Religion and reincarnation: Serious answers only please?

For me, all concepts and beliefs should be used as means to an end -- the end being a direct experience of God. When that experience occurs (if it does occur in your lifetime), all the theories and beliefs and concepts become nothing anyway because the experience gives you all the answers. There's a long history of reincarnation belief in christiantity if you do a google search.

I love this question! Probably because I can relate. Nova did a 2 part show on the "string theory". It was sooo good. It would really explain a lot if it turns out to be true, especially de javu. If you find science exciting try to see this. I rented it from Blockbuster, its not to heavy, I understood it. If you only have time to watch part of it, see part II.

Reincarnation as believed in by the other great religions of the world is not an option, for me. However I can't help believing in eternal progression and learning from our mistakes and being put where we need to be to learn, etc.

I believe in a physical resurrection. Therefore I get one body only. But that one body can grow in stages (like a butterfly) to perfection can't it? I believe all things were created first spiritually, then physically, then celestially, then who knows. We don't remember the previous stages because we learn better that way.

So, let not your heart be troubled; just because we don't know it all doesn't mean that what we do know isn't true. And don't get lost in the details, speculation like this is fun, but Christ and what he taught is real. I'm 55 and LDS

I'm going to tell you my theory on reincarnation, but only after a little background.

I also am a devout Christian.

My family has some strange things that have happened in recent years; I'll start with me.

Up until I was about six, I had a recurring dream of being in a car that went off a bridge. I had it for as long as I can remember, and my memories span back to the day I was brought home from the hospital.

Now here's the strange thing. There was a bridge that collapsed several years before I was born. It happened a few days before my birthday. The bridge is touched upon in the movie Mothman Prophesies. I didn't know that something like that had actually happened until I watched the movie.

My younger older brother couldn't speak a word of English until he was nearly five. Not too unusual, right? Well, he was able to speak French fluently. He doesn't remember any French now.

My sister was deathly afraid of helicopters when she was young. Finally, my mom became exasperated with it, and asked my sister why she was so afraid of them. My sister said it was because she had been in a green helicopter that crashed. What she described was the helicopters used widely in the Vietnam war, but she was born in '69.

Seems like evidence for reincarnation, doesn't it?

Not really.

My theory is this:

I believe that memories are passed down from generation to generation, and that children are more succeptible to receiving "echoes" of things that happened in the past.

Some people are fortunate enough to retain these skills, but those are few and far between.

I hope this makes sense. I could elaborate if needed.

I have had them too. Actually the original Christians believed in reincarnation.

It was not officially outlawed till the Romans took over the Christan faith and replaced the true teachings of Jesus with the Paulist ideas.

I was in a study group once and someone suggested a past life regression exercise. I thought the idea sounded hokey and almost got up and left. After it started I had an unbelievable flashback of a life as the head mistress of a German boarding school in the 30s.

It really made me think the idea of reincarnation over a lot more carefully.

Love and blessings Don

I'm not Christian, but after shunning away from this for a while, after studying it I discovered that reincarnation is the same belief that most Christians, Muslims, and Jewish believers hold, many people don't realize it.

reincarnation is simply believing that after you die you will be born as a different being. If you do good deeds you will have a good afterlife, and bad, a bad afterlife. Isn't that Heaven and Hell, and don't Christians believe that you will not be a human in the next life. Later people threw in stuff like being born again as an animal or insect, or another person in this life. I don't believe that, I believe in the original teachings. Its just another explanation for the afterlife. In my Holy Book, its says God will destroy the Universe and bring about another creation. that is easy for God.

If you are a real Bible believing Christian then no, if you are just saying you are a Christian just because its what people want you to be, then yes, you can, but I know for a fact that reincarnation is a false worldly view because of the faith I have in God. If you believe that Jesus died for your sins, then when you die you will go to heaven with God for eternity, if not, you go to Hell, simple as that, no after life or reincarnation. So to answer your question, no, it is not reincarnations, its de javu, everybody gets it, doesnt mean you used to be a goat.

I say it a lot, but read The Jesus Mysteries, by Freke and Gandy.

Apparently, in the early Christian Gnostic church, they believed in reincarnation, like pretty much everybody else at the time (well, except for the atheists--they didn't believe in reincarnation.)

Heaven and hell were concepts that came around waaaayyyy later. Like, a few hundred years later for heaven, about a thousand years after that for "hell" as it's commonly known, and several hundred years after that for the Rapture (thought up by Millerites, who morphed into the Mormons/Latter Day Saints.)

Other religions have ideas about hell, like Buddhism and Islam, but their hells are only temporary until you get your act together and move on. Sorta like purgatory (also a latecomer in the doctrine game.) Pretty much every pagan who was around at the time of the rise of Christianity believed in reincarnation, and many people in religions around the world still think it's the only game in town.

Check out stuff on Gnostic Christianity. It'll blow your mind, man! It answered a LOT of my questions about Christianity. Don't accept everything so-called "Christians" have put into the religion over the years as Christ-like. Read the Bible with a fresh eye, without prejudice, without literal dogma clouding your judgment.

Reincarnation and Christianity aren't as antagonistic as you might think! Go with your gut and research what you are led to, not what some church tells you to think.

I have also experienced de javu in my life but I know that this is not so, because the Bible tells me that all men die and go into the grave to await the second coming of Christ, so the only conclusion is that satan is able to influence us in such a way as to fool us into thinking that we have been somewhere or at some time that is imposable to have had occurred.

i would say no you cant be both a Christain and a riencarnationist. to be a Christian you must believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for YOUR sins so that when you die you can go to heaven and kick it with God! if people are reincarnated then there was no point in Jesus dieing on the cross for that person because they would just come back to earth... there is nothing in the Bible that would lead me to believe in reincarnation!

maybe these 'flash backs' are visions form God or maybe God is giving you memories from someone esles life for some reason.

Early Christians did believe in Reincarnation.