Do you believe in past lives?

Question

The reason I ask:

I watched this show on the Biography channel last night and it really made me think! There are somethings you can't explain like when children talk about past lives, when they have no reason to.

These kids would start talking about Vietnam...when they were like 3 years old! And talk about bullet wounds and stuff. How would they know that?

One kid was very scared of fireworks and openly cried when there were loud noises. When he was 5 he told his parents about his experiences in the civil war.

I'm not saying I believe one way or another, my take it that it's very interesting and unexplainable.

Answer 1

Yes I believe in reincarnation.
The most detailed collections of personal reports in favor of reincarnation have been published by Dr. Ian Stevenson in works such as Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, which documents thousands of detailed cases where claims of injuries received in past lives sometimes correlate with birthmarks or birth defects.

Stevenson has spent over 40 years devoted to the study of children who have spoken about concepts seemingly unknown to them. In each case, Dr. Stevenson methodically documents the child's statements. Then he identifies the deceased person the child allegedly identifies with, and verifies the facts of the deceased person's life that match the child's memory. He also matches birthmarks and birth defects to wounds and scars on the deceased, verified by medical records such as autopsy photographs.

As Stevenson himself said about the 2500 cases of children, who appeared to remember past lives, which he and his associates investigated:

"My conclusion so far is that reincarnation is not the only explanation for these cases, but that it is the best explanation we have for the stronger cases, by which I mean those in which a child makes a considerable number (say 20 or 30) of correct statements about another person who lives in a family that lives quite remote from his own and with which his family has had no prior contacts."
I hope it helps.

Answer 2

There are many problems with the salvation-by works doctrine of reincarnation. First, there are many practical problems. For example:
1. We must ask, why does one get punished for something he or she cannot remember having done in a previous life?
2. If the purpose of karma is to rid humanity of its selfish desires, then why hasn't there been a noticeable improvement in human nature after all the millennia of reincarnations?
3. If reincarnation and the law of karma are so beneficial on a practical level, then how do advocates of this doctrine explain the immense and ever-worsening social and economic problems - including widespread poverty, starvation, disease, and horrible suffering - in India, where reincarnation has been systematically taught through out its history?
There are also many biblical problems with believing in reincarnation. For example, in 2 Corinthians 5:8 the apostle Paul states, "We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." At death, the, the Christian immediately goes into the presence of the Lord, not into another body. In keeping with this. Luke 16:19-31 tells us that unbelievers at death go to a place of suffering, not into another body.
Further, Hebrews 9:27 assures us that "man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." Each human being LIVES ONCE as a mortal on earth, DIES ONCE, and then FACES JUDGMENT. He does not have a second chance by reincarnating into another body.

Answer 3

"I am no Hindu, but I hold the doctrine of the Hindus concerning a future state (rebirth) to be incomparably more rational, more pious, and more likely to deter men from vice than the horrid opinions inculcated by Christians on punishments without end." -Sir William Jones

Death is simply changing the body and accepting another body during called as birth. Every moment we are changing the body because the cells are changing every moment. Extending a moment to a day, week, month, few years, many years, hundred years, few hundred years, thousand years etc...one simply remains the same spirit soul, but changes various bodies from moment to moment as cells change.
Day to day the visible hairs, nails, beard etc... change.
In couple of years the change in the body from boy to youth, youth to old man, old man to death are seen.

In the same way, at the time of death, when the body which is only like a dress is useless one accepts a new body. When the old dress is useless and torn one wears a new dress discarding the old dress. Similarly, at the time of death, when the body is no more usefull, one gives that up and accepts another body which is called birth of a baby.

Answer 4

Sometimes I wonder about that. My daughter is the reason. One day we were looking at some pretty pictures online and there were pictures of caves. My 3 year old has never seen a cave, never been around one, and there is no reason that word would be something she knew. But she kept pointing to them and saying caves, and at the drawings on the walls saying things like deer and stuff. Her father and I were really freaked out at the time, because we hadn't taught her that and she is around me about 90% of the time. She also started talking about my mother's mother, who died 12 years before shew as born. So, things like this make me wonder at times.

Answer 5

i don't know.

my kids have said their share of creepy things too, but i have always chalked it up to the theory of inherited memories (basically it says that memories can be inherited in a similar way to eye or hair color). to me the theory is quite plausible.

still, i do have this one reoccurring dream where i am an asian woman in the early 1800's - the dream is always the same, and there are details as to the politics and housing styles very specific to the time that i had no knowledge of the first time i had the dream as a little girl. i know of no asian ancestors. of course, it could still be the memory thing, but i have always felt that i was actually there. i can only say that i believe it is possible.

do you remember the name of the program? i would be interested in watching it as well.

Answer 6

I'm a Catholic and we aren't supposed to 'believe' in past lives, but I actually do believe in them ... because I have a 'vivid memory' of a dream I had repeatedly as a child, of standing with my teacher and several other kids on a beach, with a 'white city' behind us and people 'running uphill' and a 'mile high wall of water' coming toward us. Later, I found all but one of the 'other kids and the teacher' and we 'tested accuracy' of our dreams by writing down all of the details before we 'discussed the dream' ... and how could that have been if it wasn't something that 'really happened in the past?'

Answer 7

i believe in reincarnation.
i think that people are meant to perfect their souls as much as possible in order to contribute fully to the transcendental power of All. each life a person lives holds lessons & is an opportunity to gather experience and knowledge, bringing them closer to enlightenment and benefitting All there is. i also beleive that everyone chooses when, where, and to whom to be born, when they are in an unbiased state, in order to have the experiences that will enable them to learn the most. pain & suffering are often the tools of the lesson.

(also, i believe in past lives because of personal experience-- having had 'waking dreams' of having female 'circumcision' performed on me ever since i can remember [around 3 or 4] and not knowing about what it was until i was much older)

Answer 8

Yes

Answer 9

Nope

Answer 10

Yes. They've done some hypnosis studies where people went to their pre-birth days and realized why they chose some of the negative things that happened to them to occur.