7 – No death, you just get recycled

From a Christian perspective

Reincarnation: there is no death, people just get recycled. A false concept that furthermore has negative impact on the New Agers themselves.

Reincarnation is totally rejected by the Bible. Only Jesus has defeated death. It is not what one can do in this life that can save him/her, salvation for the human soul comes only through what Jesus has done already.

 

“For the New Age movement, reincarnation is usually seen as a step in the progression towards Godhood. But progressive steps are not always guaranteed and the number of reincarnations may run into millions. That is determined by the law of Karma -the law of cause and effect. What you are now is determined by what you did in your previous existences. The higher self remembers everything and these memories need to be resolved and cleared if we are to go on to a higher enlightenment. Self-realization, total enlightenment, or illumination, where the soul enters into the endless freedom from the demanding control of karma, is the ultimate goal. From there on, there is no rebirth, one has reached the Nirvana, the place of passionless peace.”  Christoph Kreitz, Cornell University.

(Read more here)

 

Reincarnation is totally rejected by the Bible.

Mark Van Bebber said: “So it is believed that souls transform from life to life in never-ending cycles. That it is even possible to reincarnate into the form of an animal or plant. Popular versions of reincarnation limit this never-ending process to the transmigration of the soul into human bodies.
Those that profess belief in karma teach that the deeds -good or bad- of one’s past lives affect this present life. One’s present deeds will have ramifications for future lives. In other words, the law of sowing and reaping is not limited to this present life but rather continues throughout eternity.

In much of the Orient, this strict belief in karma has resulted in a hopeless, pessimistic view of life. Life is seen as a dreary, endless cycle of suffering and rebirth. Because of this endless chain of karma, reincarnation does not resolve the problem of evil, but simply points toward the impossible goal of perfection and self-salvation, the ultimate freedom from reincarnation. In modern western reincarnation, the objective is to join with “ultimate reality,” merging with God and becoming God. Modern reincarnation often promotes the divinity of the soul and rejects the biblical concept of a sovereign, personal God.

Still the Bible totally denies the possibility of reincarnation. Hebrews 9:27 says “For it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” According to the Bible, reincarnation is not true and people will experience only one physical death.
The Bible also contradicts the belief in karma by emphasizing the concept of grace. As the Bible states, atonement and forgiveness may be gained only through the death and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation is based solely upon the work of Jesus Christ, not upon our own merits.

Reincarnation is a form of ‘works’ salvation. The Bible rejects salvation through works (meaning human efforts of any kind) as impossible. Romans 11:6 (NIV) says, “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” Likewise Ephesians 2:8-9 stresses that salvation from sin and its external consequences is a gift that God gives freely. Sin does not result in reincarnation but in death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23, NIV).

The Bible teaches resurrection not reincarnation. Paul clearly states also that the soul does not transmigrate into another living body, but goes to await judgment.
For the Christian, Paul promised that death is the means to being in the presence of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8).”

(Source: Mark Van Bebber, http://www.christiananswers.net/)

 

Only Jesus has defeated death. It is not what one can do that can save him/her, salvation for the human soul comes only through what Jesus has done already.

“Speaking about life after death, G. B. Hardy, a Canadian scientist, once said, “I have only two questions to ask. One, has anyone ever defeated death? Two, did he make a way for me to do it also?” The answer to both of Hardy’s questions is “yes.” One Person has both defeated death and provided a way for everyone who puts their trust in Him to overcome it as well. Epicurus may have believed that everyone fears death, but the truth is no one who trusts in Christ needs to be afraid. Rejoicing in this fact, the Apostle Paul wrote, “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’” (1 Corinthians 15:54–55).”
(Reprinted by permission from Got Questions Ministries.)