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
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