Is Reincarnation an absurd idea?

Hi Sweetchariot, Thank you for commenting. There are good and valid reasons for not remembering past lives, but nevertheless many people do remember, especially as children but in most cases are ignored or warned not to talk about it. Parents are often scared that their child will be seen and 'different'. Brian L weiss MD, Chairman Emeritus of Mount Sinai of Psychiatry at the medial center in Miami has used past life regression to heal thousands of mentally ill people and trains hundreds of other professionals every year. Of course many still have problems with the idea because our belief systems in the west, for the most part, don't teach reincarnation although it was believed and taught by many of the early church fathers as late as the sixth century. My purpose here however is to show that the idea of reincarnation is no more absurd than some other current beliefs. Blessings

Sweetchariot, Can you remember clearly what you did 10 years ago chronologically? If you do then you can make sweeping statements of the kind you made. What proof have you got to clearly state that Shirley Maclaine fabricated what she said? Can you for sure and with evidence repeat that which you stated. Quote,' Souls remember nothing whatever of the events that took place in their previous states of existence' unquote.

Pose, I understand you reason for posting, but I was trying to justify how absurd the idea of reincarnation is, whereas we have more witnesses to SOME of the other claims that have been a stated in your discussion...although more people refuse to see the reality of those too. We can also say that Past life regression prooves nothing, as that is often regarded as Suggestions that are instilled in a person's mind while under hypnosis. A child's memory of a past life that is held back by a parent, should still remain in that child's memory when he/she becomes an age of understanding on their own. Certainly, there would be some teenagers or young adults that would then speak about it...I can't imagine all of them refusing to acknowledge these memories. If it became public knowledge, Science would be looking into this alot more. Without acknowledging the possibility of a past life, then what purpose would there be for it, if those do not use it as it should be. Followers of the New Age movement often claim that early Christians believed in reincarantion, because Shirley MacLaine (a New Age disciple) recalled that she was taught that "the theory of reincarnations is recorded in the Bible, but the proper interpretatios were struck from it during an ecumenical councile meeting( a meeting with all Christian Faiths) in Constantinope sometime around A.D. 553, called the Council of Nicaea. Historical facts provide no basis for this claim. In fact, there was no Council of Nicaea in A.D. 553, and the Ecumenical Councils actually met in A.D. 325 and A.D. 787. But records from this Counicl show that it, too, did not address the subject of reincarnation, and non of the early councils did, either. Therefore this is complete fabrication from Shirley MacLaine and her followers.

To my knowledge what many Christians think is that if they are saved through Christ they will be in heaven; and if they are not saved then how much good they might have done then they'll land up in hell. Because ultimately good and bad is defined in term of what God thinks of them, and not on what an individual person thinks of oneself. And God reckons a person good or bad based on whether a person has agreed to accept Jesus as Lord and God, and once the person agrees to accept Jesus as Lord and God then what Jesus has done for the person on the cross gets effected in the person's life and the person is considered to be good/righteous. That's the way I understand about Christians belief. Christians don't believe that following the Bible, as in the sense of doing or not doing as if it is work, will save them or otherwise. For Christians being in heaven or not is through faith in Jesus, not through work. But what do you think is the reason for not believing in resurrection? Changes indeed have been made in the Bible. For example if you read King James Version and New International Version you will notice hundreds of differences. So there is change. But change is required because language changes. But if you look at the content you will see that there is no change or rather the change is minimal. If you are talking about change in the original Bible, then also I would agree. Because there is these few books and then another book would be added and then another later and so on... so the collection of books took years. So in that sense there has been addition and so the change. But if you talk about addition of chapters even then I can still agree. But if you talk about change so that the content is ultimately distorted through copying, then I disagree. Historiographical evidences clearly is against such theory. That's the way I see it.

I am amazed at how a Muslim is teaching a Christian what the Bible actually says! My friend, what you do is just proof text. You are making the mistake of reading the Bible like the way you read the Quran. We don't do proof text. I find that mistake being committed by Muslims again and again. Even your apologist like Dr.Zakir Naik makes that mistake. Please learn how Christian do hermeneutics and argue with us, then we shall listen. If you argue with us from your understanding of the Bible by applying your hermeneutics then we do not need to give you proper hearing when you try to debunk what we belief because you have not done enough homework. I belief the God Muslims believe is different from the God we Christian believe. We believe in a God who incarnates, and you don't believe that. And therefore even our hermeneutics differ. I personally won't like to argue against a Muslim on what they belief except for those topics that I have studied well. And my friend, your writing tells me that you have not done the basic biblical hermeneutics.

But dear headhunter, why don't you tell me what is wrong with my understanding of the above mentioned biblical verses ? what do I lack of to be able to understand the bible like you ? Do you think it is the lack of Faith or it is the lack of being under the authority of Priests and clergy all The time ? the lack of being baptized by a Priest, getting my copy of the bible interpreted by a priest, confess to a Priest, getting promised of forgiveness by a priest. any help will be highly appreciated

Hi Mirita, Thank you for commenting and although I've never actually experienced a past life, it seems that deep down I always knew it was true even from earliest childhood when I felt I was supposed to be somewhere else. I kept quiet about it for years except among close friends as I thought I must be different from everyone else to have such thoughts. I've also had dreams which I feel certain dealt with a previous life. Being raised in a Christian household I tried to put such thoughts out of my mind, but they kept coming back. I read the Bible over and over again, checked out different religious beliefs, all to no avail. I was told I must give my life to Christ and have a personal relationship with him and I tried that as well. Nothing worked, so I decided to accept what I knew all along was the truth. We're not going to know it all here, but I feel certain that there is sufficient proof of reincarnation, with all the cases that have been investigated in recent years. Blessings.

Hi Gordano, Thank you for once again responding to one of my discussions, you are always welcome my friend. I mentioned Islam as well as Christianity because I want it left open to all. I hope people of other religions will respond as well. I will be looking forward to your further comments later. Blessings.

Hi Again Gordano and thanks for commenting again as you had promised. I agree that we should respect the belief of others. I have read that there are some followers of Islam who believe in reincarnation. Do you know if this is true? Blessings.

Hi shobhan, Thank you for commenting and we agree on many things. I have lived long enough and seen enough to know that there is something beyond the material word. I have felt for most of my life that reincarnation is a fact, and today there is much proof that it is true. There is much that we don't know and may never know here but there is nothing wrong about having an interest in the paranormal. Blessings.

Hi Frederick,Thank you for commenting and we agree on this. It is a known fact that that it was taught in the early Christian church as well up until at least the fourth century and maybe longer. I believe it to be the most logical of all beliefs and a large number of Christians accept it today although it is not taught in any of the main line churches. Blessings.

Hi cripfemme, Thank you for commenting and you're right we don't know. In resent years there has been much research into the idea of reincarnation and there is more proof for this than anything else. Apparently,we do not retain our memories and there are good and valid reasons for that. It's good to know that you think it's possible, it shows that do your own thinking. Blessings.

Hi manong, Thank you for your excellent comment and I agree with you completely. If we all exercised tolerance in religion, the world would be a much better place.I am familiar with the references to reincarnation in the Bible and know that many early Christians believed in it. I believe in reincarnation and more and more Christians today are starting to accept it although the majority do not. Blessings.

Hi rameshkumaar, Thank you for commenting and I'm sorry for not getting back to you before this, somehow I must have overlooked your response. I understand that Hindus believe in reincarnation and karma and while we may think a little differently, I too believe in both of it as well. Blessings.

Hi Christoph, Thanks for commenting and I think so too. I feel certain that there has to be a lot of Christians who really don't believe all that their preachers tell them and who realize that the Bible is full of errors. Blessings.

Hi matsulori. An excellent comment, thank you. Blessings.

Hi Ravenladyj, Thanks for that comment and I really can't disagree with you. Blessings.

Hi Rozie, Thank you for your comment and I have to agree with you,"to each his own". Blessings.

Hi savypat, Thanks for your support. I'm under no illusion that we can understand everything here but reincarnation seems to have been proven to the satisfaction of many. Blessings.

Hi red_amethyst, Thank you for commenting and I assure you that you are not alone, many Catholics have an interest if not a belief in reincarnation. It was commonly believed in the early church and left out of Christian teachings until the sixth century or later. Blessings.

Hi bird, Thank you for that comment. Blessings.

Hi venkat_readingmails, Thank you for your comment. While more and more people are beginning to at least entertain the idea that reincarnation may be true, there are still those who scoff at the idea. Often these same people believe that there is nothing strange in believing that people will take up again, decomposed bodies that in some cases have been buried for thousands of years. Reincarnation in the meantime, seems to be the one belief for which much proof has come forward in resent years. Blessings.