Wednesday, November 10, 2010

"Reincarnation Makes No Sense"

Reincarnation is the teaching that after death, the soul goes to a holding place and then enters a new human body. Some even believe we are incarnated into animals, plants, and even inanimate objects. This cycle continues over and over again for thousands of years until the person supposedly learns what he/she needs to be learn, and then the reincarnation process ceases.

Belief in reincarnation is a central tenet within the majority of Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism. In the west, some New Age movements, along with followers of Spiritism also adhere to reincarnation. For the Christian, however, there can be no doubt: reincarnation is unbiblical and must be rejected as false. If reincarnation is true, then there is no Day of Judgment, no need for the Cross and no need to trust in Christ.

Hebrews 9:27 clearly tells us that that we die once and then face judgment. The Bible never mentions people having a second chance at life or coming back as different people or animals. Jesus told the dying criminal on the cross, "Today you will be with me in paradise" not "You will have another chance to live a life on this earth." The Bible teaches that believers go on to eternal life while unbelievers go on to eternal punishment.

People need Jesus because reincarnation does not remove sin. It works with karma, the idea that your past lives of "goodness" or "badness" affects the quality and position of your next incarnation. The purpose of reincarnation is to help you develop perfect karma by which you might achieve a union with the "divine consciousness" after you have learned whatever it is you are supposed to learn.

That might sound good, but it makes no sense. Think about it, if this is true, each person had a first incarnation. That means that each person then had perfect Karma since he had no previous life and had done nothing wrong. So if he had perfect Karma and didn't learn what he was supposed to learn in his first life, what makes him think that after hundreds of incarnations with accumulated bad karma that he will be able to achieve the perfect state of union with the divine consciousness?

And then there's the issue of final authority. When it's time to reincarnate, who or what is the cosmic authority figure that decides whether you've been good or bad? These religions have no God who judges nor a gauge by which we are judged; It's like having a justice system without a judge, it makes no sense.

But what does make sense is that there is one God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ and the only way to have our sins forgiven is to trust in Him and not our own efforts through various lives, trying to achieve perfection. That's why you need Jesus, because reincarnation is not only false, it is empty because you just can't win.

Aside from Jesus, no one has ever been perfect. Because of this, no one could ever be good enough to escape the supposed cycle of reincarnation. After death we face judgment, meaning that there is no second chance, that's why you need a Savior. On the day you die you will not go back to the end of the line to try again, you will be judged. Without the righteousness of Christ, you don't stand a chance.


5 comments:

David Grantham said...

I had Mr. Reincarnation as a heckler Monday.

I am constantly amazed that they never have an answer to the most basic questions. Such as who does the deciding or what will you come back as?
You would think they would get together and get a ready answer. But they are always stumped.

Marv Plementosh - One Million Tracts said...

This is very good stuff -thanks Mark. I never thought about it that way...

Spark said...

thank you. I think the idea of reincarnation is offensive. I was watching this new agey video about a woman's account that an angel that came to her- and spoke of reincarnation. the woman asks the angel what will happen to hitler, and the angel says he will become the subject of his intolerance in his next life. So he would become a jew. That doesn't make any sense because hitler was already part jew, and it wouldn't make sense for him to reincarnate into a place of oppression because- He's a sociopath! Apparently the woman also asked why hitler was the way he was, and the angel replied that his soul was "immature" ( implying that he'll have to reincarnate many lifetimes to get it right )

Well, i found that downright offensive. Hitler is not going to get another chance, he's going to be judged for his absolute cruel acts that should never be excused by any stretch of the word- and that goes the same for pedophiles, and rapists... they're not going to simply "reincarnate" because they have had their chance, and their chance was spent ruining the lives of others. God is a just God, and reincarnations implication is unjust and illogical, and I can't grasp why anyone would adhere to such an idea, honestly. It IS unbiblical.

Anonymous said...

My husband and I import from Indonesia, so spend downtime in Bali. It is a Hindu island. They must be nominal except for the "offerings" throughout the day. They don't seem to know where their culture ends and philosophy begins. The are truly lost, but we have been able to share Christ's love. Christian music, medicine and New Testaments in their language. It was monsoon season and they saw me catching rain water to drink and they were horrified until I said "it was from God"

Unknown said...

I do not believe in reincarnation for many reasons Death is not a cure for evil..... where does evil go as people are sent back and forth like a ping pong ball....... you don't remember your last life so how can you learn from past mistakes, wrong doings, or life lessons........ If you are evil in this life and have to come back to pay the consequences (karma), it would only make that soul angry (and the soul will attack out of spite)! Evil is a choice forcing a soul to be decent or even saintly is a lose lose situation, and ultimately and sadly evil has no boundaries they don't stop they are relentless and there will never be a happy ending!