my opinion - than other denominations.
There is the joke that it is frustrating to try and play Baseball (or any game) with a group of Methodists, because they have no set rules they follow - anything goes!

So, although I am not a currently attending a Methodist church, and an official memeber of a Methodist church, I was raised Methodist so I feel I am qualified to give my perspective as a Methodist. I hope this is OK.

God bless.

 

[Emmameeks]

I'm a third year psychology student and this is for my dissertation. From reading literature I've found that infact some Christians do believe in the paranormal but many facts including church attendance, denominations and being extrinsic or extrinsic in ones faith can affect whether they believe or not. If left the question opened, in psychology we call it a two tailed hypothesis. So I'm asking "does religious affect are belief in the paranormal?" and not stating if religion will positively affect our belief in the paranormal or negatively affect it. However literature says it can go either way.

 

[Emmameeks]

@ John_agape

As I'm an under graduate I cannot go into detail and nessesarily acess peoples religious beliefs like I would like to. If I was fully qualified and graduated I would have preferred to access peoples options in a semi - structure interview to gain that insight that I do understand I'm
missing.

 

[Emmameeks]

@ camarasaurus

In order to not waste anyone's time if you answer no to the question, "Do you belong to any of the Christian denominations, Catholic, Anglican or Methodist?" it will disqualify you from the study. I'm specifically looking at these three denominations so I wouldn't want to waste peoples time doing a questionnaire and then not use their data. Future in the Questionnaire it assesses whether someone is extrinsic or intrinsic in their faith, and I'm solely looking at the persons own belief. But as its an academic piece I choose to have it as an open question.

Thank you all for your questions.

 

[John_agape]

Hi Emmameeks, I wish you the best and hope you do get a good number of answers.

 

[Emmameeks]

Thanks very much @John_agape.

 

[followjja]

I used to attend aMethodist church. I would think it should be very easy to get some Methodists to help you out. Go to several Methodist churches in your area, and just ask. Some churches have hundreds in attendance, some much less.

 

[Emmameeks]

@Followjja see I study in a different country and I only managed to find one church near me that I could find. I have went to the church and the people have been lovely, I just thought I'd try here too as I need as many people as possible.

 

[Camarasaurus]

You may find it difficult to find a lot of Methodists online and able to take an online survey because the denomination is "aging". Many Methodist (United Methodist) churches are composed of older members who are not online - at least this is what we see in our area (which has many UMC churches), and what articles on the subject say.

You may need to find someway to possibly write or send the survey to some Methodist pastors (church bodies) and have them give it to the members.

You may also find help at umc.org (United Methodist Church.org)

Good luck.

 

[presidente]

I wonder if selecting participants from a family forum would cause you to have a non-representative sample. This board seems to be reasonably conservative, too. I don't know if you'd get more conservative Methodists. As one person posted, many Methodists are older. Seeking participants online could make your sample not representative for that reason, depending on how you define your population. That could be a problem with all kinds of online research. But it does seem like a lot of seniors do use the Internet these days, especially younger seniors.

'Paranormal' isn't the 'Christian term' for the idea, but the Bible does teach that demons exist.