The idea of Reincarnation is Incompatible with the Christian Religion.
When asked about it, this is what almost all Christian literature, clergy and apologists will declare: it’s incompatible with the Bible and Christianity. However, there is a growing percentage of believers who are convinced of the Truth and reality of Reincarnation. The opponents of this doctrine will point you to Hebrews 9:27 to prove that the Bible excludes this popular doctrine from the tenets of Christianity, as incompatible.
And it’s true. It is incompatible with Christianity — as Christianity is taught today. If Reincarnation is a reality, then really, there is no need for mediators or saviors for people get into heaven. If all men must reincarnate, then no one goes to Hell, in fact, there would be no Hell. There would be no need to believe that Jesus died for anyone’s sins, since in reincarnation doctrine all men must give account for all the things THEY did in their OWN body during a lifetime. In fact, according to one person who came back from the other side, Jesus said Hell doesn’t even exist!
Everyone gets another chance to do it over — and even as many chances as it requires, to make amends and grow. As we learn from many who have come back from the other side, from having a “near death experience”, there is no condemnation, and one sees, in his “life review” just how his acts affected others during his life.
Reincarnation as taught by Jesus himself:
“When it cometh from the darkness, it is that he has lived before, and when it goes down again into darkness, it is that he may rest for a little, and there after again exist.” (Gospel of the Nazirenes 37.6-7)
The whole purpose of life, in most cases, is the experience that gives a soul the chance to make up for past mistakes, to grow spiritually, and learn how to treat their neighbors who are actually apart of themselves. What we are doing to or for another is what we do to ourselves. Loving, forgiving and helping others are some of the greatest lessons Jesus came to teach.
People who have had an NDE experience, say their lives are completely changed. I have never seen a testimony of any experiencer that did not believe in Reincarnation — whether or not they believed in it before, no matter what religion they were before or whether or not they even believed in God. For them, Reincarnation is not something they must believe “by faith”, but a reality that they have seen, experienced and remember. More importantly, many near death experiencers have been shown short views of past lives.
Why the Doctrine of Reincarnation Disappeared from Christianity
Until about around the 4th century, Reincarnation was commonly believed and accepted by most Christians. An interesting fact is that, Oregon, one of the greatest of all the Christian church fathers who wrote extensively about the doctrine of “pre-existence”, was declared a heretic by the church.
If a man pre-existed, then it’s certain that the soul was not created with the physical body, but incarnated from a different existence: he re-incarnated. There were many churchmen who wrote about reincarnation in the beginning at Christianity, so it was undoubtedly taught by Jesus and left out of the Gospels.
The principle reason that the doctrine of Reincarnation was removed from Christianity was because it represented a potential threat to the Church and the Roman empire. The Cardinals an bishops who wanted to get rid of Origen’s doctrine of pre-existence of the soul were successful in convincing emperor Justinian to condemn Origen as a heretic.
For the churchmen this doctrine would mean that the masses would eventually no longer need the Church for their salvation and the Church would lose the influence over people’s minds. They convinced the emperor that they would no longer need his guidance nor pay taxes. However, the pope resisted the emperor’s orders to have Origen’s teachings destroyed and condemned by the Church — for this the pope was arrested.
Once to Die?
As said before, the rational behind declaring the doctrine of Reincarnation incompatible with Christianity is one little verse in the New Testament taken out of context: Heb 9:27.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So (also) Christ was once offered (once) to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
The whole idea the writer was trying to get across was not that men die only once, but that Christ was “offered” once, and only one time was all that was necessary to bear all the sins of the world, past, present and future. If you read it all, you’ll see that’s what he really meant. At any rate, this one little out-of-context verse is not biblical proof that Reincarnation is not reality.
In fact, it’s possible that Jesus didn’t die at all, but survived the execution, and lived out a normal life, had a wife and children in another country. The original writings of the first followers of Jesus have been so corrupted and butchered, the whole story may be similar but much different than what we read in the NT — in order to fit the Church’s agenda.
Christianity Becoming Less and Less Relevant
There is good reason Christian churches are steadily declining in attendance and the number of the un-religious is growing. There is just something missing in it, and people leave feeling empty and with questions unanswered. Christianity is struggling to stay alive and relevant in a world where people are growing mentally and spiritually and yearn for something more than what the Church is able to offer. The church has failed to feed its flock and they are wandering about searching for something more real and satisfying. Just going it “by faith” when more and more people are searching for reality and truth, will not do and the Church can only offer them some “mystery” they have to believe in without any facts or evidence to back up their claims.
However, Reincarnation is very instrumental in relieving the fears of dying and it restores joy to people that they will one day be reunited with loved ones and friends. What’s more it explains why there is so much inequality in the world and together with the revelations of those who have come back from the other side, many questions can be answered that are simply impossible to be answered by the Bible and Christianity.
Where to Find the Truth
When people look deep within themselves, they find that there are things they know to be true without knowing how they know. However, in this dense physical world with so many distractions, and commerce and education constantly bombarding us with junk knowledge that people, over time, have forgotten what the truth really is and religion so often uses ignorance and fear to control, manipulate and deceive the masses for their own purposes. But things learned in past lives and their experiences many times return from our memories during quiet introspection. Something deep down inside shows us the difference between the Truth and lies of those who would keep us in the darkness.
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