..........
5) REINCARNATION


Under circumstances that to this very day remain shrouded
in mystery, the Byznatine emperor Justinian in 553 A.D. (at the
Second Council of Constantinople) banned the teachings of
reincarnation from the Christian scriptures. There remain,
however, certain allusions to reincarnation in the Bible. And
these few are very powerful.

* * *

In the ninth century B.C. the Hebrew prophet Elijah is
supposed to have live. Four centuries later, Malachi recorded
this prophecy in the closing lines of the Old Testament:
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."

The first book of the New Testament, Matthew, refers to
this prophecy on three occasions, and the remaining gospels
speak of it seven times. In the verses that follow, the Greek
form of the prophet's name is used. It will be noted from the
remarks of the disciples of Jesus that there was much
speculation and widespread acceptance among the Jews concerning
not only the return of Elijah, but of other ancient Hebrew
prophets.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he
asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I am? And they
replied, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias;
and others, Jeremias, or one of the other prophets.

Matthew 16:13-14


And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged
them saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of Man be
risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying,
Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus
answered them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all
things. But I say unto you, that Elias has come already, and
they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they
listed. Likewise shall the Son of Man suffer from them. Then
the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the
Baptist [who had already been beheaded by Herod].

Matthew 17:9-13


Jesus began to say unto the mul***udes concerning
John...this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my
messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before
thee...And if ye will receive it: this is Elias, which was for
to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 11:7,10-11,14-15

Another reference is to be found in Luke 9:7-9: "Now Herod
the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Jesus, and he was
perplexed, because it was said of some, that John was risen
from the dead; and of some, that Elias had appeared; and of
others, that one of the old prophets was risen again. And Herod
said, John have I beheaded; but who is this of whom I hear such
things?" The same incident is related in Mark 6:14-16

The early church father Tertullian offers the view that
some orthodox people take concerning all these verses from the
New Testament [Although Tertullian was also an outspoken
advocate of reincarnation]. In brief, Tertullian's reasoning is
that Elias never died in the first place. God translated him
directly to heaven. Thus, his subsequent re-descent was not a
rebirth, but merely a return visit. It has been described that
Tertullian bases his reasoning on the statement in II Kings
2:11: "Behold there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of
fire...and Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven" and was
seen no more. However, if this church father's reasoning is to
be logically sustained, Elijah's return to earth as John the
Baptist should have been in the same miraculous way he left: He
should have been precipitated on earth as a mature man. Yet the
scriptures indicate that John was born in the ordinary way.
Thus all serious Christian theologians have concluded that
Tertullian's theory is not tenable.

The nineteenth-century [North] American philosopher
Francis Bowen of Harvard, after citing a number of the Gospel
p***ages already quoted, remarks in his article, "Christian
Metemphychosis": "That the commentators have not been willing
to receive, in their obvious and literal meaning, ***ertions so
direct and so frequently repeated as this, but have attempted
to explain them away in a non-natural and metaphorical sense,
is a fact that proves nothing but the existence of an
invincible prejudice against the doctrine of the transmigration
of souls."

One final point. The rebirth of saviors and prophets is
clear enough in Christian teaching, but what about ordinary
men? Do they return? That the disciples of Jesus seriously
considered this possibility is evident from their question
concerning the man who had been born blind. They asked: "Who
did sin, this man, or his parents, that he is born blind?" One
can not evade the conclusion that the disciples must have had
reincarnation in mind, for obviously if the man had been born
blind his sin could not have been committed in this life. Jesus
had a good opportunity to smash the reincarnation idea once and
for all--but he did not! He merely replied that the man was
afflicted because he was destined through Christ to have his
sight restored so that "the works of God should be made
manifest in him."

That it may be legitimate to look to a previous life for
the source of individual goodness or badness seems plain from
St. Paul's comments on Jacob and Esau. He says that the Lord
loved one and hated the other before they were born--Romans
9:10-13; Malachi 1:2-3. How could a nonexistent being be loved
or hated?

Another illustration is the one in which Christ warns that
those who live by the sword will die by the sword [Matthew
26:52]. This could only be universally true--as all of the
savior's statements should be--if there is more than one life
in which to experience the reaction for many professional
combat soldiers die quietly in their own beds. This view is
completely consistent with Newton's Third Law of Motion--for
every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction--and with
the Law of Karma promulgated in the Vedic literatures.

A similar reference is found in Mark 10:28-31, where
rewards are listed that could hardly be fulfilled in one life.
Peter said unto Jesus: "Lo, we have left all, and have followed
thee." And Jesus answered: "Verily I say unto you, There is no
man that has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, But he
shall receive an hundredfold now in this time [in this age]
houses, and brethren, and sisters and mothers, and children,
and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal
life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last
first." Certainly the enumerated rewards could not possibly be
fulfilled in one incarnation.

Saint John states in Revelation 3:12: "Him that overcometh
will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go
no more out." It seems he had gone out into incarnation before,
otherwise the words "no more" could have no place or meaning.
It may have been the old idea of the exile of the soul and the
need for it to be purified by long sojourn before it could be
admitted as a "pillar in the temple of my God." In Luke 20:35-
36, a similar idea again occurs. Jesus says: "They who are
accounted worthy to obtain that world...neither marry...neither
can they die any more."


It can be concluded from both these verses that the goal
to be achieved is of such a transcendent nature, one short life
would be insufficient to reach it. Thus, in Professor Bowen's
essay, "Christian Metemphychosis," previously cited, he wonders
whether in addition to the obvious spiritual meaning, there may
be "a literal meaning in the solemn words of the Saviour
'Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God.'"

"An eternity of either reward or punishment," says Bowen,
"would seem to be inadequately earned by one brief period of
probation on earth."

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