J
Jen Rose
Guest
Reincarnation
In Eastern philosophy, history or time is viewed as cyclical. Man, according to Hinduism and Buddhism, is caught in an endless cycle of rebirth over and over again, seeking to purge himself of karma and transcend this physical world of illusion.
In India this is known as transmigration. Hinduism teaches that based on the law of karma, your good and bad deeds will determine how you will come back in your next life. If you live a bad life and do not do the things required in Hinduism and Buddhism to renounce this world of illusion, you may come back as a lower form. The possibility of returning as a cow or rat has made both animals sacred in India. You don’t kill a cow in India, since it may be somebody’s reincarnated uncle or aunt. That’s also why you don’t kill the rats. The United Nations now estimates there are over three times more rats in India than the human population. These rats eat nearly one-fourth of the total grain crop!
A man named Swami Vivikananda introduced the idea of transmigration in 1891 at the World’s Fair on Religions in Chicago. When Vivikananda introduced this idea of transmigration, he discovered that Americans were not very excited about the idea of coming back as a rat, a frog, or a snail. So the concept was changed to reincarnation, which says that you can only come back as another human being. This was much more palatable for Western consumption.
The problem with transmigration or reincarnation is that this cyclical worldview reduces a person to a life determined by impersonal fate. Fatalism becomes a basis of life for the people caught in this system; they will return again and again, thousands of times, until they achieve liberation from this world of illusion.
Their ultimate hope is to transcend to the state of impersonal nothingness. Meaning and purpose to life become nonexistent, except for the quest of denying reality of this present material world and of merging into the cosmic All. For the Western adherent to the faith, there is always a way out; we can save ourselves through this cyclic rebirth of reincarnation: “Better luck next time.â€Â
The Truth About Reincarnation
The first thing that invalidates reincarnation is the fact of the personality of God. Everyone who believes in reincarnation, whether New Agers or adherents of Theosophy, Unity, Hinduism, or Buddhism, all deny a personal Creator. They believe that we are part of an impersonal universe.
The fact that God is personal, that He created us as personal beings and has personally revealed Himself to us, and that we can have a personal relationship with Him, totally does away with the idea of need for something like reincarnation.
The second thing that does away with reincarnation is the fact of the atonement of Jesus Christ. The blood sacrifice of Christ on the cross was when He took our sins and nailed them to the cross and covered them with His own blood as the ultimate payment.
Hebrews 10:10 says it was done once for all time. Christ did for you what you could never do for yourself. Hebrews says He was the eternal Lamb of God who shed His blood for your sins and ours. You cannot atone for your sin; only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that.
The third thing that does away with reincarnation is the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He defeated death and is the living Savior.
Because of this, the fourth reason is the fact of the resurrection of the believer.
Jesus said:
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25,26)
When a person takes Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior, He gives them His resurrection power. He has defeated death and is the living Savior. He gives us life eternal.
Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.†Why is it gain? Because to be absent from the body is to be home with the Lord in heaven! That’s why Christians are the only ones who can afford to laugh at death. We know where we are going. Death holds no fear for us.
The last thing that does away with reincarnation is Hebrews 9:27, which says that it is appointed unto all of us to die once and that after this comes the judgment – not reincarnation or cyclic rebirth. The worldview death rate is still one per person. There is coming a day when we will all stand before God. He will ask us one question: –What did you do with the gift of God offered through Jesus Christ?â€Â
In Eastern philosophy, history or time is viewed as cyclical. Man, according to Hinduism and Buddhism, is caught in an endless cycle of rebirth over and over again, seeking to purge himself of karma and transcend this physical world of illusion.
In India this is known as transmigration. Hinduism teaches that based on the law of karma, your good and bad deeds will determine how you will come back in your next life. If you live a bad life and do not do the things required in Hinduism and Buddhism to renounce this world of illusion, you may come back as a lower form. The possibility of returning as a cow or rat has made both animals sacred in India. You don’t kill a cow in India, since it may be somebody’s reincarnated uncle or aunt. That’s also why you don’t kill the rats. The United Nations now estimates there are over three times more rats in India than the human population. These rats eat nearly one-fourth of the total grain crop!
A man named Swami Vivikananda introduced the idea of transmigration in 1891 at the World’s Fair on Religions in Chicago. When Vivikananda introduced this idea of transmigration, he discovered that Americans were not very excited about the idea of coming back as a rat, a frog, or a snail. So the concept was changed to reincarnation, which says that you can only come back as another human being. This was much more palatable for Western consumption.
The problem with transmigration or reincarnation is that this cyclical worldview reduces a person to a life determined by impersonal fate. Fatalism becomes a basis of life for the people caught in this system; they will return again and again, thousands of times, until they achieve liberation from this world of illusion.
Their ultimate hope is to transcend to the state of impersonal nothingness. Meaning and purpose to life become nonexistent, except for the quest of denying reality of this present material world and of merging into the cosmic All. For the Western adherent to the faith, there is always a way out; we can save ourselves through this cyclic rebirth of reincarnation: “Better luck next time.â€Â
The Truth About Reincarnation
The first thing that invalidates reincarnation is the fact of the personality of God. Everyone who believes in reincarnation, whether New Agers or adherents of Theosophy, Unity, Hinduism, or Buddhism, all deny a personal Creator. They believe that we are part of an impersonal universe.
The fact that God is personal, that He created us as personal beings and has personally revealed Himself to us, and that we can have a personal relationship with Him, totally does away with the idea of need for something like reincarnation.
The second thing that does away with reincarnation is the fact of the atonement of Jesus Christ. The blood sacrifice of Christ on the cross was when He took our sins and nailed them to the cross and covered them with His own blood as the ultimate payment.
Hebrews 10:10 says it was done once for all time. Christ did for you what you could never do for yourself. Hebrews says He was the eternal Lamb of God who shed His blood for your sins and ours. You cannot atone for your sin; only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that.
The third thing that does away with reincarnation is the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He defeated death and is the living Savior.
Because of this, the fourth reason is the fact of the resurrection of the believer.
Jesus said:
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (John 11:25,26)
When a person takes Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Savior, He gives them His resurrection power. He has defeated death and is the living Savior. He gives us life eternal.
Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.†Why is it gain? Because to be absent from the body is to be home with the Lord in heaven! That’s why Christians are the only ones who can afford to laugh at death. We know where we are going. Death holds no fear for us.
The last thing that does away with reincarnation is Hebrews 9:27, which says that it is appointed unto all of us to die once and that after this comes the judgment – not reincarnation or cyclic rebirth. The worldview death rate is still one per person. There is coming a day when we will all stand before God. He will ask us one question: –What did you do with the gift of God offered through Jesus Christ?â€Â