Is Reincarnation True and Biblical?
Is reincarnation true? Does the Bible teach about it? The concept of reincarnation is that when a person dies, his soul, spirit or evolving consciousness is reborn in a new body or life in a form of a human, animal or plant, depending on his past actions (as associated with Karma). Thus, a man can be a dog in the past or can be an eggplant or banana in the future. Reincarnation also differs from resurrection. Resurrection is being alive again in the same body (which may be glorified or condemned on the Judgment Day), while reincarnation is being born again in different body or bodies. Resurrection happens once; while reincarnation can occur several times. Those who believe in resurrection also believe that a man has only one chance of life to determine his fate which is either eternal salvation or eternal damnation. On the other hand, those who believe in reincarnation also believe that one or his evolving consciousness can have many chances of life (being in a several cycle of rebirth or reincarnation) until he is reunited with the Supreme Being or until his evolving consciousness reached the state of awakening or enlightenment.
Scientific reasoning disclaims the concept of reincarnation because of population explosion. Since in reincarnation humans are born again in new bodies after they die, the effect could be a bloated global population because all humans who died in all of humankind history are reincarnated and thus, live again on Earth. However, this is not an absolute rebuttal to reincarnation since other religions believe that humans can also be reincarnated into an animal, plant, god, demi-god, ghosts or demons.
In the Bible, reincarnation is refuted because the Scriptures teach that we are destined to die only once.
Hebrews 9:27-28 (New International Version)
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
The Bible also tells that we have only one chance of life to determine our fate which is either eternal life in the Kingdom of God or eternal punishment in hell.
Matthew 18:8-9 (New International Version)
If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
Matthew 25:46 (New International Version)
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Conclusion:
Christians believe in resurrection but not on reincarnation. If reincarnation is true, then Jesus Christ will have to appear on Earth and sacrifice His blood several times to wash the sins of the souls or spirits who are continually reincarnated because of their past bad karma caused by their past sinful actions. We have one chance to live and justify our faith in God though love and works to be able to inherit the kingdom of God and avoid eternal punishments. If we are to believe in reincarnation, which gives a person many chances of lives (lifecycles) to achieve enlightenment or to be justified of reuniting with the Supreme Being – then we are putting the fate of our souls in a “big risk”. What if we only have one chance? Is it not more reasonable and conservative if we leave our sinful actions in this moment of life we have now, than become procrastinators, abusive and delay righteousness in the next cycles of reincarnations?
No related posts.
