Since I am submitting this write-up in response to whizkid's I request the other readers to bear with me. There are three reasons why I found whizkid's write-up interesting. First is because he's trying to share his views on reincarnation, second is the fact that he's an ordained Catholic priest (and of course he's a Roman Catholic) and finally, he's trying to reconcile a Buddhist belief and a Christian doctrine. Now I'm not trying to attack anyone's belief here; I just want to express certain things that popped on my mind while reading whizkid's work.
Again, I don't want to attack whizkid, and we don't even have to believe these Roman Catholic teachings. Yet it fascinates me how a priest has opened his mind to consider a belief that goes against his Roman Catholic (or even Christian) principles. Of course it is truly the values that counts, and doctrines are just there to support the faith. And I believe whizkid deserves some credit for taking the risk of joining the priesthood despite the factors around him.
Before I end this write-up I would like to analyze biblical passages often used to justify reincarnation.
- The Man Born Blind (from The Gospel According to John, Chapter 9) - "...he sinned," The apostle who said this was most likely aware of Jewish religion and was probably pertaining to the sin handed down from Adam, not the sins the man commited in his previous life.
- Jesus and Abraham, (John 8:58) - "...before Abraham came to be, I AM." I think this more an indication of Jesus' trancending through time and space, in his eternal nature as the Second Person of the triune God; being beyond the limits of history, Jesus existed as a living being, though not yet incarnated, even before the days of Abraham.
- Nicodemus, (John Chapter 3) - "How can a person one grown old be born again?" The Greek word anothen means both "from above" and "again." It could be that while Jesus meant "...no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above," Nicodemus misunderstood it as "...born again."
- The Prophet Elijah, (Mark Chapter 9) - "But I tell you that Elijah has come..." Most likely this is a reference to The Baptist, not the actual Elijah.
I am not claiming that all these things I put here are correct and factual; I have been know to make mistakes. Anyone is free to add to this write-up.