Should You Believe in Reincarnation?

There was a Greek philosopher named Plato who associated falling in love with reincarnation. His reason was that after death, the soul, migrates to what has been called the “realm of pure forms.” It remains bodiless while it contemplates the next form to change to. When the time has come for the soul to reincarnate into another body, the soul subconsciously remembers and yearns for the realm of forms. Plato believed that people fall in love because they see in their beloved the ideal form of beauty they just about remember and seek.

The above is what Plato believed in. But what is the actual teaching? Is there really reincarnation? Or is it just a lie perpetrated by a man to instill fear in his subjects. Let’s consider these points carefully.

The teaching of reincarnation requires that the soul be immortal. Who was it that began this teaching? Some people think it was Egypt, whiles others thought it was Babylonia. People thought is was Babylonia because its priesthood advanced the doctrine of transmigration of the soul. They did this because they wanted to hold onto the belief that the Gods they worshiped wee reincarnations of notable, long dead, ancestors. In reality, it was India who began the belief and spread it. The Hindus sages couldn’t understand why there was evil in the world and that humans suffered. They just couldn’t accept the fact that there was a God. Why would a God of love allow such conditions to exist. Here was a god of righteousness and a world of unrighteousness. There would seem to be a conflict between good and evil. The only rational explanation they could come up with was “the law of karma,” which you may know as the law of cause and effect. They went by the scripture that stated ‘whatever a man sows, that shall he reap.’  After thinking about it for a time, they decided that a detailed ‘balance sheet’ was required, which would provide merits and demerits in one life would be rewarded or punished in the next. Instead of believing in the Bible and realizing God had a plan, they took the easy way out; a way that required less of an explanation and intelligence to figure out.

Therefore, the teaching of reincarnation has as its basis the belief that the soul is immortal and builds on it using the law of karma. But is this scriptural? What does the Bible have to say? Let’s see.

If you read the first book of the Bible, in Genesis, we are told the meaning of the soul. If you look at the creation of the first man, Adam, the Bible says: “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” By reading this it clearly shows that the soul is not what a man has but what he is. The Hebrew word used for soul in this case is ne’phesh. This word is used in the Bible 700 times, and is never referred to as a separate part of a human but is always tangible and physical, as the person directly.

If the soul is you, what happens to the soul at death? Well, take a look at what happened to Adam at his death. When Adam sinned, God told him: “By the Sweat of your brow you will eat your flood until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3;19. If you think about this, before God created Adam from the dust, Adam never existed. So at his death, Adam returned to the existence he had before being created, which was dust. He did not live on to immortality nor was he brought back into another body.

The Bible teaches that death is the opposite of life. At Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10, we read: “for the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten … Whatever your hands finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grace, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” This scripture proves that the dead are unable to feel anything. They are not able to think or reason. Even King David mentioned about death when he stated in Psalm 146:3,4: “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” 

By reading the Bible, we can clearly see, without a shadow of a doubt, that when we die, the soul does not move on to another body, it dies. The Prophet Ezekiel also commented about death when he said in Ezekiel 18: 4,20: “For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son - both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die ... The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.”

Thus, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul - which happens to be the foundation for the theory of reincarnation - is not supported in the Bible. Without God’s approval, as written in the Bible, it idea of reincarnation is only a theory, and even as a theory it has no weight.

If there is no such thing as reincarnation, why do we suffer so much for? Well that question can be answered by examining one aspect of humankind - sin. Humans suffer because of sin, the sin we inherited from Adam. Romans 5:12 says it best: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” We owe our sinful nature the Adam. As such, we get sick, grow old, and die.

The Bible also tells us the moral law which states: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

As shown in the scripture above, if we live carefree life will with debauchery, and is promiscuous, we will reap the affects resulting in emotional distress, unwanted pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases.

What about the idea of reaping what you sow. Isn’t that connected to the law of karma. The answer to that is no. This is because the law of karma leans toward the idea of having a supposed previous life. Since we know this is not possible, karma has nothing to do with it. In Romans 6:7, 23 we read: “Because anyone who has died has been freed from sin…. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So when we die, our sins are erased automatically. This refutes the law of karma right away.

Besides the sin of man, Satan the Devil is also part of the problem as to why we suffer. He knows he has a short period of time before Jesus destroys him, so he is putting extra pressure on people to turn against God and worship him. He will even make you suffer to achieve his means.

So why is it is that some people live a charmed life, while others suffer in poverty. Why does a person, who graduated with the highest of grades, and received high honors, cannot find a job? Wouldn’t this be because of the law of karma? No it doesn’t. The reason is described in Ecclesiastes 9:11 where it says: “I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does the food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happens to them all.” 

So is the teaching of reincarnation real or just  farce, made up by a man? The facts speak for themselves and the Bible confirms it. Reincarnation was created by the Hindus, of India, who wanted to escape the realization of having a righteous God and also having unrighteousness in the world. Instead of turning to the Bible and learning why suffering was occurring in the world, the Hindus took the easy way out and went against the Bible.  As such, reincarnation is not a biblical teaching and is therefore not supported by God.