What does the Bible teach about reincarnation?

[RyanSmith-zkve]

People want reincarnation to be true because the truth of eternal conscious torment under God's righteous wrath is abhorrent to those who are dead in their sins and trespasses. Those who claim that John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnated forget that Elijah did not die but was rather gathered to YHWH on a chariot of fire. When Jesus says that John the Baptist is Elijah, he wasn't eluding to John BEING Elijah, but rather that John came in the spirit and power or OFFICE of Elijah. We also see Elijah next to Jesus. along with Moses, when He transfigured, that is, He gave a brief glimpse of His divine glory to Peter, James, and John the beloved. Those claiming that "you must be born again" somehow means we must be reincarnated are in extreme error in their interpretation. This passage, rather, speaks of the New Birth, done so by the Holy Spirit. It is in relation to Ezekial 36:25-27 which says "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." (NASB) We are born sinners who are dead in our sins and totally unable to do that which is spiritually good to merit salvation. This because of the Fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. Jesus nowhere in Scripture eludes to an ethereal place where one's soul is gathered and then sent back to Earth. Rather we are told...

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32“All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

34“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

41“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45“Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46 (NASB)

Which destiny will you have? Eternal Life or Eternal Damnation? Repent therefore and believe the Gospel. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed [j]from faith to faith; as it is written, “[k]But the righteous man shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17 (NASB)

[MrKlrth]

this is the worst explanation I've ever heard....

[johnjoshua]

So much of what Jesus Christ taught was changed in order to control someone or discriminate against someone. The bible you read has changed so much.

[criticaloptimist]

Under this pastor's analysis, the Apostle Paul himself should question his own encounter with the being he saw on the road to Damascus.

[julioestebanperezescudero]

Sir, you are still hooked on the traditions trying to explain everything with demons, a clear approach from many Christian denominations. Reencarnación is not taught in the Bible, it is simply assumed, everyone at the time of Jesus understood it, but later it was suppressed to control better the people through the institutions whose tennets of faith established the difference between clergy and laity, not being this teaching part of Jesus instruction to their disciples.
I’m afraid that you still are under this frame of mind!

[krisc]

Oh my... The bible as we know it, is not the 'word' of God. It's a distorted and manipulated version by someone who was arrogant enough to claim his interpretation was the only truth. There are many parts missing and falsly interpreted in this contemporary bible. So stop quoting and using the 'bible' for purposes like these...

[nebular]

satan could transform into jesus, for you who believe in worshiping jesus could in fact worship satan the devil himself - according to the logic of the pastor. reincarnation is real, jesus was right when he made the comment that john the baptist was elijad, john the baptist came back as john booth.

[johnsonbob]

The Bible advocates that everyone is a sinner and that people come into this world with sin. If there is no afterlife, no reincarnation, and every soul is created by God and can only come to the world once, then no one can have original sin. Many people's penance and atonement, as well as the baptism of infants and children, would be unnecessary and meaningless.

[nethan]

Hebreeuw 9:27 men shall only die once. Done. This verse it the same in jewish bible and in the old Greek bible.

[altevanyan]

Can someone, please, invite a real academic Biblical scholar?

[didytom]

The question was not really answered...

[thefanpirate]

The soul is meaning less without reincarnation

[TheJhockman]

actually there is much evidence to support reincarnation in Scripture. example 1. Jesus asked his followers "who do people say that I am?" his followers replied "some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and some say one of the prophets."

example 2 Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus about entering into the kingdom of heaven one of the comments Jesus made to Nicodemus was "it was not the bread of heaven good sent to you in the desert." Jesus was referring to the 40 years in the desert with Moses. but wait a minute. he told Nicodemus he was in the desert with Moses. how can that be when it occurred 1800 years before that moment.

example 3 Jesus says to his disciples "if you will have it John the Baptist is Elijah who was to come." some try to argue that John was only in the power and spirit of Elijah... stop and read that very carefully... the power and spirit of Elijah was in John the Baptist... that is reincarnation. to take this example even further if we look at the story of Elijah when the Baal worshippers could not call fire down from heaven and he could Elijah had all of the Baal worshippers carried out into a valley and executed. when King Ahab told his wife Jezebel about this she sought to have Elijah killed. because of this Elijah went into hiding where he remained until God took him up to heaven. Jezebel died later still with the desire to kill Elijah. now we know that Jesus says he who lives by the sword must die by the sword. hmmm Elijah took a life of the sword when he executed the Baal worshippers. but he never died by the sword. he was carried to heaven. back to John the Baptist. how did he die? by the sword when he was beheaded. therefore due to Elijah living by the sword he was reincarnated as John the Baptist so that he may not only precede the Messiah as in prophecies but so that he can recieve his earthly punishment and die by the sword.

example 4 Jesus's disciples asked him "who sinned? this man or his parents that he was born blind." while Jesus neither confirms not denies the idea of reincarnation he also does not rebuke his followers for such an idea. interestingly enough Peter was rebuked by Jesus later and was even called Satan by Jesus for far less than what we consider heresy today. and yes I say today because reincarnation had not always been considered heresy within the Christian faith. as a matter of fact it was considered common doctrine for exactly 500 years after the death of Jesus before it was condemned by the 2nd council of Constantinople which as we all know about that time became a very political power. this is also about the time that Sabbath was changed to Sunday and pagan holidays (I.e. Easter, Christmas, and all hallows Eve) were celebrated in place of the commanded Sabbath holidays. over the years more and more pagan holidays have been added to the Christian faith disguised as different feast days for the saints. anyways back to reincarnation. to back my point about reincarnation being common theology in those days we can look at not only the works of flavius Josephus to confirm that reincarnation was a common belief with Jews and early Christians but we can also look at some of the writings of Origen. as we all know Origen was considered one of the greatest theologians since the apostles. one of the core teachings of Origen was the preexistence of the soul but also the transmigration of the soul. his doctrine came directly from the 4 Gospels and from teachings by those who preceded him and mentored him. let's take a look at who taught him. his direct mentor was saint Clement that have him ask the information that he himself was taught. now let's look at who mentored saint Clement... oh? it just so happened to be Peter apostle to Jesus. the one whom Jesus told "you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church". as if that is not enough look at the works of some of the other early church fathers. there are works from 13 total early church fathers that attest to the fact that for 500 years after the death of Christ early Christian theology contained doctrines of reincarnation.

[energetically]

Ah he took a plane ride, talk to an aul lady. Some top class scholarly work here

[Jesus-is-Your-Only-Hope.]

Good answer! Makes total sense to me. Thanks!

[jewishbride]

Exactly my thought, there are some good arguments AGAINST reincarnation, in Jesus Christ his name and by Jesus Christ his blood: amen!

[zluv]

What makes any of those people any different than the rest who've had experiences other than a damn title and a piece of paper? There are MILLIONS IF NOT BILLIONS whove had experiences and have stayed quiet why should i care about these people who are new age and jobs are? i only care about what they experienced Nothing more so i could care less about their job title, their title has nothing to do with their experience someone with a degree can have the same experience as someone who doesnt have one. So i failed to see the point on having to point their titles out at all even for a second as if that
Makes them anymore special than anyone else who's gone through the same thing. The difference is they chose to write about it others didnt

[dee]

How can reincarnation be real if the dead rise first at the rapture I don’t understand??

[jonahmcdonald]

What if god sends people to hell to burn the sins that have been formed and then they get reincarnated as a way of god to see a cleansed being that has ounce stood before him, yet this time he will allow this being to enter the next dimensional plain of understanding that will accelerate the growth of energy

[lindobushmanpetrosillo]

when you die the body goes back to dust the spirit goes back to God who gave it so no such thing as reincarnation false teachings