Before the Christian Bible, Christians believed in Reincarnation. Why not now?

Before the Christian Bible, Christians believed in Reincarnation. Why not now? 391 AD John Chrysostom: "As for doctrines on the soul, there is nothing excessively shameful that they the disciples of Plato and Pythagoras have left unsaid, asserting that the souls of men become flies and gnats and bushes and that God himself is a similar soul, with some other the like indecencies.

Asked by MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago Similar questions: Christian Bible Christians believed Reincarnation Society > Religion & Spirituality.

Similar questions: Christian Bible Christians believed Reincarnation.

No they did not. Sheesh, the problem is that the "educated" folk (gnostics) decided that these Greek "philosophers" must be so smart that they can't be in hell (e.g. , Dante Alighieri giving Socrates special treatment in the first circle of hell). What followed was a doomed effort to get Greek, pagan philosophy to cohere with the Bible.

The Bible is 66 different books that all agree on 1) Who God is, 2) What man is, 3) What man's problem is sin, 4) What God has done about man's problem Jesus Christ, on the cross, and 5) What man must do accept God's answer. Written over 1500+ years, in three languages, on three continents, it is yet intrinsically agreed and accurate in doctrine and history. That said, getting the Bible to agree with some other fallible document is an exercise in futility that failed as one should have expected it to fail.

The Bible remains unchanged thru that (and other) exercises at pollution. Genesis 37:35 illustrates this: "And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

" Hebrews 9:27-28 explicitly states it: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. "Neither Judaism nor Christianity EVER taught reincarnation. The Gnostics held that as a dear tenet of doctrine and merely tried to make it look as if the Christians did, too (hence, the "gospel" of Thomas, the "gospel" of Judas, the "gospel" of Mary, etc. ) .

Actually, if you dissect the Bible, they do not always agree. There are many documents contained within the Bible that contradict one another. In addition, according to letters Paul wrote, he (Paul) never met Jesus and, in fact, his letters contain next to no reference at all to the life of Jesus.

MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago .

In addition, Gnostics were still, very much a Christian sect. It matters NOT that Roman Christians condemned Gnostic Christians for heresy. The Roman Christians, to the Gnostic Christians, were heretical too."story is written by the winners"!

In addition, the winners were NOT the Gnostics. At least not, till now. Now, the Gnostic movement is rekindled in some form, in the East, thus Roam failed in destroying Gnosticism.

(And for one seeking truth, that is a good thing)! If the Gnostic Christians won, we would have a whole different story to tell. MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago .

Before and after there have always been a myriad of different Christian belief systems. There still are.

100% true! They are Christian Sects of the main Christian faith. Just as there are many Jewish sects of the Jewish faith and likewise for Islamic sects, of the Islamic faith.

Within each main religious category: (Christianity, Judaism, Islam and so fourth), there are many opposing beliefs. That is why people have invented the term "Heretic", for believers of the main faith, which do not believe in the beliefs of the more powerful sect of that region. There is no real consensus within any religion with opposing sects within.

MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago .

Nobody knows what the "main Christian faith was" because basically, there never was a main Christian faith. If you accept the historic existence of one individual teacher, now refereed to as Jesus, It doesn't appear he's bent on creating a new religion but more inclined to an early Reform Judaism.

Back in his days, the man we now call Jesus was called by the Hebrew name of YAHshua. And not necessarily biblically speaking, YAHshua was a very politically minded young man. On the modern day political spectrum, he very well could have been placed in the centre left, or even true left.

He was attempting to do two, separate, political things: reform a very "right winged" government and reform the "right winged" Jewish "church", both of which were a no-no! It did not seem he wanted to create a religion, based upon himself, only to reform the old Jewish one. It seems as though those who asembled the Bible, reinvented the original YAHshua.

A very good site to check out: URL1 MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago html.

Corrected, thanks. MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago .

Life is all all about learning and improving in our thoughts, words, and actions... It would be pretty nigh impossible to do all that needs to done in one mere lifetime imho.

That is what we believe, but than again, most heathens believe in reincarnation. MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago .

Reincarnation doesn't serve the story line of heaven and hell for all eternity. How can the patriarchal mob that made up religious doctrine to control the masses allow for reincarnation? How could they then use punishment to manipulate?

Reincarnation would indicate a truly loving god. That would mean there truly is no reason to judge as we are in a process of growth on route to realizing a god like potential within ourselves. It wouldn't have served their very carefully planned out paradigm.

They couldn't have it anymore than they could allow for many other spiritual truths they blatantly deny.

Never heard of the guy... maybe later perspective has determined that he was making up his own beliefs to suit himself.

Check out the online bible: bible.ca/H-reincarnation.htm" rel="nofollow">bible.ca/H-reincarnation.htm The homepage (bible.ca/) made me want to leave, but I stayed to see what they had. It's interesting. MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago htm.

Good lord. Wall o' text with references cherry picked out of context and stacked in like cordwood. Still does nothing to dispell my opinion that they have made up a belief they want to hold, and then are looking for bits and pieces to support it; and ignoring the rest.

LOL! What you describe is religion in general and for that matter, politics too! Pick and chose what to believe and toss the rest.

BTW, that IS how they chose what to put into the Bible. The Gospel of Marry, for example, was not included, and condemned by those who assembled the Bible, as heresy. There were thousands upon thousands of Gospels, which the assemblers of the Bible discarded.

They picked and chose which Gospels to force believers to believe in. For the most part, the biblical assemblers did not give followers a choice as to which Gospel they (the individual Christian) chose to believe. It was their way, or the excommunication way, which USUALLY meant some kind of horrible death or imprisonment.In addition, the Bible’s final assembly was in the year 285CE.

(285AD for Christians). It is mind boggling, just as to how much human folly went into the document. MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago .

You're right - and in fact there sre still people today who want to rewrite the bible to suit their own preferences.

Not just the Bible, but ANYTHING that doesn't fit within people's own belief system: Faith, Politics and existence en general is subject to interpretation and revision. MADJ_Woodcock 6 months ago .

I looked up John Chrysostom in Wikipedia and found not reference to soul. Could you provide a link that has your quote, please. While the minority, some Christians and other still believe in reincarnation today."Although the majority of sects within Judaism, Christianity and Islam do not believe that individuals reincarnate, particular groups within these religions do refer to reincarnation; these groups include the mainstream historical and contemporary followers of Kabbalah, the Cathars, the Alawi, the Druze and the Rosicrucians.

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation org/wiki/Reincarnation.

It has many truly factual documents contained within, but it does not contain all of recorded historical documents. I have yet to read the Gospel of Marry with any reputable references to its contents for example. Just because it is not contained within the Wikipedia website, does not mean it does not exist.

The most likely reason is, someone, with references, and to a copy of the translated text, has not recorded it in a Wikipedia page. I like that Wikipedia demands URL1 makes verifying a document so much easier. MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago .

I just googled his name and the first website containing his name was Wikipedia. Check it out: URL1 MADJ_Woodcock 7 months ago org/wiki/John_Chrysostom.

As I said, "I looked up John Chrysostom in Wikipedia and found not reference to soul. " The word not should have been no, still ...

Thanks for the bible.ca/H-reincarnation.htm link. I looked at it, but have not had a chance to read it (my DSL has been down all evening, and now it is time for me to go to bed). I will read it tomorrow and respond.

I went to "What did early Christians believe about reincarnation" and was my attention was drawn to the first quoted account by Origen: "229 AD Origen However, a churchman, who repudiates the doctrine of reincarnation as a false one and does not admit that the soul of John was ever Elijah, may appeal to the above-quoted words of the angel, and point out that it is not the soul of Elijah that is spoken of at John's birth, but the Spirit and power of Elijah (Commentary on John 6:7). " This reference confused me until I realized that the paragraph and line numbers referred to Origen's commentary and not the Bible's. S writings offer the best distinction between the concepts of Soul and Spirit I know of.

Thank you for pointing me to Origen. I had heard of him, of course, but only know anecdotal accounts including one that falsely claimed he taught reincarnation. Clearly he did not believe that the Soul manifested more than once, but that the Spirit accompanying one Soul, however, may also accompany another.It is not necessary for a Spirit to accompany human manifestations.

American Indians recognized the presence of specific spirits directing the nature of individual species. I conclude that the same spirit can accompany many forms at the same time, and simultaneously exist in multiple time periods. I am adding http://en.wikisource.org with Origen's commentaries on John and Matthew my reading list.

Thank you again. Org.

Pagans believed in reincarnation. Early christians did not. They believed only that christ resurrescted and those he resurrected.

Wrong! They did NEVER belived in reincarnation...they did lost they track when they did worship other gods but God always bring them back true a prophet or leader. Reincarnation is a PAGAN believe witch does not apply to christians belivers.

READ THE BIBLE! AND NR.2 Paul did meet Jesus on the road when He asked Paul ":why do you persecute me? " and after Paul was blind for 2 or 3 days....is in the BIBLE :) .

Check this site out: atmajyoti.org/sw_xtian_believe_reinc.asp It's directly quoting the Christian Bible. So, YES, Christians DID, and some still DO believe in Reincarnation! MADJ_Woodcock 6 months ago asp.

LeShay's How Well Do You Know the Christian Bible.

LeShay's How Well Do You Know the Christian Bible + math.

Religion is for people who are scared of hell, and spirituality is for people who have been through it. " comments? " (10 answers).

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.