Reincarnation means, literally, to come into the flesh again (re-incarnate). Its adherents believe it is a process by which the souls of the dead enter into a new body, living another time on earth. The theory is that
- when one dies, one’s body decomposes, but the soul is reborn in another body
- our bodies house souls that have lived in other bodies and our current bodies may be the second, third or fourth, etc. soul’s home; and in its most ancient form
- the souls inhabiting our bodies, which have lived before and will live again in another after our deaths, need not inhabit human bodies (some tribes avoid eating certain animals because they believe that the souls of their ancestors dwell in those animals).
From Eastern to New Age religions
Belief in past lives used to belong mainly to Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Within Hinduism, for example, the soul is attempting to move toward a salvation that is impossible to achieve in one’s own lifetime. Depending on the life one lives, one may advance or demote the soul’s status for its next trip through the flesh. The soul is graded according to the completion of one’s social and religious duties. One’s present placement in this established scale of rewards and punishment is because of the soul’s past performance record. Furthermore, reincarnation is not considered a good thing. To achieve the state of ultimate bliss (nirvana) is to escape from this wheel of rebirth.
On the other hand, Theosophy, which had its heyday in the early 20th Century, understands reincarnation as part of the death cycle. Rather than the soul descending into a "lower form of life," one is a soul which has acquired a body that it is working through. In new age religions such as dianetics and channeling, "being born again seems to be a kind of perverse goal. Prepare yourself in this life for who or what you want to come back as in the next life. Belief in past lives also opens the door for New Age therapies such as past life regression therapy, which seeks the causes of today’s problems in the experiences of previous lives."*
Does reincarnation solve some life mysteries?
Some propose that reincarnation offers an explanation for some strange phenomena, such as
- the ability of some to supposedly regress to a past life under hypnosis
- child prodigies (might souls carry knowledge over from a previous life, giving them an advantage over the rest of us?)
- as an explanation for why bad things happen to good people and vice versa (are these really rewards or punishments for past lives?)
- deja vu experiences or dreams (memories from past lives?)
Contrarily, Christians and many others believe that deja vu experiences and dreams are best explained as recalling events from this life, child prodigies are best understood in terms of genetic makeup, brain structures and processes, "And since bad things also happen to bad people and good things also happen to good people, one might well suppose that there is no rhyme or reason why anything happens to anybody."*
Christians reject reincarnation theories
Theories of reincarnation are the antithesis of Lutheran theology. ELCA Lutherans, together with all Christians, believe that God creates each human being as a "one and only." Each person is a unique child of God. Nor is the body a prison which holds the soul captive; rather, it is the face, legs, arms, mind, heart, etc. that God has provided the self.
Furthermore, whereas with either the ancient or New Age notions of reincarnation one’s spiritual status relies upon one’s own achievement, the biblical witness is that salvation is God’s free gift. It is God’s desire for each one’s life to end in God - a new creation, not a fragmented soul fleeing a decaying shell in order to inhabit another earthly body selected as a reward or punishment for lives past.
ELCA Lutherans believe that we live one life on earth and that, together with all creation, we human beings are created to pass from conception and birth through life on this earth to resurrection and reunion with the Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier Triune God.
* Robert Todd Carroll, "The Skeptic's Dictionary" ( www.skepdic.com)
Philip Ruge-Jones, "What Happens In The End?" Augsburg Fortress, 1998, www.augsburgfortress.org