Reincarnation and Christianity.

Does reincarnation have ANY relevance in Christianity? I mean is it really totally unchristian?

I recall reading somewhere some early Christians believed in reincarnation. But I read it so long ago (I don't even remember where) I simply don't have a cite.

I don't believe in an afterlife anymore. But I do still believe in God. And I actually have a question about that. What if you got to heaven, and you asked God to reincarnate you? Would He deny you? I know some people believe that they will meet their departed pets that way. So why not?

What do the rest of you think ?

 

And so God replies , " Be animated . "

 

I think reincarnation is just an idea people hold onto so that they feel comfortable believing that they will have the same emotion, memories, feelings in the next as they do in this.

Complacency really.

I wouldn't worry about reincarnation. I think death is much more than that.

 

The idea of believing in heaven seems at least as complacent. Esp if one convince themselves they can live as they please and ask forgiveness on their deathbed.

 

Look up and read this scripture - Matthew 17: 10-13.

(I also said this in your other almost exact same thread title)... This is a conversation between Jesus and the disciples and to me it is not only speaking about reincarnation but it also seems to be a very accepted idea or belief. It isn't something they are needing explained to them and God knows they needed a LOT explained.

I don't know about this asking to be reincarnated. lol I think when we get to the other side we'll have enough sense to let Him do the deciding and assigning about things like that.

 

Hmmm, reading this I just had the gut level revelation that I no longer think in such terms as "afterlife".
I see it all as a continuity of life/energy with the only demarcations being the state of that energy at differing points in time/space.
Guess that is why I truly have no fear or apprehensions about death, it is merely like switching channels.


time/space and our interaction with it isn't a straight line, it's a spiral.
How many twists does it take to get to the center?..
the world may never know...CRUNCH!!

 

Whether you ever rest in peace or not , die peacefully and even within a misery . I looked
over Jordan and what did I see , coming for to carry me home ? a canoe . I threw my old
guitar off a Mississippi bluff , just to hear the wind in the strings going down . Big turtle look
up , what's coming down .

How is it to be of God and having no thought of reward ? This can be a Christian : Divinely
Oblivious .

 

1 Corinthians 15:38 describes reincarnation. God gives bodies as he chooses and that includes heavenly bodies like the stars, moon and sun. It sounds like the belief is that people have the possibility to become stars. The beliefs of the ancients were much different than ours.

 

Most of the late Roman Empire period Gnostics and the medieval Cathars of southern France/Italy all of whom believed in Christ also believed in reincarnation. All those groups were regarded as heretics by the church and in the case of the Cathars savagely persecuted in what is known as the Albigensian Crusade. In 1244 over 200 Cathars were burned by the inquisition in one day.

 

200 people all died thinking, I am coming back to kick your ass in a few weeks time. LOL.

 

Seems very unlikely. They thought they were getting liberated from the cycle. They were all given the choice to change their minds and convert to catholicism, but prefered a horrible death over that option.

 

Most likely scenario is that a fair amount didn't prefer to get burned alive but simply didn't have a choice. As they were accused of being a filthy and dangerous heretic

 

When studying biology, I found out that rats outnumber humans by about 10 to 1. A few days later, we were discussing reincarnation as part of our religious studies and when animals were mentioned, I worked out that considering their life span, rats would outnumber us in heaven by more than a million to one. When I raised the point, our teacher was not amused, particularly when I mentioned that I would take one look inside the golden gates and join the queue for reincarnation. LOL.

 

Rats don't go to heaven, dude!

 

Needless to say, my comment was purely light hearted. It is terrible the sheer numbers of people who have died over the years in the name of religion. Sadly, at the end of the day, it all boils down to the greed of people wanting territory and wealth belonging to others.

 

I agree. Religion is abused in that regard, not the main instigator. The main instigator remains to be our fellow human eager to reaffirm his own (physical/material) position

 

Am I correct in thinking that you believe that no animals enter the golden gates, or is their a list of pets that are allowed.
The more that I think about the afterlife, the more confusing it all seems

 

The historical accounts, which were written by the inquisition, say they were given the choice to convert. There's no independent evidence, so we'll probably never know for certain.

The accounts say that many of the Cathar 'Perfecti' jumped into the huge fire pit the catholics had made without being actually thrown in, some of them singing hymns.

However it happened, a nasty business.

 

'History is written by the victors' - certainly counted even more in the past. Thankfully the catholics felt proud and righteous enough about their actions and ideas to write it down in the chronicles Otherwise we might not even know about these Cathars at all!

 

I personally don't believe in the pearly or golden gates and whatever is supposed to be behind it.