Resurrection and Re-incarnation

Resurrection and Re-incarnation

Recently a few "New Age" posts were made on the board referencing re-incarnation. I am a little concerned that some of our newer Christians may think that this is an acceptable Christian belief, so I wanted to post a Biblical perspective here.

Firstly let me say categorically that resurrection and re-incarnation are mutually exclusive: it is logically impossible to hold a belief in both at the same time.

Firstly, re-incarnation cuts across the Biblical teaching of the nature of man. The New Age teaches that man "is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body" (sadly this teaching has been taken up by some churches, but as we will see in a moment it is not Biblical.) This teaching then allows for the idea that, having discarded one body, the soul/spirit can then move on to another body, and when that is discarded move on to another, eventually living on earth possibly thousands of times in thousands of different bodies.

The Bible, on the other hand, teaches that man is one being comprised of spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23) - just as God is one God comprised of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our spirit, soul and body are all distinct (just as Father Son and Spirit are distinct within the Godhead) but they are all equally us (just as the three Persons of the Godhead are equally God.) Even though physical death creates a temporary separation between our spirit/soul and body, the day will come when God will recreate our bodies, transform them to be like the resurrection body of Christ, and reunite us as complete people - we will be bodily resurrected.

Before I became a Christian 35 years ago, I was a spiritualist and believed in re-incarnation. The thing that broke me from that belief was a single question from a very astute Catholic brother: "You say you believe in the resurrection of the body. Tell me, if you have been re-incarnated so many times, which body are you going to be resurrected in?" As I said in the beginning, belief in resurrection and re-incarnation are mutually incompatable. Either you have multiple bodies over the period of your existence and will never be resurrected in any of them, or you will only ever have one body and it will be yours (in resurrected form) for eternity. I had, at that time, to chose between my belief in the resurrection of the body and my belief in re-incarnation. Praise God He gave me the grace to believe in Biblical resurrection!

Secondly, re-incarnation cuts across Biblical teaching about salvation. The New Age/Eastern occultism teaches that man pays for his sins in one incarnation by the things he endures in the next, thus cleansing himself and progressing toward perfection. Of course, he will also commit other sins in the next incarnation, which will then have to be atoned for in the following one ... on and on forever, in the hope that eventually he will become pure enough to not need any further incarnations, and will blend in to the substance of the universe.

The Bible, on the other hand, teaches that man can never redeem himself. Sinners can never do enough good to atone for sin. A million lifetimes would not be enough for us to purify ourselves. God provided the only answer for sin: a sinless Saviour who died in our place to pay the price of our sins and reconcile us to God. To say that we can be purified by endless re-incarnations is saying that we can save ourselves, that we don't need God - that we can be God for ourselves. That, in itself, is the essence of sin.

Finally, re-incarnation stands agains the clear statement of Scripture: "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment." (Heb. 9.27) and "The lake of fire is the second death." (Rev. 20:14) In other words, every person will face one (physical, temporal) death, and those who have not trusted Christ as their Saviour will face a second (physical and spiritual, eternal) death. One, two ... no room for thousands of other deaths in between.

blessings,

Lynn
 
Good posting Lynn!

1Co 15:1 And, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and in which you stand;
1Co 15:2 by which you also are being kept safe, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures,
1Co 15:4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures;
1Co 15:5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve.
1Co 15:6 Afterward He was seen by over five hundred brothers at once, of whom the greater part remain until this present day, but also some fell asleep.
1Co 15:7 Afterward He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
1Co 15:8 And last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of time.
1Co 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and am not sufficient to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was toward me has not been without fruit, but I labored more abundantly than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
1Co 15:11 Therefore whether it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
1Co 15:12 But if Christ is proclaimed, that He was raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
1Co 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
1Co 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is worthless, and your faith is also worthless.
1Co 15:15 And we are also found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified of God that He raised Christ; whom He did not raise if the dead are not raised.
1Co 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ is not raised.
1Co 15:17 And if Christ is not raised, your faith is foolish; you are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18 Then also those that fell asleep in Christ were lost.
1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20 But now Christ has risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruit of those who slept.
1Co 15:21 For since death is through man, the resurrection of the dead also is through a Man.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruit, and afterward they who are Christ's at His coming;
1Co 15:24 then is the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He makes to cease all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 for it is right for Him to reign until He has put all the enemies under His feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy made to cease is death.
1Co 15:27 For He put all things under His feet. But when He says that all things have been put under His feet, it is plain that it excepts Him who has put all things under Him.
1Co 15:28 But when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subject to Him who has subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all things in all.
1Co 15:29 Otherwise, what will they do, those being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not at all raised, why indeed are they baptized on behalf of the dead?
1Co 15:30 And why are we also in danger every hour?
1Co 15:31 Day by day I die, by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1Co 15:32 If according to man I fought with beasts in Ephesus, what advantage is to me if the dead are not raised? "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
1Co 15:33 Do not be deceived; evil companionships corrupt good habits.
1Co 15:34 Be righteously awake, and sin not; for some have ignorance of God. I speak this to your shame.
1Co 15:35 But someone will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?
1Co 15:36 Foolish one! What you sow is not made alive unless it dies.
1Co 15:37 And what you sow, you do not sow the body that is going to be, but a bare grain (perhaps of wheat or of some of the rest).
1Co 15:38 And God gives it a body as it has pleased Him, and to each of the seeds its own body.
1Co 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh; but one kind of flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another of fish, and another of birds.
1Co 15:40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly is truly different, and that of the earthly different;
1Co 15:41 one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.
1Co 15:42 So also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption;
1Co 15:43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
1Co 15:44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul," the last Adam was a life-giving Spirit.
1Co 15:46 But not the spiritual first, but the natural; afterward the spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man was out of earth, earthy; the second Man was the Lord from Heaven.
1Co 15:48 Such the earthy man, such also the earthy ones. And such the heavenly Man, such also the heavenly ones.
1Co 15:49 And according as we bore the image of the earthy man, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
1Co 15:50 And I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I speak a mystery to you; we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed;
1Co 15:52 in a moment, in a glance of an eye, at the last trumpet. For a trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?"
1Co 15:56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.
1Co 15:57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58 So that, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not without fruit in the Lord.
 
That was really good, Revlynn! My dh made the decision he believes there is a God, but he still believes in re-incarnation. So, I will print this out and show it to him. He said he and God are "working things out. So, that means he has been praying. Thanx for all your prayers.
 
Thanks Lynn, that was really good. I enjoyed reading it. :)

Recently a few "New Age" posts were made on the board referencing re-incarnation. I am a little concerned that some of our newer Christians may think that this is an acceptable Christian belief, so I wanted to post a Biblical perspective here.

Firstly let me say categorically that resurrection and re-incarnation are mutually exclusive: it is logically impossible to hold a belief in both at the same time.

Firstly, re-incarnation cuts across the Biblical teaching of the nature of man. The New Age teaches that man "is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body" (sadly this teaching has been taken up by some churches, but as we will see in a moment it is not Biblical.) This teaching then allows for the idea that, having discarded one body, the soul/spirit can then move on to another body, and when that is discarded move on to another, eventually living on earth possibly thousands of times in thousands of different bodies.

The Bible, on the other hand, teaches that man is one being comprised of spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23) - just as God is one God comprised of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our spirit, soul and body are all distinct (just as Father Son and Spirit are distinct within the Godhead) but they are all equally us (just as the three Persons of the Godhead are equally God.) Even though physical death creates a temporary separation between our spirit/soul and body, the day will come when God will recreate our bodies, transform them to be like the resurrection body of Christ, and reunite us as complete people - we will be bodily resurrected.

Before I became a Christian 35 years ago, I was a spiritualist and believed in re-incarnation. The thing that broke me from that belief was a single question from a very astute Catholic brother: "You say you believe in the resurrection of the body. Tell me, if you have been re-incarnated so many times, which body are you going to be resurrected in?" As I said in the beginning, belief in resurrection and re-incarnation are mutually incompatable. Either you have multiple bodies over the period of your existence and will never be resurrected in any of them, or you will only ever have one body and it will be yours (in resurrected form) for eternity. I had, at that time, to chose between my belief in the resurrection of the body and my belief in re-incarnation. Praise God He gave me the grace to believe in Biblical resurrection!

Secondly, re-incarnation cuts across Biblical teaching about salvation. The New Age/Eastern occultism teaches that man pays for his sins in one incarnation by the things he endures in the next, thus cleansing himself and progressing toward perfection. Of course, he will also commit other sins in the next incarnation, which will then have to be atoned for in the following one ... on and on forever, in the hope that eventually he will become pure enough to not need any further incarnations, and will blend in to the substance of the universe.

The Bible, on the other hand, teaches that man can never redeem himself. Sinners can never do enough good to atone for sin. A million lifetimes would not be enough for us to purify ourselves. God provided the only answer for sin: a sinless Saviour who died in our place to pay the price of our sins and reconcile us to God. To say that we can be purified by endless re-incarnations is saying that we can save ourselves, that we don't need God - that we can be God for ourselves. That, in itself, is the essence of sin.

Finally, re-incarnation stands agains the clear statement of Scripture: "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgment." (Heb. 9.27) and "The lake of fire is the second death." (Rev. 20:14) In other words, every person will face one (physical, temporal) death, and those who have not trusted Christ as their Saviour will face a second (physical and spiritual, eternal) death. One, two ... no room for thousands of other deaths in between.

blessings,

Lynn
 
Excellant Pastor Lynn . Thank you . That my dear will go into my save documents for sure . You have a wonderful way of explaining things . God Bless. :D
 
Well, I don't believe in reincarnation, but I have a question.....

If reincarnation were true, and people's soles just kept repossessing infant bodies in the womb to repeat their lives and do a better job until they finally get it right and then depart into the atmosphere or whatever,....

What happens to all the soles when their is a holocaust and millions are killed before their time?

The birth rate doesn't automatically increase after a holocaust or a plague.

Where do these soles wait until they can find a new body to possess when the population dramatically declines for a time?

And where do all the news soles come from when the population drastically increases?

Who is regulating all this so that there are always just enough empty shell physical bodies for those waiting to be reincarnated and those new soles being made.

What happens if one sole tries to jump ahead in line?

Has anyone ever worked out all these details?

OK that was more than one question. But when a theory has been around this long, there should be some details about how it actually works.

I mean, if it is so hard to believe in God because God is said to do the impossible, shouldn't people who believe in reincarnation expect answers to explain this theory too?
 
Here is a chart that shows population fluctuations. If there are any reincarnationists reading this thread, can you tell me what happens to the soles when there weren't enough bodies to inhabit after the plagues. Where were they for those 200 years? Thanks.

popdips2.gif


I know this doesn't seem like an important question, but I just can't help but wonder how this makes sense to anyone. :confused:
 
Oh,oh...this is a better one!

What happened to all the soles after the flood
The estimated population at the time of the flood was 9,000,000,000. After the flood there were only 8 human beings alive. Today world population is around 6,000,000,000.

There aren't enough bodies to go around. Where did these soles go? We know they didn't achieve Minerva because they perished for being so terribly corrupt. Where did they spend the next 7500 years while waiting for the population to increase.
 
Those are good questions, Ginger, and are not considered by those who believe in reincarnation.

Here's another one ... spiritualists believe in reincarnation, yet they also believe that the souls of the departed can be "channelled" through a medium to speak to the living. So, if those souls are being reincarnated, how come they are not already occupying a new body on earth, rather than sitting around "somewhere" waiting for a medium to channel them?

Not only is reincarnation contrary to Scripture, it simply can't withstand the tests of logic (or even common sense :D)

blessings,

Lynn
 
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