Reincarnation and the Church!

For those interested in some of the history surrounding  reincarnation please follow the link below.  I would love to hear from others who have a christian background and have researched this topic with an open mind. 

Early Church and Reincarnation

Cliff Jan 17th 2009 10:34 pm Cliff, Thoughts 10 Comments Trackback URI Comments RSS

10 Responses to “Reincarnation and the Church!”

  1. Hanson 19 Jan 2009 at 12:07 am link comment

    Reincarnation is based on the concept that the individual soul survives after death of the individual. The soul literally wanders from one life to the next.

    I have done intense research about the nature of mind and soul, about existence after death and about reincarnation. This spiritual journey is recorded in my new book about the basics of existence. There are links on my author website to contact me.

    Hans Hämmig, South Africa
    http://www.GodsoftheEarth.com

  2. Marcoon 19 Jan 2009 at 8:16 am link comment

    The interesting thing about this it has more to do with where you were raised than one might think, for instance here in the West the majority of us grew up as culturally christian, that doesn’t mean we never had the option to change viewpoints as we got older, but pretty much I suspect most stay within the parimeters of said system of belief. Example, trinity, virgin birth, physical ressurection, heaven, hell etc… these terms are natural and so common to our mindset we do not even see how outrageously radical these concepts and claims really are.
    Along comes a concept like Reincarnation and (many of) our minds balk at such a teaching that is so very foreign to our mindsets, that is new software that has not been programmed in (unlike trinity, virgin birth, adam & eve, atonement etc..)

    But to someone growing up in India, such as Deepak Chorpa, the understanding of Reincarnation was as natural as breathing itself. Our christian concepts are the foreign software. Deepak states beautifully in his book ‘Life After Death’ :

    “What was most magical in my childhood was transformation. Death itself was seen as a brief stopping point on an endless soul journey that could turn a peasant into a king and vice versa. With the possibility of infinite lifetimes extending forward and backward, a soul could expirence hundreds of heavens and hells. Death ended nothing; it opened limitless adventures. But at a deeper level, it’s typically Indian not to crave permanence. A drop of water becomes vapor, which is invisible, yet vapor materializes into billowing clouds, and from clouds rain falls back to the earth, forming river torrents and eventually merging into the sea. Has the drop of water died along the way. No, it undergoes a new expression at each stage. Likewise the idea that I have a fixed body locked in space and time is a mirage. Any drop of water inside my body could have been ocean, cloud, river, or spring the day before. I remind myself of that when the bonds of daily life squeeze to tight.
    In the West hereafter has been viewed as a place akin to the material world. Heaven, hell, and purgatory lie in some distant region, beyond the sky or under the earth. In the India of my childhood the hereafter wasn’t a place at all, but a state of awareness.”

  3. kevin beckon 19 Jan 2009 at 10:17 am link comment

    Hi cliff,
    I think we all live several lives — sometimes in the same day.

  4. Don Ron 19 Jan 2009 at 10:22 am link comment

    I have no problem with the proposition of multiple lives. There seems to be ample evidence from a wide variety of people. As usual, the church seems to have decided quite early it was something which the average person could not deal with, therefore, the squashed the belief.

  5. Cliffon 19 Jan 2009 at 10:59 am link comment

    Marco……Great point about the east & the west software. I very much want to be careful that I don’t trade one software for the other because I think too many people do that. What I simply want is to be open to the truth. I guess the big question is “HOW DOES ONE BE OPEN TO TRUTH?”

    Kevin said: “I think we all live several lives — sometimes in the same day.” I really love that statement and there is a great deal of truth in it that can boggle the mind if we really think about it.

    Don R….I wonder how many great ideas & thoughts were squashed down through the centuries because the church decided? I do believe the beginning of the internet was ending of the real dark ages. Now the human race has real opportunity to find TRUTH.

    I have just ordered “Reincarnation for the Christian (Quest Books) by Howe, Quincy, and I’m hoping he can shread more light on this subject. I will let all of you know what I think on it later on.

  6. Bruceon 19 Jan 2009 at 1:41 pm link comment

    Reincarnation is something I’ve always thought was a possibility, but never spoke out loud when part of institutional Christianity.

    Iron ore is dug out of the ground, then is cleaned and pelletized. Then, it’s transported to the furnace where it is mixed with great fire to separate the metal from the earth. Then the earth is discarded and the metal retained for further refining. The fruit of the rock is heated again at great temperature to burn off any impurities, then mixed with other types of metals to strengthen it and give it superior qualities. In life, it seems, many things go through a refining process to become the best they can be. Christianity thinks this process is limited to one existence on earth. But, who are we to put God in that box? What if he has plans for us that are even bigger than we can imagine? I’m open to many possibilities. I am open to ideas that make sense.

  7. Kiaraon 19 Jan 2009 at 4:16 pm link comment

    Interestingly I remember speaking to a friend who was a regular church goer who believed in reincarnation during our philosophy class last spring. I agree with Bruce that we can’t put God in a box. However I think any spiritual journey is more about learning than refining ourselves.

    Cliff, I hope you post your thoughts on that book after you finish it. It sounds really interesting.

    And Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to everyone!

  8. Cliffon 19 Jan 2009 at 5:55 pm link comment

    I will Kiara and thanks for reminding all of us of this very important day. Who knows, maybe Obama is the reincarnation of Martin Luther King Jr.?

  9. TitforTaton 20 Jan 2009 at 6:19 am link comment

    I have an idea about reincarnation. The more we learn about our bodies, we find that it can store memories. Past abuses and trauma, also some of our fondest experiences can be triggered by sound, touch, smell. Our memory seems to be part of our physical being. Now seeing as we are physically the sum total of our ancestors. Could it be that when we seem to remember a past life, we are actually only experiencing that through our DNA. The memories are not because we lived the past life, but because it was passed down through our genetic makeup.

  10. Cliffon 20 Jan 2009 at 4:58 pm link comment

    TitforTat……Thanks for your input….indeed this is uncharted waters for me but it has always made sense.

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