Reincarnation

[tealight]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

 

[Jesus' Follower]

Have a look at the following link; it may help you with your question.

https://bible.org/question/what-does-bible-say-about-reincarnation

 

[Albion]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

It is a very rare belief among Christians and not at all well supported by Scripture. That doesn't mean it's completely absent from the great range of existing Christian denominations, however.

Check into the Liberal Catholic Church. There are several different branches or church bodies using that name, and not all of them agree on this point, but some do indeed believe in reincarnation.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

Given the Christian teaching on human personhood and resurrection it would be very difficult to try and shoehorn reincarnation into the Christian religion.

Reincarnation, at the very least, must insist that the "real person" is some sort of spirit or soul and the body is basically inconsequential. That's not compatible with Christian teaching which says that the body is fundamental to who we are as human beings and our hope, in Christ, of the resurrection of the body and eternal life in the age to come.

And without the doctrine of the resurrection there is no such thing as Christianity (read 1 Corinthians ch. 15)

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Job8]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

NO. Reincarnation is a pagan concept.

 

[dcalling]

Given the Christian teaching on human personhood and resurrection it would be very difficult to try and shoehorn reincarnation into the Christian religion.

Reincarnation, at the very least, must insist that the "real person" is some sort of spirit or soul and the body is basically inconsequential. That's not compatible with Christian teaching which says that the body is fundamental to who we are as human beings and our hope, in Christ, of the resurrection of the body and eternal life in the age to come.

And without the doctrine of the resurrection there is no such thing as Christianity (read 1 Corinthians ch. 15)

-CryptoLutheran

Wait, which part of the Bible says body is fundamental to who we are? The real person is sort of spirit, as Samuel's spirit was summoned by a lady, he was free to move without his body.

I would say the Bible is neutral on reincarnation. There are stories about how Jesus kick ghosts out of people, and ghosts can get back into people (referring people as houses).

 

[paul1149]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

Yes, provided he has not knowingly denied the truth. One can accept Christ and be saved, but not have the fullness of doctrine. That's how I came in. I'd bet that to various extents, that's how most of us came in. Being saved entails a commitment to Christ as Lord, despite not having the whole picture.

In the book of Acts, Apollos already was a powerful international Christian preacher, but he nonetheless had to be taken aside and further instructed by Prisca and Aquila in the doctrine of the Lord. We never stop learning.

Now, if one plainly sees that reincarnation is wrong, but persists in holding onto it, that points to a heart condition that needs to be dealt with. And if he continues in the Lord, with the thirst for truth that that implies, it will be dealt with.

 

[ScottA]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

“It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

 

[com7fy8]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

Hi, Tea Light Hebrews 9:27 says,

"And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,"

This shows that each human dies only one time, and then comes that person's judgment.

So, reincarnation is not scriptural. There is reincarnation belief which has the idea that people come back in a later life, and then how they are is connected with how they lived in their life before. If they come back as higher beings in rather good situations, this is said to be because they lived a good life in their latest past life. But if they lived badly, they come back worse, as a punishment.

I don't know if all reincarnationists believe this same way. But in Jesus people get fully forgiven of our past life of sin, before people leave this life, and people can begin new in Jesus, in His love.

"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

So, reincarnation can be a doctrine of unforgiveness and depending on ourselves, I can see. But in the salvation of Jesus we have forgiveness; also, we depend on Him > Paul says,

"we who first trusted in Christ" (Ephesians 1:12).

We have trusted in Jesus. We have not only trusted in a group or a group of practices and beliefs. So, I consider that in case a new Christian does not know, yet, that reincarnation is wrong, this does not mean the new Christian is not saved, but he or she needs to learn more.

We are called to learn from Jesus and He gives us "rest for your souls" > Matthew 11:29 >

"'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" (Matthew 11:29)

Jesus is able to teach us right and do all He desires to do with each of us, in this lifetime. So, there is no need for reincarnation in order for us to progress to a higher level in some later life and then another life and on it could go.

There is no procrastination, with God. Our Father is able to fully correct us and change us to become like Jesus in this life >

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

We trust and depend on our Heavenly Father to correct us, how He pleases, so better than how we can think and hope > Hebrews 12:4-11.

"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)

Now is the time to submit to God Himself, and He is able to do all we need in us before we leave this life. We need to not only trust and depend on doing what people tell us to do, for practices; we need to submit to God Himself and how He corrects us and personally guides us "continually" (Isaiah 58:11). Our Father is this personally interested in each of us, not desiring to leave us on our own.

Jesus has returned by means of the Holy Spirit, to live in each of us who have trusted in Jesus for salvation. But He has not come into us in order to improve Himself; Jesus is God's own Son. In us He makes us become more and more like He is >

"My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you," (Galatians 4:19)

So, people do not need to be reincarnated; but people need for their own selfish selves to die and be done away with, and to have Jesus in us as our new inner Person, making us "gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29) like Jesus is, "and you will find rest for your souls."

 

[aiki]

No. Reincarnation is in direct contradiction to the plain teaching of the Bible. There is not one single verse in all of the Bible that even hints that reincarnation is a possibility but there are many that preclude such a notion utterly. I would seriously doubt the genuineness of one's claim to be a born-again disciple of Christ if one holds to a belief in reincarnation.

Selah.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Wait, which part of the Bible says body is fundamental to who we are? The real person is sort of spirit, as Samuel's spirit was summoned by a lady, he was free to move without his body.

In Genesis we read that God created the heavens and the earth, He created the sky, sun, moon, land, seas, things that swim, fly, and creep on the earth--and He made us, human beings. In Genesis 2 our creation is described in explicitly material terms, God gathers dirt and breathes into nostrils to make man a living thing (rather than a corpse). Man is not an embodied soul, but an ensouled body.

We learn again, in Christ's resurrection, that the body matters; Christ's tomb was made empty, when He appeared what does He say? "See I have flesh and bone which a spirit does not have" and invites St. Thomas to touch and feel the wounds of crucifixion.

And it is Christ's resurrection, as the first fruits of the dead, that is the guarantee, the promise, that we too shall be raised up.

At every point throughout the Bible what is clear is that being human is a full-bodied reality, we are physical creatures and our hope of eternal life is not about escaping the body but the resurrection of the body. Indeed, the idea that we need to escape the material world because the material world (including the body) is inferior or evil is an explicit heresy, it's Gnosticism.

I would say the Bible is neutral on reincarnation. There are stories about how Jesus kick ghosts out of people, and ghosts can get back into people (referring people as houses).

Jesus doesn't kick ghosts out of people, at least not "ghosts" in the modern sense of a ghastly apparition of a dead person; these are evil spirits, demons/devils. Jesus and the apostles are described as performing exorcisms, not kicking ghosts out of people or playing the role of ghost hunters/ghost busters (though that'd certainly be a fascinating way to reboot the franchise).

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Job8]

...I would say the Bible is neutral on reincarnation...

Not at all. Here's what the Bible has to say (Heb 9:27,28):

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

What does "once to die" mean? Exactly what it says. One life on earth, one physical death.

What does "after this the judgment" mean? Exactly what it says. One physical death to be followed by one Divine judgment [to be followed by the Second Death (eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire)].

Why was "Christ offered to bear the sins of many"? So that men would not face the Second Death.

Reincarnation is a necessity when there is no sacrifice for sins which is totally acceptable to God. When Christ was offered to bear the sins of many, that was the one perfect and great sacrifice for sins that was TOTALLY SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE to God. Hence the Lord Jesus Christ is called our PROPITIATION. He is also the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 Jn 2:2).

Those who are born once, die twice. Those who are born twice, die once.

 

[seashale76]

“It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

I was going to post this, but you saved me the trouble.

 

[dcalling]

....God gathers dirt and breathes into nostrils to make man a living thing (rather than a corpse). Man is not an embodied soul, but an ensouled body.

I actually like your post, it made sense. However I can also argue that what made us human is not the dirt, but the breath God put in us, it is God's breath that distinguished us from dirt, so that "Breath" is us, not the dirt.

We learn again, in Christ's resurrection, that the body matters; Christ's tomb was made empty, when He appeared what does He say? "See I have flesh and bone which a spirit does not have" and invites St. Thomas to touch and feel the wounds of crucifixion.

And it is Christ's resurrection, as the first fruits of the dead, that is the guarantee, the promise, that we too shall be raised up.

At every point throughout the Bible what is clear is that being human is a full-bodied reality, we are physical creatures and our hope of eternal life is not about escaping the body but the resurrection of the body. Indeed, the idea that we need to escape the material world because the material world (including the body) is inferior or evil is an explicit heresy, it's Gnosticism.

This is a good point. I need to think about it.

Jesus doesn't kick ghosts out of people, at least not "ghosts" in the modern sense of a ghastly apparition of a dead person; these are evil spirits, demons/devils. Jesus and the apostles are described as performing exorcisms, not kicking ghosts out of people or playing the role of ghost hunters/ghost busters (though that'd certainly be a fascinating way to reboot the franchise).

-CryptoLutheran

This one is almost a proof that our body, the better version of dirt, is just a shell that hosts spirits.....

 

[lupusFati]

I don't think Reincarnation is biblical. It would probably say so or at least promote it in some way in the gospel.

I would like to believe reincarnation is a thing though. It would be nice to be a wolf again.

 

[Albion]

I don't think Reincarnation is biblical. It would probably say so or at least promote it in some way in the gospel.

I would like to believe reincarnation is a thing though. It would be nice to be a wolf again.

Technically, that's called "transmigration of souls." Normally, "reincarnation" means returning as another human. There is absolutely no place in Christianity, that I know of, for any doctrine that amounts to belief in the transmigration of souls.

I know you were kidding about the wolf stuff, but I just thought I'd mention this, especially since we don't know from the OP where the inquirer wants this discussion to go.

 

[tulipbee]

Can someone believe in reincarnation and be a Christian?

Some denominations believe the dead stay in the grave till Christ returns. The dead has to wait. What are the vibrations of the person going to do in the meantime? A single clap from a living person never stops. The vibrations continues forever. Most folks thinks reincarnation continuously loops but that isn't so. Enlightenment means the end of reincarnation. If that is the case, then reincarnation is the same as purgatory. The souls waits in purgatory. For what? To learn. Reincarnation is also a learning period as well.

 

[lupusFati]

Technically, that's called "transmigration of souls." Normally, "reincarnation" means returning as another human. There is absolutely no place in Christianity, that I know of, for any doctrine that amounts to belief in the transmigration of souls.

I know you were kidding about the wolf stuff, but I just thought I'd mention this, especially since we don't know from the OP where the inquirer wants this discussion to go.

I'm not kidding. I'm really not.

 

[tulipbee]

Technically, that's called "transmigration of souls." Normally, "reincarnation" means returning as another human. There is absolutely no place in Christianity, that I know of, for any doctrine that amounts to belief in the transmigration of souls.

I know you were kidding about the wolf stuff, but I just thought I'd mention this, especially since we don't know from the OP where the inquirer wants this discussion to go.

Most people don't know that you always return to a human. There is an end. So you just got that info from somewhere else, probably from a wolf in sheepskin

 

[Albion]

Most people don't know that you always return to a human. There is an end. So you just got that info from somewhere else, probably from a wolf in sheepskin

I have no idea what you're saying here. All I did was point out the difference between Transmigration of Souls and Reincarnation. I don't know if anyone even cares.