Reincarnation?
“Now they began asking him, ‘Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?’ Jesus responded, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to set everything in order. Why then is it written in the Scriptures that the Son of Man must suffer and be treated with utter contempt? But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and he was badly mistreated, just as the Scriptures predicted’ – Mark 9:11-13 (NLT).
I once met a woman that told me that the Bible taught reincarnation. She cited these verses (above) saying that Jesus taught that John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnated. I could see how she might arrive at such a conclusion if these three verses were the only ones she ever read on the subject.
However, one of the keys to understanding the Bible correctly is to study everything it says on a subject. We should never take one or two verses of scripture and build an entire belief system around them. We should seek to know everything God has said on the subject. If this woman had done this, she would have discovered Luke 1:17 where an angel said that John would “be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah.”
John was not Elijah reincarnated, but merely another prophet or preacher who had the spirit and power of Elijah. His personality and preaching style was like that of Elijah. He was courageous and fearless in preaching the truth despite opposition just like Elijah was. He was not Elijah reincarnated.
The Bible clearly teaches against reincarnation. Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is destined that each person dies only once and after that comes judgment” (NLT). We don’t die a thousand times, but only once. And once we die, we don’t go around haunting houses, appearing to people, or sending messages through mediums to those still living. Though God could let us appear to someone after we die, it is extremely unlikely. The Bible only records such an event once (See 1 Samuel 28:8-20). We definitely do not come back to life in some other form after we die.
So why do so many people believe or toy with the idea of reincarnation? I believe it is because they are interested in the afterlife and want to know what happens when they die. They have no idea of what the Bible really teaches about death or the afterlife. So they become prey for false teachings of misguided friends and mistaken religions. The Bible teaches that after we die we either go to a place of comfort or torment (See Luke 16:19-31). Our relationship to Christ in this life determines which.
So from where does the idea of reincarnation come? It comes from Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. These religions teach that we are saved by knowledge or works. They teach that if we gain enough spiritual insight or knowledge and do enough good works in this life then we go to heaven when we die (though they don’t use the term “heaven”). However, since none of us ever gains enough spiritual insight or lives a perfect life we must come back in another life to make up for our wrongs in the past life (this is an oversimplification, but still the heart of it). The problem is that every time we come back to life, we mess up again and make more mistakes. So we must be reincarnated again and again and again. Each time we are reincarnated (according to those who believe this) we are supposed to make up for mistakes in past lives, but each time we make more mistakes. So our sins pile up to an impossible height and thrust us into an endless cycle of rebirth and death. We never get it right so it never stops.
The dangers of this teaching are three-fold. First, it deludes us into thinking that we can save ourselves by living and reliving until we get it right. But the Bible teaches we can never be saved by our works, but only by God's grace (See Ephesians 2:8-9). Second, it gives us false security since it teaches that we will never be accountable for our actions to a higher power. Instead, we’ll just keep being reincarnated until we make up for our sins. But the Bible says that God holds us accountable for our sins and that the wages of sin is death (See Romans 6:23). Third, it makes a mockery of the cross of Christ. If we can pay for our own sins by a process of death and rebirth, than Jesus died for nothing. This is the heart of the problem with belief in reincarnation. It is a deception of Satan to drive us away from the cross! It is his way of diverting us from the only person who can save us. After all, if we can save ourselves by paying for our own sins through a cycle of death and rebirth, then why would we need Jesus or his death to count for us? The answer is that we wouldn’t. And this is Satan’s plan. He doesn’t want us encountering the cross of Christ or believing in Jesus and his death in our behalf. So he gives us alternatives, one of which is reincarnation.
The bottom line is that we need to open our eyes to the tricks of the devil and stop making excuses for not following Jesus fully. We need to be informed about but stop dabbling with the beliefs of other religions that may have some good teachings, but on the whole stand diametrically opposed to Christ and all he stands for. To dabble with them is to dabble with Satan and all the powers of hell.
Is that what you want?