I received a question about reincarnation in the link below
from a friend by the name of Roy Ng in a WhatsApp chat group.
Mr. Roy Ng then solicited my opinion on this issue.
Before I answer as a Christian, let me quote what some
Christians in the above link think. I quote their views.
“Nevertheless, we, as Christians, believe that reincarnation
runs contrary to our beliefs. After all, why in the world would Jesus Christ
die on the cross and resurrect for our sins, if he doomed us to
repeat lives here on earth, with no or little inkling of past lives?”
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and
after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
My answer: Yes, physically dies just once here in this
world, but reborn again in the next world.
“He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze
that does not return” (Psalm 78:39).
My answer: Yes, we die here in this present flesh once,
never to return in the same flesh again, but return in a new body in another
world.
“The concept of reincarnation in itself is cruel because it
makes someone relive an often painful and finite life over and over again with
no clear sense of how to overcome the cycle”.
My answer: Yes, it is cruel, only if we are cruel here, but
good karma awaits us in return in a new body in alternate cycles of births and
deaths.
This assurance for good karma in the next life is for some,
but a warning for others. This is explicitly and clearly told by Jesus that
when we die, we go to another world and our souls remember all we do and
possess here in this world.
(Luke 16:19-31)
Let me quote the relevant verses in that parable:
"The time came when the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
In Hades, where he was in torment, he
looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So
he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in
this fire.’
But Abraham replied, ‘Son,
remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus
received bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in
agony. And besides all this, between us and you
a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to
you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us."
(Luke 16: 22 - 26)
This is reincarnation in another world when we die whether
for the rich man or for Lazarus, the poor man.
That is also reincarnation whether told by Jesus in
Christianity, or in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Kabbalah
Judaism.
It is not just reincarnation, but this is also karma as explained
directly by Jesus as well as in Dharmic traditions
of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. In Sanskrit, karma simply means
action. It refers to the cause and effect between people's actions and
consequences, usually in cycles of death and rebirth.
What else to say when most people are spiritually blind,
especially those who are very wealthy, and do not care less the sufferings of
those who are poorer, who could not even manage to eke out a simple day-to-day
living in the streets.
What use is it to be given all the wealth and empires of
this world, attends church ritually 100 times a month, prays ritually 1,000
times every week, but take the easiest path of the least resistance by closing
a blind spiritual eye on the all the Lazarus we see around us? When Jesus
was in this world, did He close His eyes on the sick, sufferings and disabled
in this world?
Did Jesus come to this world to gather wealth and to enjoy
life here? Think this over and over again. Indeed, it is clearly forewarned by
Jesus in these verses:
“Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, one
thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and
follow me.
And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved:
for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples,
how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
And the disciples were astonished at his words. But
Jesus answered again, and said unto them, Children, how hard is it for them to
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
(Mark 10: 21 - 25)
Unfortunately, this is rebirth with bad karma.
Jesus clearly explicated this in His parable about the rich
man in Hades, and the Lazarus in heaven. Always, always remember all of us have
a limited number of breaths in this world, and with each breath we take in and
breathe out we are already subtracting from the total amounts allocated for
each of us.
The numbers of breaths given to us even for 100 years at
approximately 16 executions per breath per minute
= 16 breaths per minute x 60 minutes per hours x 24 hours a
day x 365.25 days a year x 100 years
Minus 16 per minute at this breathing rate from 841,536,000
breaths is all we have, even if we managed to live for 100 years.
See further on this problem here:
Riding on a Hot Air Balloon with 100 Years of Our Breath
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2023/06/riding-on-hot-air-balloon-with-100.html
Currently, we live only in this time dimension in this
current heaven and earth including the entire Universe, and most of us have no
clue of past heavens and past worlds where our lives were.
We were only given a glimpse of a new heaven and a new earth
when this present world and heaven passed away as revealed to us in Revelation
21.
But we believe in repeated cycles of birth and death in this
present world even before a new earth and heaven can be created by God as given
in Revelation 21.
There may be possibilities even for more new earths and new
heavens to be created by God after the next coming one given in Revelation 21
After each new heaven and a new earth is created, there may
be even more repeated cycles of births and deaths.
When I was doing a postdoctoral course in astronomy at
Oxford in 2019 after my retirement from medical research, in one of my dozens
of academic forum presentations, I forward my thoughts the possibilities of
births, death and rebirth of multiple universes in the past till the present.
Here's a very short simple synopsis summarized in very simple non-technical
language for lay readers:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=rebirth+of+universe
I believe there will be many more births, deaths and rebirth
after the next new heaven and earth as promised in Revelation 21, let alone the
births and rebirths of our indestructible and immortal spiritual lives over and
over again in multiple heavens and earth yet to come.
See my other thoughts on the mysteries of life and whether or
not we have previous life, and memories of them here:
The Persistence of Memories After Death?
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=past+life
What Happens to the Soul of a Clinically Dead Person in
Coma?
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2023/06/what-happens-to-soul-of-clinically-dead.html
The Spark of Life: From Birth - A Journey till Death
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-spark-of-life-from-birth-jouney.html
The Mystery of Life: An Unmeasurable Vital Force
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=the+mystery+of+life
The Conveyer's Belt of Time and Life Through a Tunnel
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=conveyer%27s+belt
I hope I manage to answer Mr. Roy Ng
My feeling to all these issues and problems while we are on
a very short transit here in this world, is to live as simple as possible,
carrying as little luggage and burdens as possible without demanding for any
other thing that does not support life. There is no point carrying heavy
burdens and luggage to our graves. The longer we stay here in this present
world, the heavier and longer we drag our burdens and luggage along to our
grave. It serves no purpose at all in our transient life.
I shall write further on this later.
See our Maximum Human Life Span here:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=life+span
See also this on the age of the Universe compared to the
length of our days here on Earth:
https://scientificlogic.blogspot.com/search?q=age+of+the+universe
Creation in the Eyes of a Scientist:
Astronomical Big Bang 13.8 billion years (4.3549488 x 10 ^
17 seconds) ago
Age of Earth 4.543 billion years = 1.43366 x 10 ^
17 seconds ago
1 day = 86,400 seconds
1 year = 365.25 days = 31,557,600 seconds
100 year = 3,155,760,000 seconds
If the Creation of the Universe through the Big Bang
was 13.8 billion years
ago, and if our human life span at maximum last for 100
years, then our lifespan last only 7.3 x 10^-9 (0.0,000,000,073) of
this, and only
2.2 x 10^-8 (0.000,000,022) of a fraction compared the
creation of
Earth 4.543 billion years ago.
Another way of putting this is, if the age of the
Universe at 13.8 billion years was just one day of Creation, then 100
years of our lives lasts for just 0.23 second.
But if the age of Earth at
4.543 billion years was just one day in Creation,
then 100 years of our lives last just 0.7 second
May I request readers write their opinion and comments in
the comment column found below this article and also in all other articles in
this blog. I will greatly appreciate your valuable gestures.
Thank you for reading.
Jb lim
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