Is reincarnation true?

1. Do we reincarnate again and again?

As far as the doctrine of reincarnation is concerned, we can find many logical inconsistencies and question marks in it. The same also applies to the research that has been done on reincarnation and that has been done using hypnosis and spontaneous recollections. We will study this in the light of the next examples:

Why do we not remember? The first and certainly the most justifiable question concerning our former lives is; “Why do we not usually remember anything about them?” If we really have behind us a chain of past lives, would it not be logical that we could remember many details of these past lives such as family, schools, residences, jobs, old age? Why do we not remember these things from our former lives, even though we can easily remember hundreds, even thousands of events from this life? Therefore, is this not a clear piece of evidence that those former lives never existed, because otherwise we certainly would remember them? 

   If you are a member of the New Age movement and you believe in reincarnation, you should ask yourself why you do not remember anything about these former lives. Also take into consideration the fact that several supporters of reincarnation deny the possibility that we could remember these former lives. Even H.B. Blavatsky, the founder of the theosophical society, who perhaps more than anybody else made reincarnation known in the Western countries in the 1800s, wondered why we cannot remember:

Maybe we can say that in the life of a mortal person, there is no such suffering of the soul and body that would not be the fruit and consequence of some sin that has been committed in a previous form of existence. But on the other hand, his current life does not include even one memory of those. (1)

Population growth. The second problem we have to face is population growth. If reincarnation is true and someone always achieves moksha and leaves the cycle then the number of people on Earth should decrease – or at least it should not increase. In other words, there should now be fewer people on Earth than earlier.

   Why is the situation just the opposite? When the population should all the time decrease because people leave the cycle, it is, instead, increasing all the time, so that there are now about 10 times more people than 500 years ago and about 30 times more than 2,000 years ago. Actually, right now there are more people on Earth than ever before and their number has increased all the time through the centuries.

   As a matter of fact, we would not have to go further back than some thousands of years – basing calculations on the current population growth – before we would achieve the zero point where there would be no people. (Compare Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth...”).

   Population growth is a real problem from the point of view of reincarnation, especially if some souls are freed from the cycle. This does not support reincarnation; it contradicts it.

Oriental and Western reincarnation. One feature of the Oriental view is that a man can become an animal or even a plant, while in the Western countries, humans are assumed to remain humans. The older and more original Asian view includes all forms of life; that is why it is called the transmigration of souls. For example, Olavi Vuori (p. 82, Hyvät henget ja pahat) provided this description of the Chinese popular religion:

Chinese popular religion includes a view about reincarnation. After having gone through all tribunals, the soul will reincarnate to the world. The form in which a person will reincarnate depends on the person’s previous life. Those who have treated domestic animals badly will be born as domestic animals. For this reason, the religious Chinese do not kill animals. Laotse already advised, “Be friendly to animals. They can be your ancestors."

We may therefore ask why this aspect has not been brought up much in the West? Very seldom – or never – have we read that someone has been a fish or a bacterium, for example, in his previous life; and who would remember such a former life as an animal? Another question that seems obvious is: If we lived as bacteria or even trees during our previous lives, what did we learn then? Certainly, bacteria and trees have no understanding. Many people believe that they were kings or other notable people but in studies of reincarnation, we do not usually hear that someone has been an animal in his former life – these kinds of stories are completely missing.

   We might justifiably wonder why there is such a big difference between the Western and the Oriental view. Isn’t that another proof that people do not know any concrete facts? Their ideas are based on beliefs that are difficult or impossible to prove true.

Interval between reincarnations. Another contradiction within reincarnation is the different intervals between reincarnations, the time that is spent in the other world. Opinions greatly vary, depending on the culture or society. The following examples illustrate these differences:

- In the community of Druus in the Middle East, people believe in direct reincarnation; there is no interval.

- In the Rose Cross movement, reincarnation is expected to happen every 144 years.

- Anthroposophy believes in reincarnation at an interval of 800 years.

- Reincarnation researchers estimate that the interval is usually between 5 and 60 years.

So a good question is, which of these perceptions and beliefs is correct, or are they all wrong? Do these contradictions not prove that these people have no factual information about this, and that it is only a question of everyone’s own false beliefs? Perhaps these intervals and former lives never existed.

   Another more serious problem is that if we have been in the other world tens or hundreds of years and even several times, why do we not have any recollections from them? Why are we as unaware of these intervals spent in the spirit world as we are of our former lives? Some explain this absence of memory by saying that our memory has maybe been wiped away. But if our memory was wiped away how can we prove that reincarnation takes place? If we do not remember anything from our former lives and the intervals between them, the evidence supporting reincarnation remains very meager.

Connection beyond the border and reincarnation. It is typical that many members of the New Age movement who believe in reincarnation also believe that they get messages from the spirits of the dead. They really believe that they can be in connection with the dead, even though they also think reincarnation is true. They may arrange special spiritualist sessions in which they believe they receive messages from people who have already moved beyond the border. For example, one of the best known mediums, the late Leslie Flint, established contact with such persons as Marilyn Monroe, Valentino, Queen Victoria, Mahatma Gandhi, Shakespeare, Chopin, and other famous people.

   What many members of the New Age movement do not take into account is how these two issues – reincarnation and contact with the dead – can be simultaneously valid. If we try to put them together we will only have a mess on our hands. We can see this in the next examples:

With whom might we be in contact? The first difficulty is identifying the person with whom we are in contact. If some person has behind him ten different incarnations on the Earth and he has just moved beyond the border as a person called Matthew, with which of these ten persons are we in contact?

   Look at the following list that describes this. Incarnations have been arranged chronologically – only the names of the same person change during his different lives. His latest incarnation on Earth was Matthew and the earliest one was Aaron.

1. Aaron

2. Adam

3. Ian

4. Walt

5. Richard

6. Wayne

7. James

8. Edward

9. William

10. Matthew

The problem is that when these ten people are really just one person, can we then be in contact with all ten people or only with Matthew, who was the last to live on earth? Or does one and the same person across the border play different roles according to what is necessary, so that he is sometimes Matthew, sometimes Aaron, sometimes Richard, and sometimes somebody else? Curiously, those who believe that they are connected across the border do not usually run into such problems. They always believe that they are in contact with the people they want. However, in the light of this example, it is questionable.

What if the person has been reincarnated and is living on the Earth now? If we continue with the previous line of thinking, we can think that the same person with ten incarnations behind him is now reincarnated on earth as a completely new person; now he’s back as Gary. He is, therefore, the eleventh incarnation of the same person on Earth.

   The problem in this kind case is that if we now try to make contact with one of the ten persons before the current one (Aaron, William, etc, ending with Matthew), how can we succeed since the person is now living on Earth? For example, the above-mentioned Leslie Flint believed to have been in contact with Marilyn Monroe and other famous people but if these people had already reincarnated back on Earth, how could this connection have been made? Should it not have been quite impossible? (It could have happened if Leslie Flint had met these people on Earth in their new incarnations.) Therefore, there are great problems if we try to put these two philosophies together.

Can a person be in contact with himself? We might also be faced with a situation in which Gary, the eleventh incarnation, tries to contact one of his previous incarnations. It is really possible that he tries to have contact with one of his previous incarnations or even with all of them at the same time. The question is, how is that possible because this person himself is now on Earth and not beyond the border? This is a problem of two places: how can the same person be in two places at once? We can see that it cannot be possible.

Why are people still in the cycle? Reincarnation involves the idea that we are in a constant cycle of development, and that the law of karma rewards and punishes us according to how we have lived in our previous lives. Civilized behavior and goodness should constantly increase in the world as we develop.

But here there is a major problem in terms of reincarnation. The world is by no means always going in a better direction, but for the worse (as Paul said, "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 2 Tim 3:1,2). The crime rate is not decreasing but increasing. In the past, in rural areas, it was not always necessary to lock doors or use burglar alarms for fear of burglars, but today they are used. Similarly, in the last century, two of the most devastating wars in the history of mankind have been fought, killing millions of people. If there has been any development in this area, it has been only in weapons and technology, not in people.

   On the other hand, if there are already thousands of incarnations behind them, shouldn't all the injustices have ended by now? If bad karma together with illness, poverty and other suffering is always the consequence of wrong actions in our previous lives, shouldn't everyone have already learned about the consequences of their actions during thousands of incarnations? Why, however, are we still in a 'cycle' and why has development not progressed beyond that if everyone already has countless experiences of learning from the consequences of their actions? There is an obvious contradiction here between the two, and it is one of the most powerful things that speaks against reincarnation.

Our life on Earth and beyond the border. The Western concept of reincarnation, in particular, involves the idea that we go across the border every now and then to spend an intermission after our death. In addition, when it comes to life after death and beyond the border, it is usually described in western countries as filled with an atmosphere of harmony, peace and love. For example, in well-known book "Kuolemaa ei ole" by Rauni Leena Luukanen this view is clearly presented. The next quote is from the book (p. 209, 221), where the writer’s supposed "grandmother" transmits a message from beyond the border through automatic writing (In fact, it was a deceiving spirit who appeared as the grandmother of the writer). The message refers to life beyond the border, which is then compared to the loveless and cold environment on earth:

The love connects people. Words, gestures, and explanations are not needed. There is no physical love. All love is spiritual. People love each other in the same way regardless of whether they are men, women, or children. True love is like that even on Earth but is manifested in various ways because of our limited bodies.

   People on Earth live in a loveless and cold environment. On Earth, we learn, however, and here we must return again and again to learn the lesson of true love, to learn and to behave according to our development, serving and loving our neighbors.

   (…) On Earth one cannot imagine the love and beauty in the other reality. When people come here, they are surprised by the colors, peace, and beauty, which cannot be described with mere words.

However, if life beyond the border is like that (what about unrepentant evildoers who may have tortured others, people like Hitler who was guilty of killing millions; do they experience the same?) then why does not the same atmosphere prevail here on the Earth? If we all have been beyond the border where everything is different, why does the same thing not also happen here on Earth? This should not be a problem because it is a question of the same persons being both there and here – only the place has changed.

   This is yet another problem of reincarnation; why do the same people live in these two places in completely different ways; they alternately behave well and badly, depending on the place of residence. It's just as big a problem as the fact that we don't even remember anything about the intervals or our previous lives.

Why be born on Earth if it’s not necessary? Especially in the Western countries they teach that life after death is happiness, peace, and freedom from all the chains of material things (we referred to this already in the previous paragraph), and that we can always choose when we will reincarnate on the Earth, especially "because of our mental growth." This can be seen, for example, in Mitä on New Age? (by Kati Ojala, p. 22). The book states that we can even choose the conditions of living when we reincarnate back on the Earth.

  Also because of them, we will leave the astral after a certain time and return to a lower level of vibration, into physical matter and a new incarnation. However, before that we will choose the circumstances and the period of our future life.

  (…) We choose our parents, friends, neighbors...

However, if life after death is all happiness and peace, why would we want to reincarnate back on Earth? If we know that there is suffering waiting for us because of bad karma (for example, Hitler and many other evildoers), nobody would want to reincarnate back on the Earth. We would rather spend "happy days" beyond the border – since we are selfish – and would not come back here. Then, the Earth would certainly be quite deserted and there would not be the current great multitude of people.

   It is also questionable that we would reincarnate back here because of our desire for mental development. This is questionable because perhaps 90 percent of people do not ever think about it. If it was the most important reason behind our reincarnation, it would certainly occupy our minds from the very beginning, but that is not the case.

   One problem that appears particularly in the Western view of reincarnation is that it is not in line with the original Asian view. In the East, the goal is to leave the cycle but why would they want to reincarnate on the Earth if they had already achieved their goal? They would achieve their goal simply by deciding not to be born on the Earth anymore. In the East, they do not believe in this possibility, and this view is again one of those contradictions that appear in the doctrine of reincarnation.

How does the law of karma work? If we look at the mysteries of reincarnation, one of them is the law of karma. According to the typical view, it should function so that it will always reward or punish people according to how they have lived their former life. If a person has done bad things or thought bad thoughts, the result of it will be negative; on the other hand, good thoughts will result in a positive development.

   However, the mystery is how any impersonal law can function like that. No impersonal power or law can think, differentiate between actions, or even remember anything what we have done – just like a book of statutes cannot do that: you always need an executor of the law, a personal being; mere law cannot do that.

   Neither can the impersonal law make any plans for our future lives or determine the conditions we will be born to and live in. These activities always require a person, and the law of karma is not a person. How can mere law function in the above-mentioned way?

   The second problem is that if the law of karma will reward and punish us always according to how we have lived in our previous lives, why can we not remember anything about our past? If we are punished because of our former life, we should also know why we are being punished. What is the basis of a law if the reasons for punishments are not clear? This is one of those mysteries and question marks that are connected to the doctrine of reincarnation.

What about the beginning? Above, we considered bad karma that is created only in this life on Earth. We learned that reincarnation means we return here to the Earth again and again, and that our reincarnations are always based on how we lived before. It is generally thought, at least in the East, that the karma of the previous lives determines our destiny and our role in this life. Because bad karma is the result of our previous lives people try to get rid of it, especially in the East. Their goal is to be freed from reincarnation so that they do not have to reincarnate on the Earth any more. For example, Buddha taught that the eight-part road is one of the ways to do this.

   One point people do not usually think about is the beginning. What was the beginning like, when no-one had yet lived on the Earth and there was no bad karma because of previous lives? Somewhere there must be a beginning, with nothing and no-one on the Earth.

   A good question is: what was the starting point? The verified history of mankind does not go back in time for more than 5,000 years when farming, the ability to write, ceramics, buildings and towns were created. Nor can the globe, life on its surface, or the Sun be everlasting – otherwise the energy reserves of the Sun and thus life on the Earth would have ended a long time ago.

   So one mystery is how did “bad karma” first become evident? How did it begin impacting our lives on Earth, because we did not have any preceding lives from which we could have gotten it? We are generally led to believe that we must during this life reap what we have sown in our previous lives but if, in the beginning, there were no preceding lives then how could this doctrine about the law of karma be true? Actually, this would mean that if we in the beginning had no bad karma from our previous lives then we would have then already been perfect and there would have been no need for the cycle of reincarnation. If it is true, how was the cycle created if only the bad karma from our former bad lives creates it and keeps it going? What was the initiator?

   These points may be explained by the next quote. It refers to how the cycle can perhaps start from the middle but it does not take into account the problem of the beginning. The author of this description discusses with Buddhist monks:

I sat in the Buddhist temple of Pu-ör-an with a group of monks. The conversation turned to the question of where does the spirit of man come from. (…) One of the monks gave me a long and detailed explanation about the great cycle of life that continuously flows through thousands and millions of years, appearing in new forms, developing either higher or coming lower, depending on the quality of individual actions. When this answer did not satisfy me, one of the monks replied, “The soul has come from Buddha from the western heaven."  I then asked, "From where has Buddha come and how does the soul of man come from him?" There was again a long lecture on the previous and future Buddhas who will follow each other after a long period, as an endless cycle. As this answer did not satisfy me either, I told them, “You start from the middle, but not from the beginning. You already have a Buddha who is born to this world and then you have another one Buddha ready. You have a complete person who goes through his cycle endless times.” I wanted to get a clear and short answer to my question: from where has the first man and the first Buddha come? Where has the large cycle of development started from?

    (…) None of the monks answered, they were all silent. After a while I said, "I will tell you this, even though you do not observe the same religion as I. The beginning of life is God. He is not like your Buddhas who as an endless series follow each other in the large cycle of development but He is eternally the same and unchangeable. He is the beginning of all, and from Him comes the beginning of a man’s spirit."  (…) I do not know whether my answer satisfied them. However, I got a possibility to speak to them about the source of life, the living God whose existence alone is able to resolve a question of the source of life and the origin of the universe. (2)  

2. Examining reincarnation

If a person has read the literature and literature of the New Age in the field of reincarnation, he may have often come across in these books the studies that have been carried out in this area. He may have noticed that the two most common methods in reincarnation studies have been hypnosis and spontaneous recall.

   In order to get another perspective on these methods, it is good to read the following lines. After all, these methods are not very reliable and thorough. We first look at the use of hypnosis:

 The use of hypnosis

Not normal mode. The first reason to question the use of hypnosis is that it is not our normal state. It is not our normal state in which we normally act, think and remember. We never start to remember things even in our dreams, but only when we are awake. This also applies to normal studies that we carry out in schools and elsewhere. It always happens when we are awake, not in sleep.

    Therefore, if the previous lives were true, they should also be remembered in the normal waking state and not only in hypnosis, which is not our normal state of being. The fact that we do not remember them makes one wonder if we have ever lived them.

Subconscious. Another problem with hypnosis is that our subconscious can get involved. It is possible that the material obtained in the session does not come from a past life, but from a novel or other material that the hypnotized person sometimes reads. This probability is always there.

    Harold Rosen's book "A Scientific Report on the Search for Bridey Murphy" provides a good example of such a case:

For example, in hypnosis a man started to speak the Indo-European language Oski, which was spoken in Campani, Italy during the 3^rd century before Christ. He could also write one swearword in Oski. It later became evident after several hypnosis sessions that the man had recently leafed through a grammar book of the Oski language in the library. His subconscious had remembered many idioms of the Oski language, which then “emerged” under hypnosis.

Adjusting to a role. The third problem with hypnosis is that perhaps the hypnotized person only adjusts to the role that is expected from him and only responds to the suggestions of the hypnotist. Many researchers think that 95% of hypnosis is only acting out a role and agreeing with the hypnotist (Bradbury Will, s. 174, In i det okända, Reader's Digest, Sthlm 1983). Even the famous reincarnation researcher Ian Stevenson has admitted that acting a role and adjusting to the will of the hypnotist are possible under hypnosis:

"The 'personalities' that were usually brought to life during the hypnosis-induced 'previous life' seem to contain quite different elements. They may have included something about the person's personality at the time, his expectations of what he assumed the hypnotist expected of him, his mental images of what his previous life should have been, and perhaps paranormal elements as well." (3)

Unknown spirits. The fourth danger with hypnosis is that in these sessions, people are in contact with unidentified spirits, and the information comes from them. This is very justifiable because many people who are easily hypnotized have experienced plenty of paranormal phenomena in their life, similar to those found in spiritualism.

  Helen Wambach who is a pioneer in examining possible former lives through hypnosis has herself admitted that the interference of spirits is possible in hypnosis. She said:

I know many people who have been dealing with occultism, who think that getting possessed by a demon is a real danger for people who are under hypnosis. (…) I was almost misled. When the spirits, odd messages, and automatic writing started to appear in spiritualistic sessions, I learned much more than I had ever anticipated. (4)

Spontaneous recollections

In addition to hypnosis, reincarnation has been examined by means of so-called spontaneous recollections. Sometimes we can hear very accurate descriptions from a person, often a child, who thinks that he has been someone else and speaks about the previous life. The weaknesses in this method are at least the following:

Most people do not remember anything. The worst problem is that the majority of people do not have any recollections of their previous lives. Even H.B. Blavatsky, who was the founder of the theosophical society and who brought the doctrine of reincarnation to the West, admitted this. If we have really lived previous lives, we should also remember them. But why can we not?

Bound to the culture. The second observation that we can make is that it is bound to the culture and expectations of people. Where people believe in reincarnation, we also find more recollections but there are less of these in the Western countries. Most of all they are found among those peoples who believe in imminent reincarnation after death. Due to the cultural affiliation, it can be indeed speculated whether the recollections have any value, since they hardly occur in western countries.

Other connections. Many people who have “a memory of reincarnation” have also experienced paranormal phenomena, which lead us to doubt whether it is only a question of spirits. It is possible that people receive their information from these unknown spirits and it is not a question of real reincarnation.

   Even Ian Stevenson, the best known researcher of recollections, has admitted that many situations that have been regarded as evidence of reincarnation can actually be about occultist phenomena and connected with unknown spirits. In addition to this, Stevenson received an open letter from a Hinduswami (Sri Sri Somasundara Desika Paramachariya) from South India. In this letter, the Hinduswami warned him about the possibility mentioned above. He wrote:

None of those 300 cases about which you told me support reincarnation. (…) In those, it is a question of getting under the power of a spirit, which the wise men from South India do not value very much. (5)

Living as the same person. A special feature of reincarnation stories are those cases where two children remember having lived as the same person. Such was the case of Said Bouhamsy, which Ian Stevenson has thoroughly studied.

    Bouhamsy was a Druze who died in a car accident in 1943. Half a year after his death, his sister gave birth to a son who almost in his first words said the names of Bouhamsy's children. The boy was also able to tell about the accident that had ended his "previous life", and for many years he was terribly afraid of trucks.

    The only problem was that later, in 1958, another boy was born 50 km away, who also began to remember his previous life as Said Bouhamsy! He remembered the accident and the number of his children and things like that. He too developed a morbid fear of trucks.

    So, when it comes to such cases where two people remember having lived as the same person, it is impossible to explain them by reincarnation. At least it cannot be the reason that two people remember their lives as the same person. Probably also in these cases, it is a matter of falling under the power of a spirit.

Person is still alive. It sometimes happens that a child recalls his previous life as a person who is still alive! This was the mysterious case of Jasbir Lali, another that Ian Stevenson examined.

   In 1954 when Jasbir was 3.5 years old, he almost died of smallpox and soon after recovering from the illness started to speak about how in his previous life he had been a boy from the neighboring village of Sobha Ram. He told precise details about his life as that boy; things of which the truthfulness could be checked.

   However, in the case of Jasbir Lali the problem was that Sobha Ram had not died before the birth of Jasbir; he died when Jasbir was 3 years old.

   Therefore, this case cannot be about reincarnation because the person was still alive. There must be some other explanation.

Many Napoleons. There have also been impossible and amusing cases with reincarnations. For example, in America we can find many people who claim that they have lived as Cleopatra or Napoleon! They claim that they once lived as Cleopatra or Napoleon even though there was only one Cleopatra and one Napoleon in the history of the world. We should also note that there are over a hundred people who claim to have lived as H.B. Blavatsky, the founder of the theosophical society!

   A good question to ask about these cases is: have the spontaneous recollections been mixed up? What is the foundation for these claims? This same special feature was also noticed by Daniel Home, one of the most famous mediums of his time. He met twenty Alexander the Greats among other notable people, for example. We can understand that these kinds of recollections cannot be true:

I have had the pleasure of meeting at least twelve Marie Antoinettes, six or seven Mary, Queen of Scots, a whole group of Louis the Greats and many other kings, and about twenty Alexander the Greats, but never an ordinary person like John Smith. I really would want to meet such an unusual case.

The borderline cases, visits beyond the border of death, are not as such included in recollections of the previous life, but they can also contradict reincarnation. Thus, Maurice Rawlings, for example, who was a doctor for about 35 years and followed cases of mortal danger and sudden deaths, said that as a doctor he never received any proof of reincarnation when interviewing people. He wrote in his book Rajan taakse ja takaisin (p. 106, To Hell and Back):

It is interesting that I have not seen in any visions at the deathbed even one reference to reincarnation, the persons returning to Earth by reincarnating, or continue to dwell in some person who had already been born. This concept of 'ownership' was unexpectedly offered by reincarnation expert Ian Stevenson as an explanation of living in those who have already been born."

3. Reincarnation or eternal life?

DOES THE BIBLE TEACH ABOUT REINCARNATION? I If a person has read books about reincarnation, it is likely that he has come across the idea that the Bible also teaches reincarnation or that it was removed from it at some point, perhaps in the year 553 during the Council of Constantinople.

   But is this information really true or not? We will consider this in the light of the next information:

Council of Constantinople in 553. First of all, when it is thought that the doctrine of reincarnation was removed from the Christian faith and the Bible in the Council of 553, it is not true. In this meeting, they did not actually talk about reincarnation, but about the pre-existence of the soul, which was the doctrine Origen had represented. It was rejected at the meeting.

    Reincarnation was thus not removed from the Bible, because it was never there. Even Origen himself rejected the doctrine of reincarnation in his own writings, as had been done by several church fathers before him. Namely, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, he pondered about the relationship between John the Baptist and the prophet Elijah (See a couple of paragraphs ahead!) but said that this had nothing to do with reincarnation, "which is a strange doctrine to the church of God that does not come from the Apostles and does not appear anywhere in the Bible."

Manuscript finds. The notion that reincarnation was abolished in 553 at the Council is unfounded also because the manuscript discoveries, which are dated before the time in question, do not show that the Bible experienced a change. On the contrary, these manuscript finds show that the Bible has survived in its very present form, which does not support reincarnation. (A total of more than 24000 of them have been found in Greek and other early versions, from 100 to 400 AD. This number is huge when we consider that the next most-frequently copied text was that of Homer’s Iliad: only 643 manuscripts exist. That means that today we have nearly 40 times more ancient manuscripts of the Bible than we have of the Iliad.)

    It is also noteworthy that the entire New Testament, with the exception of 11 verses, could be reconstructed from the quotations that have been preserved from the church fathers 300 years after the time of Jesus. According to a study conducted by the British Museum, there are now an estimated 89,000 passages that have been included in the writings of the early church from Ut. This number is huge and shows how much Ut has been used already in the early days. The quotations also show that the New Testament has remained in its current form, which does not support reincarnation.

John the Baptist and the prophet Elijah. One passage that is often quoted by many Eastern mystics and members of the New Age movement is Jesus' words about John the Baptist being Elijah (Matthew 11:11-14 and Mark 9:11-13). They think this would prove reincarnation.

    However, it is good to note that e.g. Luke 1:17 shows that John went ahead of Jesus "in the spirit and power of Elijah". In other words, he had the same anointing influenced by the Spirit as his predecessor in the Old Testament, but he was a different person altogether.

    Furthermore, the clearest evidence that John was not Elijah at all is his own words when he denied this. Surely he himself knew best who he was, because he said: 

 - (John 1:21) And they asked him, What then? Are you Elias? And he said, I am not. Are you that prophet? And he answered, No. 

Dying once. If we look at the general teaching of the Bible, it does not support reincarnation either. It is possible for us to find tens or actually hundreds of verses that suggest that we can be saved only by grace (Eph 2:8,9: For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.), through Jesus and that it is possible for a person to have his sins forgiven right now. This clearly contradicts the doctrine of reincarnation, where man gradually tries to save himself through several lives and gradual development.

    It is also significant that when it comes to the continuation of existence after death, the Bible does not speak of reincarnation into a new body, but of damnation and heaven and also judgment before them - these things completely exclude reincarnation. Judgment takes place after a person has died once - not many times:

 - (Hebr 9:27) And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment:

- (2 Cor 5:10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.

HOW DO ORIENTAL AND BIBLICAL CONCEPTIONS RESEMBLE EACH OTHER? It is remarkable that there are also numerous similarities between oriental and biblical conceptions, such as the concept of human responsibility. For while in the West the idea of damnation may often be criticized, the Oriental conception contains exactly the same conception and that man is responsible for his actions. It manifests itself, for example, in the following points:

Sowing and reaping. If we start from how responsibility manifests itself in Eastern religions, then especially the doctrine of reincarnation and the law of karma that belongs to it contain the idea of this matter and that a person has to make amends for his wrong actions and pay for them. Even though some people often deny the notion that we face judgment and damnation, the original doctrine of reincarnation contains the very same idea that we have to reap what we have sown, i.e. pay for our wrong deeds.

    The idea of sowing and reaping comes to the fore in Rauni-Leena Luukanen's well-known book "Kuolemaa ei ole", in its final part, where the author's supposed "grandmother" conveys a message across the border via automatic writing. This quote (p. 186) refers to the notion that we are responsible for our actions and will reap what we have sown:

An important teaching is this: A man reaps what he has sown. For all, which we have done we are responsible. (…) People do not usually understand the significance of the law of karma.

The teaching of the New Testament is quite similar: we will reap what we have sown. This means that judgment occurs according to deeds as shown in the following verses:

- (Gal 6:7) ... a man sows, that shall he also reap.

- (Col 3:25) But he that does wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done: and there is no respect of persons.

- (Rev 20:12-15) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The view on damnation. The concept of our responsibility and that the wrongdoer has to pay for his actions is not limited to the previous quote and the doctrine of reincarnation. The same view is also common in several religions, where there is a general belief in hell and the bad consequences of wrong actions. Islam and Judaism generally believe in hell, but Buddhism also has some idea of it. The following quote deals with the Eastern concept:

My students generally have the opinion that only the good people can get to paradise and the bad ones have to go to hell. Japanese Buddhism teaches of the existence of both of these "places," and they are not at all afraid of using the word "hell" in the local religious language. I try to get the children to see that they themselves have done bad things. (6)

Eternity. When it comes to our responsibility and the eternity of judgment, the Eastern doctrine of reincarnation, which many members of the New Age Movement believe in and support, can also lead to exactly the same and similar outcome.

    If a wrongdoer (e.g. a person like Hitler) continues to do evil and does not correct the course of his life, he too will have to pay for it in his next lives due to the law of karma. The punishment of the wrongdoer is in a sense eternal if he never changes his way of life. This is very possible in light of the doctrine of reincarnation. In principle, it therefore does not differ in any way from the eternal damnation mentioned in the Bible.

    The concept of the eternity of judgment also appears in Chinese popular religion. They believe that the punishment for certain people, especially murderers, is eternal. They do not even have the possibility to reincarnate, as the next quote tells us:

Chinese popular religion includes an idea of reincarnation. (…) The murderer will never be born again on Earth. He will suffer his punishment eternally. Instead, if a man has been an extremely good person in his previous life, he will be freed from the circle of reincarnation and will move to the western heaven in which he will become Buddha. (7)

THE JUDGEMENT HAS BEEN REMOVED! While the biblical teaching that there will be judgment was brought out above, the glad tidings are that every person can be completely free from judgment and damnation through Jesus Christ. This is indeed the case because Jesus Christ did not come into the world to judge people, but to save them. He came to save people, that everyone could enter into communion with God and that he would not have to go to Hell. The next Bible verses refer to this important matter:

- (John 3:17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

- (John 12:47) And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

 - (John 5:24) Truly, truly, I say to you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death to life.

- (Rom 8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

So the best thing you can do now is to turn to Jesus Christ, by whom the judgment is removed. Only in Him and by turning to Him can you have eternal life and be freed from condemnation. Consider these verses that teach about this important issue:

- (John 5:40) And you will not come to me, that you might have life.

 - (John 6:35) And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.

 - (Matt 11:28-30) Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke on you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest to your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

- (John 14:6) Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.

- (John 6:68,69) Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? you have the words of eternal life.

69 And we believe and are sure that you are that Christ, the Son of the living God.

REFERENCES:

1. Quote from Jälleensyntyminen vai ruumiin ylösnousemus (Reincarnation), Mark Albrecht, p. 123

2. Toivo Koskikallio, Kullattu Buddha, p. 105-108

3. Quote from Jälleensyntyminen vai ruumiin ylösnousemus (Reincarnation), Mark Albrecht, p. 79

4. Same p. 89

5. Same  p. 14

6. Mailis Janatuinen, Tapahtui Tamashimassa, p. 53

7. Olavi Vuori, Hyvät henget ja pahat, p. 82,83

More on this topic:

More on this topic:

What is God like? Read why it is not worth believing in the Hindu and pantheistic (divinity of everything) conception of God

Are there many ways to God? Hinduism and the New Age movement, the notion that all roads lead to the same God. Why is there no reason to believe this notion?

Near death experiences and damnation. Near-death experiences and leaving the body. What is behind the border and is everyone's destiny good after death? Learn why hell needs to be taken seriously

Mother Amma and God. Karma or grace? Why can't Mother Amma forgive sins? Only a true and loving God can do that

Worldviews in comparison: naturalism / atheism, pantheism, polytheism and theism. Read why Christian theism is a sensible worldview