Reincarnation

7) A heathen and culturally unknown idea for the west: We have now come to the Christianity's massive and uncompromising refusal of the reincarnation idea. Actually it is a series of objections that we can only partly discuss here, but which will be supplemented later in this paragraph with testimonies to the reincarnation idea in the Christian tradition. The first form of rejection of reincarnation and karma can be shortly called the cultural argument. It is often stated that reincarnation and karma are not at all related to our culture. They are expressions of a Hellenistic-Indian mentality, which is far away from the entire Jewish-Christian culture, and which will never have fertile soil in the value context and human view that our culture is based on. They are so to say foreign bodies that must be rejected by the healthy, Christian society.

The argument as such is not very good, because if reincarnation and karma are facts, it is quite unimportant where in the world it has been believed in. It is true that reincarnation and karma very intensely have been excluded from the European culture's mainstream for many centuries, just as it is true that Galileo had to declare to the Holy See that the earth does not revolve round the sun. Consequently the cultural argument does not seem very convincing, especially when you consider that the idea of reincarnation and karma in spite of this persistent resistance has actually survived in Europe, completely independent of the Eastern traditions and apprehensions. The argument that reincarnation is an unchristian thought corresponds to saying that it is wrong to celebrate 25 December because we in Denmark celebrate 24 December. Things do not become untrue because they are unaccustomed. For several centuries the reincarnation idea has been eagerly fought and directly cursed through the Christian church' institutions. Suppression and criminalization of a certain issue are rarely convincing arguments for its untruth.

The church has claimed that the reincarnation idea goes with a quite different view of life, where the individual is part of God, and where the Creator is not a personal Father, but an impersonal power. Thus Creator and Creation arguments are used against reincarnation, as the thought of rebirth is considered incompatible with the Christian theology about God and Creation. Another Christian objection can be called the mortality argument, which states that the individual dies, when he dies. Certain religious circles will claim that we do not go on living as conscious souls after death, because we cannot exist without a body as soul and body should be inseparable. It is then maintained that because God does not forget anyone, he/she will be held in His memory and recreated on the Day of Judgment. According to this quite special and peculiar - you might even dare to say materialistic - Christian comprehension, it is asserted that there is no psychic nor spiritual life beyond the physical world. Death is definitive. The human being can only exist as a person as long as it is in a body, because God has in an instant created it as an indivisible unit of mind and matter. One thing cannot do without the other, and upon the Day of Judgment mankind will live forever in a transformed physical body.

To this it can be said that the Christian interpretation first of all is far from what has been prevailing Christianity for many centuries. Millions of Christians have confidently died in full assurance that the redeemed will live a Heavenly life in the world to come, not having to carry a fleshly body any longer. Certain religious movements thus consider the world after the Day of Judgment a transformed material life, just opposite former times' Christianity, which showed a spiritual dimension, where the individual would live in an non-physical resurrection body. Furthermore it must be emphasized that thousands of testimonies tell how people through out-of-body experiences, paranormal incidents or near-death experiences have experienced that they can indeed exist outside the physical body. The mortality argument therefore seems only to be of theological interest.

Another Christian argument against reincarnation and karma might be called a sin-and-mercy argument. The argumentation is that there is absolutely no spiritual evolution where mankind learns through gradual experiences. The original sin is transmitted from Adam and Eve to the entire human race , which cannot by itself be cleaned from it. We have all departed from God's intention of the Creation and we are now abandoned the possibility of an undeserved salvation. We are all sinners, which we can all be assured of by looking at the world today. We are completely in the hands of God and his intervention, and all spiritual intentions of evolution are fundamentally manifestations of pride, as we will then end up believing that we are the Lord ourselves. Fortunately we will not get what we deserve, as in that case everything will literally go to hell. God, however, is good and he will give us much more than we deserve. That is exactly the evidence of God's almighty goodness, which has nothing to do with karmic justice and development through reincarnation. Even though we constantly create misery around us, God's mercy is able to transform the sin into glory through forgiveness and mercy. And karma and mercy from God can never be united, it would be stated.

An answer to that would be that it all depends on your point of view. It is easy to point out the incorrectness of the world and the greed, blindness and narrow-minded materialism of mankind. But to deny that no evolution takes place and that evolution automatically would imply pride, is a point of view without much weight. You may answer to that, that the view of the world being infested with original sin since Adam and Eve, undoubtedly has suppressed and tormented innumerable people during the centuries, and that it exactly on the strength of the Christian preaching has given thousands and thousands fear of life, complexes, neuroses, inferiority complexes and especially horrors of death. When you deny that the human being's inner heart is healthy and good, and in stead preaches sin and repentance it is also very likely that you deprive him of the possibility of developing integrity and human qualities.

The final Christian objection that we will present here could perhaps be called the resurrection argument. What is the reason for the Crucifixion and the Resurrection - it may be objected - if each individual person can be developed through life upon life? That would make the sacrifice of Christ on behalf of mankind totally unnecessary, the suffering that is also called the substitute atonement. The esoteric basic view is that Christ by his specific and symbolic sacrifice gave his "life blood" and in an exceptional way relieved by supporting and transforming the collective karma of mankind. He identified himself from within with each individual human and creature on this earth, and thereby brought his light of love into the common human dimension and at the same time he became a guiding star for the individual person. In this way he actually became "substitute", but his work has thus not in advance forgiven or revoked all other people's later troubles. By his life drama he brought a light into this as well as the non-physical world. This light is like a tone in the background, which continues to elevate, transform and guide all other beings' development on this planet.

And thus the Resurrection is a gift to all of us during our course of development, as we eventually, through the many lives, approach the way of sanctification and directly follow the Master's footsteps. The mystic Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ have in this way released a flood of love and light, which increasingly flows into the existing worlds with relief and support for all creatures under development.