What's the purpose of reincarnation (if it's real)?

Question

If it is to 'learn something' or 'become better', how can people with some sort of illness 'evolve' or 'learn something' if they are not aware of reality(such as schizophrenia or Down syndrome or other kind of situation u can think of...).

Moreover, if 'bad' people are doomed to have a bad reincarnation (such as be born in a bad family where they're daily beaten) how will they ever become 'better'? It will only make them become worse.

To gorgeous: let's say a soul chooses to be born in Somalia and die at birth or some weeks after it (from starvation, any illness, etc)... I really don't see anything to learn... :-)

Answer 1

1. We chose our parents before we come here. Perhaps that soul chose to be a Downs person. Can't you imagine what a soul could learn from that? I can. Schizophrenia is a whole other thing. Downs is genetic, it is in the DNA. Schizophrenia is physiological, as in mental disorder. Again, there would be a lot for a soul to learn from that experience.

2. A soul chooses to be born in an abusive home for the same reason, a learning experience. Each experience we have educates our souls.

3. Dark souls can just as easily be born in a normal loving family but grow to be a sociopath. I believe that is what a dark soul is, a sociopath. No conscience. No remorse.


It is our circumstances in life that educate us. If life was easy what would we learn?

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

The fact that you are asking is a step forward in your development (whether you know it or not). Karma is just. It neither prefers good nor bad. It only returns to you what you give to the Universe.

Each life we live is meant to teach us lessons. We do not necessarily need to be 100% self aware to learn those lessons. Does an ant know the difference between itself and the whole colony of ants? Who knows.

Also, as far as learning lessons, image playing a video game over and over. If we enjoy the game, yet cannot complete all of its levels, we keep playing it over and over until we succeed in beating it.

The difference though is that Karma continues through all our lives without break. It does not start over. Actions we take can be rewarded across many lifes.

This by no means constitutes the complete answer to your question. There are many books on the subject. I encourage you to begin serious study of the matter on your own.

Just let it be said, you earn everything that happens to you. You are the only one who can take responsibility for your own actions. No one can redeem you from own supposed sins. Each of us must take responsibility to redeem ourselves.

Answer 4

You are correct.
It doesn't make sense.
Nor is it true.
Common sense agrees --as always--
with what the Bible actually teaches.

The following articles discuss the history & validity of the belief:

Have You Lived Before? :
- Do you believe in reincarnation?
- Should You? :
- - Identifying the Source and the Basis
- - Is the Soul Immortal?
- - God's Personality and the Law of Karma
- - Why Do People Suffer?
- - A Truly Peaceful Future
http://watchtower.org/library/w/1997/5/15/article_01.htm

Belief in Reincarnation Tied to Memory Errors - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070406/sc_livescience/beliefinreincarnationtiedtomemoryerrors
.

Answer 5

Reincarnation gives new body to the old soul. The soul is full of wickedness. Even if it is very good in few aspects like charity in many other aspects it sucks. Thats why there is no point in giving a new body to the same old wicked soul. If there is a way to give a new soul to a living person then that is appreciated. And thats what Jesus gives to anyone who accepts him. He washes away the sins of the wicked soul and gives a new soul. ie the man is considered as if never sinned. What a sweet previlage !

Answer 6

hey, i agree with Butterfly Baby....

but

since meeting and becoming attached to a Thai Buddhist who has become a friend for life, who is also attached to me; though we have very little in common, at one point he felt certain we were together in a past life.

One day I found a picture of my maternal Grandma at a young age and they have a similar look in thier eyes...this woman died b/f my friend was born and, when he saw the pic, he and 2 other Thai people said immediately, "she looks Thai". Which she's NOT even a drop of - she's pure Irish!

SOOOO, this has been challenging for me b/c though I still don't think it's biblical, i'm no longer sure 100%- since coming to Thailand so much of my prior thinking has been challenged....

Answer 7

I really believe in reincarnation I think it neat to be able to come back to the universe as someone totally different or something other than human form and possibly have a much better life than what your having now is great.

Answer 8

Please see my basic answer to this: **Posted two days ago Question was "Bible readers only..was Elijah and John the Baptist the same man" (paraphrase).

How can we be so narcissistic to believe that, in a world where everything is recylable, we are not !! In Genesis, God said that He will strive with a man/woman for 120 years. Reincarnation is the only logical answer to this pronouncement. In other words, we get x number of times to 'go through life' to "get it" that Jesus Christ is the Savior; at the end of 120, if we didn't "get it"..then we are without excuse at the judgment seat of God.

And who says that each incarnation the person gets better and better? Why even in India, where there have been thousands of years of belief in re incarnation; it is still a roll of the dice which caste you will be born in...(there are no guarantee's, that you will be born into a better caste or even as a human)

In Christianity, I think each go around is as a human; but, God, being as brilliant as He is, has things worked out whereby: In, at least one, of the go arounds, the person has a better than even chance to 'hear and respond' to the call of God.

Then, if s/he doesn't, the next go around will be more difficult to hear and respond. For example, in one life of 18 years, a man is raised catholic, goes to war with ..hmmmmm alexander the greek or napoleon (ad infinitum) and dies. In his next go around, he's raised by a mean a petty father; and becomes bitter, marries has children, is mean and petty to them and dies at39. Then next time around, he's born into a Christian home, that is warm and loving; but, his soul is still poisoned and he has the 'black sheep problem' and dies in a barroom fight at age 22. So, the next time around he's a Down's syndrome boy (and deep inside 'knows' to discipline himself to have a forgiving and gentle spirit) and lives till, oh...let's say...34...Total now is 113. So, the next time around he's a lad with some kind of blood disorder or cancer; but, at the age of accountability (now that he has a gentle spirit and is not making self destructive choices, as in previous lives) he accepts Christ and then dies of his cancer.

The 120 years were NOT wasted--- diseases, chromosonal abnormalities, wars and cultural conditions ALL WORK FOR GOOD across the span of several centuries.

And, of course, just like voices and fingerprints, the variations of family's born into, countries born into, times born into and health conditions is unique and infinite!!

So, wrap your brains around that concept, my friends and generate some thoughts. What if: I am onto a great mystery and I have just shared it with you?

Answer 9

I think we are not "condemned" to our next life as much as we make that life ourselves. It's just like someone who drinks all the time. They will be so drunk out of their minds that you will say, "What can they learn in that condition?" And that is somewhat true. But nevertheless, they have made this life themselves by choosing to drink.
You can have atonement by living a life of schizophrenia or something like that. Bad things that happen to you can be atoning, so once this has run its course, then you can have a clean slate again, and in that next life, you can learn.
The "purpose" is that it gives you a further chance. It gives you as long as you want or need.

Answer 10

i believe that we have an afterlife in the spirit world, and there was a pre-life as a spirit, the spirit decides what to think in a weird room, if his/her intentions are bad, it goes to a bad world, if its intentions are in the middle, then a life like mine, if good, a life it would like. its not the creators decision what gender and race we are, we sometimes are asian but born into a European body for example, or a male in a female body / Opposite or even both in one of their bodies, but when we die, i think we are in eternal heaven where anything can happen and we have new bodies the way we want, we can decide to go back in a new body but we forget. everything in our brain stays with us to heaven.