Hebrews 9:27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
This verse seems to negate any belief in reincarnation. The verse is being used as point in an argument about how often Christ’s sacrifice was needed, once just as man dies once. There does not seem to be a wide spread question about rejection of reincarnation, at least for the intended audience of the letter to the Hebrews.
I don’t know what Buddhist-style reincarnation consists of, but here’s some cites from popular religious websites:
Just to clarify what I said above, reincarnation is stressed more in some groups than others. Most religious Jews would be familiar with the general idea of gilgul, but not all of them really care. Some groups are like, “Yeah, maybe you personally will be born again, maybe not, but what sort of afterlife you get doesn’t really make a noticeable difference.” Whereas the more mystic-oriented groups, Hassidim in particular, make a big deal out of it.
I vaguely remember being taught in CCD (bible study?) that once upon a time Catholicism believed in a guff of souls, and that there were only so many. When a person died, the soul went back to the guff, and could be reused, but the PERSON was not the same. Something about soul and spirit being separate but intertwined. (Or maybe it was the spirit that could be reused, and counted, but I’ll continue the post using the word “soul”.) Then, when all the souls were in use, a child would be born without a soul, and that would be the antichrist. I don’t know if it was doctrine, or a particular teacher’s ideas, honestly. It was very long ago when I was a child, and I thought it was rather silly, so didn’t pay much attention. They had COOKIES and HOT CHOCOLATE in/during CCD, you know. That was much more important. Anyway, that belief was supposedly overwritten by the new testament later.
Well, I know a woman who is convinced that Jesus taught about Buddhism and reincarnation, but then certain ideas were edited out of the Bible by the “Falsifiers”. She is complelty convinced that being sure that parts were cut/ are missing now is proof of that assertion. I can’t make her understand the basic logic problem with the premise.
She picked it up from some esoteric circles, where of course standard of proof is the assertion and that it feels right.
The first article paints a picture analgous to the Christian. Namely, resurrection of your body but not repetitive reincarnation into others’. The third link however says,
However, the article never returns to explore this point.
No one has mentioned the Gnostics, who I have been lead to believe believed in reincarnation. A quick Google shows many sites to confirm this - but I cannot vouch for the veracity of any of them. Is this because the sites are in error or because we don’t count Gnostics as Christians?
That is, no way, no how, Catholic doctrine. That is, however, roughly the plot of the really horrid Demi Moore Apocalyptic thriller THE SEVENTH SIGN. Are you sure they weren’t just discussing that movie.
To the OP, there is no evidence that the historic apostolic Church ever taught reincarnation. I won’t say that no one ever believed it. It didn’t even seem to be a topic of Church debate until about a century after Origen (who, I think, at one time did teach a version of it and then later argued against it).
Superhal- “The Rapture” is the teaching that Christians will be made immortal (body & soul) and raised off the Earth by Christ at His Return. Nothing about being reborn in new bodies.
I guess I didn’t make myself clear, the person who I was talking to meant that Jesus knew Nathaniel in an other life and saw him under the Bo tree.In other words a reincarnation of the Buddah.
I thought that in attaining enlightenment and entering nirvana, the Buddha was freed from the cycle of reincarnation.
Isn’t there a type of bodhisattva who has attained Buddhahood but still returns to the benefit of others?
Yes, he becomes immortal yet lives among people to teach. But no buddha gets reincarnated because buddhahood by definition is the liberation from this cycle of death and rebirth.
Actually, if you keep reading it does talk about reincarnation. True it starts out talking about resurrection, but a few paragraphs down it makes the distinction
and starts talking about being reborn into new bodies.
One argument I’ve used in these type of cases is the Assyrian Church of the East. In the past, they were located in what was the Parthian and later the Persian Empire. Yet, aside from the Nesotrian heresy, they accepted the creed and canons of the Church after the Council of Nicea. There’s no mention of reincarnation in their beliefs, though they did adapt some Buddhist techinques for their use such as the Jesus Prayer (Jesus Prayer - Wikipedia), despite being in contact with India and China.