Is reincarnation true? There seems to be a logical fallacy...?

Question

If reincarnation is true, then all people living right now would have had a previous life/existence. Right now, there are over 6 billion people. 100 years ago, there is less than 2 billion. This means that the 4 billion people who lived within the last century are new souls. Since world population grows at an exponential rate, there would be a growing number of new souls than old souls. There will come a time that the number of old souls would be negligible as compared to new souls.

Don't get me talking about reincarnation from animals, or reincarnation/existence from other planets/universe/dimensions. I can also use the same argument to prove that there are exponentially more new beings than reincarnated beings.

If there are more and more "brand new" souls at any given time, then reincarnation is either 1) a romantic fallacy; 2) only valid for a very few number of people; or 3) new souls are destined to create bad karma for themselves, in order to reincarnate.

k_hemanth: I like your answer. I just have another question. You said that "if you can take the whole statics of trees, bacteria and animals you will get a balanced equation". Do you mean that the total population of all living things is CONSTANT? If this is the case, then we are forever doomed to make bad karma in order to perpetuate the karmic cycle. If reincarnation is true, and more and more people create good karma, then everyone would eventually transcend this existence. There are only two alternatives: 1) good acts and bad acts are random, and we are doomed to go to the bacteria-insect-animal-human-animal-insect-bacteria cycle, or 2) all beings will eventually reach the path of perfection, become human beings, and transcend to the spiritual level - the end of living things. Which is it?

Answer 1

Actually, in the Hindu paradigm of reincarnation, a new atman would arise every time a new desire arose within Brahman. There is no upper or lower limit to the number of atman which could exist at once.
Now, past life regression is another matter.

Answer 2

Dude..Reincarnation is true. According to bhagvad gita. God created the whole world and universe. he is the supreme power. he exist in all human beings and animals be it a tree,bacteria,monkey,cat,human etc...he is our very own consiousness. you take a newbirth as you die..it all depends on your previous life karma. Yes I agree the growth rate has grown exponentially. The highest form of reincarnation is humans. it can start anywhere from bacteria or trees and end up in humans after years. if you can take the whole statics of trees, bacteria and animals you will get a balanced equation. As the creator god creates these animals or bacteria every second continously and these take time to take human birth so you see an increased no of human being and as well new kinds of bacteria and animals...as these news creatures are created every second so hence you see an increased population compared to previous years... coming to the second part of your question. the choice is neither 1 nor 2 nor 3. god gives intelligence. its upto humans to use it in right way..those who do bad deeds and destructive things will have a bad karma and they will have more births and those who will do good deeds will have less no.of births. finally a person who is free from lust,anger, greed and wants will never take a rebirth. (A spritual person will have all these qualities) He attains the moksha. hope I have resolved your answer...

Answer 3

Hi Jerry, you do have a point, I think that reincarnation is somewhat like an urban myth, it has been talked about for so long by so many people that it has entered into everyday reality, there has never been any proof of reincarnation and in fact how can it be proved when according to supporters of this theory you do not really remember your past life,oh I know that some do claim this to be a fact but isn`t it really just self pretense/delusion?
I believe that you would have to be very gullible to accept reincarnation as fact.

Answer 4

Reincarnation is not proved true yet. A similarly unproven idea of heaven is that how many afterlives can go to heaven and stay there till eternity. Where do new lives come from? Why isn't there any recycling of lives mentioned in religion? Because it will belittle the role of a god.

Reincarnation can be thought of as the constant re-composition of matters in the universe by chance. No man created theology has explained that yet.

Answer 5

All souls have been since the beginning, but not all have been here at any one time. We choose to reincarnate, we are not forced to do so. We choose to come back to experience new things. I think Karma comes in like this: say in my previous life, I was very cruel to handicapped people. I died, and when I got to heaven, I was sorry for that, and decided to come back as a handicapped person, to experience what I caused others to experience. This is just what I believe, after many years of searching for answers to questions such as these.

Answer 6

One basic fact that every one must know is that by nature human beings or for that matter no living being on earth likes death.Man, all the more,wants to live for ever.This is a fact that no one can deny.Hence most religions thought about creating what is called "after life and others re-birth" and so on. You do not have to worry about the numbers.You should simply Analise the human mind and its longings.And once you understand the desire of man to live forever, then you can perhaps understand the brain of persons who created these theories which has no scientific basis. Everything ends with death.That's all.

Answer 7

if there is no reincarnation, then all the billions are all new souls.
since the soul is imortal it is logical to assume it may get more than 1 turn in life, but always the same soul.
I was around in the USA during the civil war right up to 1912.
Imposible to prove, but it feels so right for me and I can relate to it so easily, yet nothing since until now.

Answer 8

Most meat eaters are destined to reincarnate as animals:dogs,cats,bulls.cows in order to taste the sufferings of slaughterhouses!
Prostitutes and those loving naked living reincarnate as trees....
Blasphemers and killers of brahmans-hindu priests- reincarnate as insects in Arabian deserts...
So....your calculation is wrong!

Answer 9

Population should have been pretty stable if reincarnation was true.

Moreover the brand new souls seem to be upgraded to be computer capable and terrorism adaptible.

Answer 10

It doesn't work that way Jerry. It's not a numbers game. We tend to think in human terms. All bets are off in relation to that and any reincarnation involved.