Reincarnation: A New Look at an Old Idea – Part 4

Inferno | Hell by Daniele Margaroli

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Hell – Temporary or Eternal?

Another difference between the belief and non-belief in reincarnation has to do with the Christian view of hell.

Many adherents of reincarnation say hell is a temporary state where bad actions are punished and souls are educated in a kind of cosmic classroom. Souls learn how their actions harmed self and others by actually seeing the effects of their choices.

But once the lessons are learned, these souls are given another chance with a new birth. And so the cycle continues until the soul reaches absolute perfection.

This sounds great. And some say that we can do whatever we want and it doesn’t really matter.¹

In sharp contrast, the vast majority of Christians believe we have only one life. In Catholicism hell is no temporary schoolroom but an everlasting state without any hope for deliverance.²

While direct biblical opposition to reincarnation is fairly rare, Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, often uphold the following as proof that they’re right.

Just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time… (Hebrews 9:27-28)

And St. Thomas Aquinas adds this slightly less direct passage:

Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger” (Romans 9:11-12)

Individuality, the Body and Heaven

Reincarnation theory also differs from Christian theology when it comes to the resurrection of the body–this being the belief that the individual soul and a glorified body eventually unite after death.

Many adherents of reincarnation see ultimate liberation in terms of the disappearance of an illusory sense of individuality. Instead of truly becoming oneself, the personal self and subtle spiritual body (or bodies) eventually merge into the absolute. At this point one loses all individuality and becomes supreme bliss.³

Most reincarnation theories outline astral realms and heavens but these are only temporary rest stops for the soul journeying toward undifferentiated bliss in the absolute.

This clearly differs from Christian belief. For Christians, heaven is an everlasting reward for the blessed who behold God’s glory while retaining their created individuality.

Generally speaking we could say that reincarnation theory looks at ultimate reality in terms of the soul falling into God like a drop falls into the ocean. Whereas non-reincarnation perspectives see the soul as getting close to God, basking in God and even interceding for God, but never becoming God.

The World at our Fingertips

Reincarnation is an imaginative and intriguing theory within the history of ideas.

Ironically, many are willing to believe in reincarnation – the strange idea that we leave our bodies and enter another one – but feel that contemporary paranormal ideas are too far fetched for serious consideration.

Perhaps this bias is partly due to the ancient nature of reincarnation theory. Old feels safe. And ancient traditions are often passed off as having automatic authenticity just because they’re old.

But that’s not a scientific approach. It’s a political and ideological one.

Indeed, some seem to forget that reincarnation is just a theory. But shouldn’t we be making newer, better theory considering all the scientific advances and fresh philosophical ideas at our fingertips today?

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¹ See Matthew 7:15, 24:11, 24:24; Mark 13:22; 2 Peter 2:1.

² Catholics do, however, believe in purgatory but this is a place for venial sins and forgiven mortal sins. Mortal sins unforgiven at the time of death result in the soul’s permanent estrangement from God– that is, eternal hell.

³ The psychiatrist C. G. Jung saw the ego as the highpoint of Western civilization and objected to this by asking, who experiences this bliss if the individual no longer exists? Ram Dass replied by saying that Jung was afraid to move past identifying with the comfortable social role of “psychiatrist.”

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