WHAT ABOUT REINCARNATION?

A couple of years ago, my wife, Carol, was involved in a religious discussion at work. A coworker was trying to goad her into an argument. He insisted that, “Christians believe in reincarnation.” Carol replied that we don’t, even though he insisted that we do. Then he said he could prove it. “Jesus died on the cross, right?”, he asked. “Yes,” she said. “He was buried, right?” “Yes,” she said. “He came back to life, right?” “Yes,” she said. “Well, that means he was reincarnated!” “No!” she said. “That’s resurrection, not reincarnation!”

Reincarnation is a topic that is discussed all over the world. In India, 400 million Hindus believe in it. In our own country, approximately 30 million Americans believe in it and even more accept it as a possibility. General George S. Patton thought he had lived many previous lives to the one he was then living. Shirley MacLaine helped popularize belief in it by writing about it in her book, Out on a Limb. In it, she says, “Reincarnation is like show business. You just keep doing it until you get it right.”  

What is reincarnation? Despite what Carol’s coworker said, it is a word that is not found in the Bible, so we can’t look there for help. The dictionary defines it as “a rebirth of a soul in a new human body.” Reincarnation literally means “to come again in the flesh.” Like Christians, Hindus believe in a body and a soul. But, Hindus believe that after the body dies the soul comes back again into another body, depending on the type of life one had lived. If they did good, they come back to a body in a higher human “caste,” but, if they did evil, they come back to a body that is either a lower caste or a lower animal form. 

The Bible, on the other hand, contradicts the teaching of reincarnation in many ways. Two passages should help. Hebrews 9:27 tells us that “it is appointed for men to die once and after this the judgment.”  (We die once, not many times!) 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (We are judged for things we did in our “body,” not bodies!) Jesus taught a resurrection, not a reincarnation! (John 11:18-26)

             Ronaldo Ricardo Guzmán