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From: arm@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Alexander d Macalalad)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Reincarnation
Message-ID: <Mar.16.03.45.56.1990.26542@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 16 Mar 90 08:45:58 GMT
Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Lines: 44
Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

In article <Mar.13.03.25.49.1990.13844@athos.rutgers.edu> CONS.ELF@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE (Ake Eldberg (William de Corbie)) writes:
>This shows how Hindu mission works: it tries to put Hindu teachings
>as a meta-level over Christianity. It never denies any teaching of
>any religion. It says yes to everything, but carefully molds its
>followers in Hindu ways of thought, such as reincarnation and 
>many other ideas which are incompatible with historical Christianity.

On a tangential thought, I wonder how many Christians out there believe 
in reincarnation, or can at least acknowledge that it isn't totally
incompatible with Christianity.  I also wonder what sort of scriptural
evidence there is for or against reincarnation, such as when Jesus 
proclaims that John the Baptist is Elijah, presumably reincarnated.
(To be fair, most biblical scholars would say that Jesus did not literally
mean that John the Baptist was the same person as Elijah.)

I don't want this to degenerate into a discussion of the merits and
pitfalls of New Age theology, since it is problematic to merge that
theology into any but the most watered down Christianity.  But as a
practicing Catholic, I have tried to integrate the concept of 
reincarnation into my faith.  I see salvation as a process, often 
long and painful, which frees us from sin and radically transforms 
us.  It seems only natural to allow this transformation to occur 
even over several lifetimes.  Karma, then, is not a punishment, 
but an opportunity for the spirit to grow and progress.

Where does Christ fit into this picture?  It is through Him that we
are saved; the only difference is that the process of salvation now
spans several lifetimes.  What if you are reincarnated into
different faiths over different lifetimes?  The only answer I have
to that is that people in some sense choose to reincarnate, and so
if you are serious about following Christ, then you will choose to
reincarnate as a Christian.

Now I freely admit that there is little support for this point of
view in Scripture, but neither is there much support for the concept
of Purgatory, which addresses the same question:  What happens to a
person who dies accepting Christ but is not yet "ready" for Heaven?
The only difference is that once in Purgatory a person is assured
of Heaven, whereas when reincarnated a person still has the option to
accept or reject Christ.

Comments? 

Alex