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Reincarnation refers to the belief that an
aspect of every human being (or all living beings in some
cultures) continues to exist after death, this aspect may be
the soul or mind or consciousness or something transcendent
which is reborn in an interconnected cycle of existence; the
transmigration belief varies by culture, and is envisioned
to be in the form of a newly born human being, or animal, or
plant, or spirit, or as a being in some other non-human
realm of existence.
Belief in reincarnation has ancient roots. This doctrine is
a central tenet within the majority of Indian religious
traditions, such as Hinduism and Jainism. The idea was also
entertained in the Middle East.
New Agers believe in some form of reincarnation, along with
all the other religions of the world, including Christianity
which accepted it until the fifth century.
Today Christianity holds to a doctrine of
resurrection of the dead. Which teaches that our dead
bodies will someday, like Jesus in the Bible, be revived and
brought back to life.
Of all the questions arising in theology, few are
deemed as important, and yet as confusing, as is
“reincarnation” which literally means “to take on the flesh
again.”
Belief in
reincarnation is held (with variations in details) by
adherents of almost all major religions except Islam and Christianity.
In addition, between 20-30% of people in western
countries who may be nominal Christians also believe in
reincarnation.
Skeptic
Carl Sagan" asked the Dalai Lama what he would do if a fundamental tenet of his
religion (reincarnation) were definitively disproved by
science. The Dalai Lama answered, "If science can disprove
reincarnation, Tibetan Buddhism would abandon reincarnation…
but it's going to be mighty hard to disprove reincarnation."
It is hard to disprove reincarntion for two reasons:
1) It is very difficult to prove that something does not
exist, and 2) there is so many accounts of events that could
be explained by the existence of something like
reincarnation.
VARIOUS THEORIES
Transmigration depends on karma,
the idea that one’s actions in life, good and bad and
morally ambiguous, when taken as a whole and weighed in the
balance, will determine the nature of one’s next existence.
There are typically thought to be four types of existence:
the human kingdom, the animal/plant kingdom, the infernal
kingdom, and the celestial kingdom. The infernal kingdom is
a place of torment and punishment or cleansing, and the
celestial kingdom mirrors the Christian heaven—a place of
bliss and reward. The idea of karma is that, if a person
lives a good life, he will go to a “higher” plane of
existence and, if the sum of his acts in life is negative,
he will descend to a “lower” plane.
Organic Reincarnation acts through Karma and to govern its
future existence..Actions and emotions in the current
lifetime affect future incarnations depending on the nature
of the particular karma. For
example, a good and virtuous life
may be attracted to rebirth in a body born in a family which has the
same propensities as those of the reincarnating Entity. In
consequence, his next life will manifest these virtues and good
experiences. Jain scriptures speak of it thusly:
Desire and aversion occur naturally to a soul. Because of
the conditioning |
Ancient Meaning
to an embodied soul desire and aversion will naturally
occur. On account of these states, karmic matter
clings to the living being. The karmic bondage
leads the living being through the four states of
existence. Entering into the state of existence,
the living being builds its own appropriate body.
Once embodied, he gets the senses. Through the
senses, objects in the environment are perceived.
From perception comes desire or aversion for those
objects, and from this the cycle begins again. But
the cycle ends in the case of those who will attain
liberation, whereas it is unending to those who will
not.
--
Jain scripture
approximately 300
BC
Reincarnation in the Bible
Because reincarnation was such a universally
accepted idea, no direct reference was made to it in
the New Testament. But there are several
indirect references:
And
the disciples asked him, saying, "Why then do the
scribes say that Elijah must come first?"
But he answered them and said, "Elijah indeed is to
come and will restore all things. But I say to you
that Elijah has come already, and they did not know
him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also
shall the Son of Man suffer at their hand."
Then the disciples understood that he had spoken of
John the Baptist."
(Matthew
17:10-13, see also Mark 9:9-13)
Here
Jesus clearly says that John the Baptist is a
reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. And again:
As Jesus
was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind
from birth.
"Teacher," his disciples asked him, "why was this
man born blind? Was it a result of his own sins or
those of his parents?"
"It
was not because of his sins or his parents' sins,"
Jesus answered. "But it is the works of God that are
manifested in him"
(John 9:1-3)
Here it is very clear that the disciples believed in
reincarnation - that the blind man may have sinned
before he was born in this life. Jesus does
not renounce reincarnation here, but merely says
that the blindness is the working of God. (Natural
law.) Then in the Old Testament we have a very
clear reference:
The
word of the LORD came to me thus: Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you
were born I dedicated you, and appointed you to be a
prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah
1:4-5)
Finally, in the fifth century, the emperor
proclaimed that reincarnation was not a Christian
doctrine. Why would he have done this if no
Christians were believing in it, or if only a small
minority of Christians were believing in it?
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Reincarnation