Reincarnation? What do you think?

Question

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2232830&page=1

Answer 1

Tree,
Interesting question. You must have a truly open mind for this one. If your only source of knowledge is the Bible, you are going to wrestle with it. I have gone both ways with it. I do not subscribe to the eastern belief that you may come back as an animal. That just doesn't sound like the work of God. Having said that, I have some questions. How is it, that children raised in the same family, same parents, same teachers, same food, same everything, can turn out so different? One kid does well in school, gets along well with others, is happy and successful. The other, is just the opposite, anti-social, dull, unimaginative, and just plain mean. Might as well be from another planet. It has occurred to me, that all souls are not the same age. Some seem mature and advanced, while others seem infantile, and backwards. Logic and common sense, tells me that one is much older than the other. Also, how fair is it, that some are born in wealth, and prosperity, and have long comfortable lives, while some die shortly before or after birth. How shall they come to know God? In case you haven't guessed by now, I don't have a solid opinion on this one. Despite over 35 years of religious and philosophical study, I am undecided. At this point, however, I think that there is a case for a very narrow definition of re-birth. After all, Life itself, belongs to God. He can do anything with it He likes.

Answer 2

If it means that an entire person-- the sum total of his environmental and hereditary characteristics combined with the choices he has made in life-- is going to pop back into the world after he dies, I don't buy that, and I don't think anybody does. But if it means that there is an eternal essence of a human being, the central "I" which is the locus of awareness, AND that this part may go to another body after the death of the body it inhabits, vitalizing the consciousness like a battery activates a flashlight, then that definition of the "self", the "soul", the human essence is quite different. There have been stories of people who remembered past lives, and there are many people who believe the "Bridey Murphy" type stories of hypnotic regression to a time before birth in this life. I don't heap scorn upon a belief that is essential to the world-view of millions of people in Asia and worldwide just because so much "evidence" of reincarnation presented by various Westerners in recent years sounds so hokey and contrived. In the end, taking a philosophical position neither verified nor disproven by science is a leap of faith like many other beliefs. I know many believers who are better and more intelligent people than I am, but, to answer your question, I simply do not know.

Answer 3

My personal belief is that new souls and old souls enter and leave earth all the time. But when you're brand new, you live once, and when you die, you get to do it over again until to get it right, then your soul can end up at the final destination/nirvana. You live this life as many times as it takes until you're finished. My grandmother and my little sister are both old souls, you can see it in their eyes. They connect better than anyone else in the family. It's kinda cool to see.

I just can't bring myself to believe that a higher being would create people and only give them one chance to get life right. Aren't we all taught for forgive and give second chances to others from childhood?

I can't define the higher power I believe in, nor do I think the Bible is anything more than a book of fiction that happens to have some good morals included in the stories, and it has turned into a religion. Anyone remember The Odyssey? The people of that time believed that to be truth as well.

But to answer your question, I definetly believe in reincarnation.

Answer 4

. A person who believes in reincarnation assumes responsibility for his own spiritual evolution through rebirth. He does not need priests, confessionals, and rituals to ward off damnation (all ideas, incidentally, that were not part of Jesus' teachings). He needs only to heed his own acts to himself and others. A belief in reincarnation eliminates the fear of eternal hell that the Church uses to discipline the flock. In other words, reincarnation directly undermines the authority and power of the dogmatic Church. No wonder reincarnation made the Defenders of the Faith so nervous.

I beleive in reincarnation. and Karma and the 7 chakras open up the kundalini.

Answer 5

Thank you so much for posting this! Yes, I do believe in reincarnation. I remember my own past life, too.

I was a nun a long with my now mother, and grandmother (whom has passed). Unfortunately, I was betrayed by a priest whom I had feelings for, got pregnant, and was thrown of the the convent. Of course, the priest never stepped-up to admit it was his child because he was at risk of being thrown out of the priesthood.

This all came to me in a dream before I even knew it was common for priests to impregnate nuns. I also never knew a nun could be thrown out for being pregnant.

So yeah, that's my story! How about you?

Answer 6

It is hard enough to live this life once I would hate to think I had to do it again.
The bible says at Ecclastes 9:5 The living are conscience that they will die but the dead are conscience of nothing at all.
There are no ghosts, or dead people coming back
The bible says there will be a resurrection during the last day.
Not quite yet but almost.

Answer 7

To be honest, I don't really know. I know a lot of people believe in reincarnation and there are stories and such that support it's existence, but I don't know if I believe in it. I'm open to the possibility though.

Answer 8

I believe in reincarnation. I read this interesting study on the reincarnation of Holocaust victims that was just so amazing.

Answer 9

I am a firm believer in reincarnation. Read "Many Lives, Many Masters" by Dr. Brian Weiss.


Blessings )O(

Answer 10

I totally believe that reincarnation is one of the things that might happen to a "soul" after the body dies.