Sunday, October 20, 2024

Oct 21 Mon - Is reincarnation compatible with Christianity?

 

Oct 21 Mon
*Is reincarnation compatible with Christianity?*

Some people believe that one can accept reincarnation and still be a Christian.
Reincarnation is the belief that the human soul, which has not achieved total purification after death, returns to inhabit another human or non-human body multiple times until it is sufficiently cleansed to unite with the divine.

In other words, when the soul dies, it does not go to heaven, hell, or purgatory, but instead passes into another being to be purified repeatedly. This concept is entirely foreign to the Christian faith and Catholic theology.

What do the *Bible and the Tradition* of the Church say about this?

The Bible contains numerous arguments against reincarnation. Here are three key texts:

"... so, a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more, he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep" (Job 14:12).

In the New Testament, Jesus himself teaches us that there is no “second chance” for life on earth, as seen in the story of poor Lazarus, who was continually ignored by a rich man, during his life. When they both died, Lazarus went to heaven while the rich man went to hell. Later, the rich man begged Lazarus for water but was denied.

"Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received good things, and Lazarus bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides, between you and us, there is a great chasm, that no one may pass from here to you, and none may cross from there to us’." (Lk 16: 25-26).

“And it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27).

Reincarnation implies multiple lives and multiple deaths. If the soul is reincarnated after death until it completes its purification, then there is no particular judgment.

Furthermore, *the Holy Fathers* also speak against this doctrine:

St Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho, 4,7): “So, the [damned] souls neither see God, nor migrate into other bodies. For they would know that they are being punished in this way, and would be afraid to commit even the slightest sin afterward.”

St Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heretics, Book 2, 33,1): What their pretended, transmigration of souls is false; we will prove this by the fact that none of their souls remembers their previous lives. For, if they were sent (to this world) to experience all kinds of activities, they would have to remember what happened in the past, in order to complete what is missing without having to work.

Finally, the *Magisterium of the Church* is clear in this regard:
Death is the end of man's earthly pilgrimage, of the time of grace and mercy which God offers him to work out his earthly life in keeping with the divine plan, and to decide his ultimate destiny. When "the single course of our earthly life" is completed, we shall not return to other earthly lives: "It is appointed for men to die once" (Heb 9:27). There is no "reincarnation" after death. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1013)

Excerpts from Jesús Urones.

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