This piece first
appeared in The Universe
Resurrection or
Re-incarnation?
By Dwight Longenecker
The
actress Shirley MacClaine moonlights
as a New Age self-help teacher.
She believes she is the channel
for supernatural beings. She writes
books of spirituality, which seek
to guide people into higher truths.
She also believes in reincarnation
and has said that ‘Reincarnation
is like show business. You just
keep on going until you get it
right.’
What Shirley MacClaine
means is that the belief in reincarnation
takes you into to a never-ending
cycle of life. According to the
doctrine of reincarnation, when
you die you will be re-born in
another body. To reach spiritual
perfection you have to go through
many lives and suffer much until
you finally break out of the cycle.
Reincarnation is a classic part
of the Eastern religions. Both
Hindus and Buddhists have a complex
theory of reincarnation. Reincarnation
was also part of the ancient Egyptian
religion.
Reincarnation is
an attractive belief because it
combines the idea that we will
not die with the need for justice.
Eastern religions teach that you
can accumulate either good or bad karma.
That means what you do during your
life weighs against you or for
you. If you have been good you
come back in a higher and more
lucky status. If you have been
evil you return in a lower, more
unfortunate stage. This cycle of
life continues until you reach
the most exalted spiritual condition.
Some religions teach that the levels
of luck or misfortune extend into
the animal kingdom so that if you’ve
been evil you could come back as
a millipede and not a man.
A recent survey
in America revealed that one in
four Americans believe in reincarnation.
Surveys amongst young people in
Britain have revealed the same
trend. Why is it that so many Westerners
now believe in reincarnation? The
belief in reincarnation made its
way westward at the beginning of
the twentieth century as various
occult groups like Theosophy, Anthroposophy
and Spiritualism began to grow.
In the sixties gurus from the Eastern
religions began to adapt Hinduism
and Buddhism to make it more attractive
to Westerners. These religious
trends influenced the growth of
the New Age movement. Now reincarnation
ideas spread not only through established
religious channels, but also through
newly invented religions, self-help
groups, positive thinking courses
and books on pagan spirituality.
Some people
even think Jesus taught reincarnation.
When he told Nicodemus (John 3)
that he had to be born again they
think Jesus was referring to reincarnation.
But Jesus was a first century Jew.
He wouldn’t have believed in reincarnation.
In fact he said to Martha of Bethany, ‘I
am the Resurrection and the Life.’ (John
11:25) Jesus raised Martha’s brother
Lazarus from the dead. He didn’t
tell him to come back as somebody
else. The Christian faith has never
had room for reincarnation. Instead
we believe in the resurrection.
This is a very different belief.
Resurrection does not mean we come
back to this life again in a different
form. Resurrection means we continue
to live as ourselves in the world
beyond this one.
Resurrection
is important for two reasons. First
of all, resurrection is important
because each one of us is important.
If reincarnation is true, then
my body and my unique personality
disappears when I die. I become
someone or something else next
time around. Eventually I break
free from the cycle of this life
and I am absorbed into God. However,
resurrection means that my own
unique and special personality
will never die. Resurrection means
who I am remains part of God’s
creation forever. Resurrection
means I remain in a father-child
relationship with God, I don’t
just become absorbed into him and
disappear.
Resurrection
is also important because our bodies
are important. Eastern religions
are very spiritual. They teach
that the physical world is full
of suffering, and that physical
things are evil. The goal of reincarnation
is to escape from this physical
world into a purely spiritual realm.
Christians have never believed
this. We believe that the physical
world is created by God. The physical
world is therefore good. When God
created the world he actually said ‘That’s
good.’ When Jesus rose from the
dead physically he was saying that
the physical world is not something
to escape from. The physical world
is worth bringing back to life
again.
It
is easier to believe in a purely
spiritual religion. It is difficult
to believe that our bodies will
rise again. How can our bodies
turn to dust and yet they will
be brought back to life in some
way? This is hard to understand,
but it is part of Christian belief.
In his great little book The
Great Divorce C.S.Lewis explained
that the world beyond death might
actually be more solid and real
than this one. Saint Paul said
a similar thing. He said in this
world we only see images as in
a mirror, but in the next world
we will see things as they really
are. If this is true, then the
bodies we think are so real and
solid may actually be the temporary
unreal ones. The New Testament
says we have a resurrection body.
Maybe that is the one that is real,
solid and permanent. When we cross
over the river of death maybe we
will enter a world which will make
this world seem like a black and
white photo of the real thing.
If so, then our resurrection bodies
will be far more real and perfect
than the ones we have here.
Whatever
glories lie in store for us on
the other side of death we hope
to share in the resurrection life.
We have this hope because of our
faith in Jesus Christ who is himself
the resurrection and the life.
During the Easter season we re-affirm
the faith given to us at baptism.
As Spring begins to burst all around
us we also affirm the hope that
in Christ we shall not just be
born again and again and again,
but that we shall one day rise
up to live with him in a glorious
dimension of life that is more
real than we can imagine.
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