Is the supernatural for real?

Is the supernatural for real?

JAKARTA (JP): It's a hard question to ask, and one likely to
be met with either a troubled look or one of skepticism. People
talk about how they put the supernatural in perspective, and
whether they are one of the believers in "another world".

"Indri", 53, said she believes in the power of God. But she
also believes in the supernatural, including black magic:

It is because we have gone through such disturbances for
years. Only recently, there was a set of needles, human hair, a
fishing net and dry flowers under my pillow. I often found nails
and knives under my bed; snakes and other reptiles repeatedly
appeared in our house. The gifts came so frequently and were
aimed at disturbing my family. I don't know where these things
came from because I thought I didn't have any enemies. My husband
was the president of a state-owned company, and only a few months
ago he retired. He said many of his colleagues wanted that job
and he was suspicious that one of them tried to achieve their
goal by using black magic.

Many times my husband complained he felt like he was being
stabbed in his chest, ears, legs and other parts of his body. One
night, he was trembling and his body was cold. We went to have
medical checkups but the doctors said there was nothing serious.

My family and friends advised us to go to an orang pintar,
people with supernatural powers, for alternative treatments.
Believe it or not, I was so shocked to see so many needles coming
out of my husbands' palms and feet. The man told us somebody was
doing harm to our family out of jealousy. All those bad powers
could only be eliminated from our family if we could forgive "the
sender".

Tuti Hedianti, 33, a manager at an agribusiness consultant
firm. She said she was skeptical until she experienced the
supernatural herself:

As newlyweds, we wanted to have a baby as soon as possible. I
was glad when I felt what I thought was my first sign of
pregnancy. But it was not; instead I felt very sick and thought
there was something wrong with my uterus. My doctor told me I was
healthy and everything was OK with my uterus. But a few days
later I started bleeding; the color of my blood was not red, but
as black as ink. It was very painful.

It happened several times and I could no longer stand the
pain. When we went to a paranormal, he said he saw something
strange moving in my uterus. I was so frightened. The man said
somebody did it to prevent me from getting pregnant. My husband
is an only child and our future children, if we have any, will
likely inherit their grandfather's assets. If we don't have a
child, the assets will go to the extended family's members. I
just couldn't believe that someone would dare to hurt me. I don't
even bother about whether my husband's family is rich. My first
concern is having a happy family and healthy kids.

Yayuk, a thirty-something private company executive and
university graduate who goes to the church on Sundays:

I recently broke up with my boyfriend. Actually, he started it
by flirting with another women. I know this woman and I also know
that she often goes to a paranormal for spiritual consultation. I
am sure that my ex-boyfriend was attracted to her because she
used a love potion.

Even though my boyfriend was unfaithful, he still wants us to
be together. Of course, I refused. I told him that it's better
for us to break up.

My ex-boyfriend would not let me go and he has been trying to
hurt me using black magic. I felt really ill after I ate a cake
that he gave me. I almost fainted. I went to a paranormal and he
said somebody who used to be very close to me was intending to
hurt me. The paranormal also told me to cleanse my body with
seawater. The following morning I went to the beach, and soon I
felt much better.

Jahja Sunarja, a reverend from the Indonesian Christian Church
(GKI).

The tendency for people to be interested in the mystical world
is because they are searching for a balance in their lives which
are too logical and rational. That's why it is not surprising if
they also search for alternative healing when they are ill.

I can tolerate the alternative healing as far as the power
does not come from another source other than God because we
believe that it is God who has the power.

To identify whether healers use spiritual power besides God,
we must see what medium they use to call the spirits, like
burning incense, for instance.

As a church reverend, I cannot recommend something which is
unclear. (team)