Christian Reincarnationists?
There's a news report about China regulating reincarnation by Tibetian monks in a ploy to try to control them.
This is an example of going above and beyond the common maxim, "if it moves, regulate it". Reincarnation is fake and, yet, some governments wish to regulate it!
But the saddest part of the article is a short comment at the end. It says:
"Recent surveys by the Barna Group, a Christian research nonprofit, have found that a quarter of all U.S. Christians, including 10 percent of all born-again Christians, embrace [reincarnation]
as their favored end-of-life view."
I realize we live in an age of double-speak, but this is getting mind boggling! At this rate, words will have no meaning whatsoever. The terms "Christian reincarnationist" or "Born-Again reincarnationist" carry as much coherent meaning as "Square Circle" or "False Truth".
There are many legitimate explanations and differences on eschatology within the pale of Christian orthodoxy, but reincarnation is not one of them. In can understand a loose usage
of the term "Christian" to some degree, but not "Born Again". I always thought "Born Again" would be held as being quite a bit more specific than "Christian", but that thought was probably naive.
If you believe in reincarnation, perhaps call yourself a marginally cultural "christian" with eastern leanings, if you absolutely must. However, please reserve the use of "Born Again" and the unqualified use of "Christian" for those people whose worldview resembles the worldview of Christ and the Apostles more than an elephant resembles a shrew. I'm serious. There can be a Square Non-Circle, but not a Square Circle. Sure, the consumer mentality may prevail here in the West and you can "pick and choose" the details of what you believe with a greater degree of freedom and safety than perhaps ever before in history. However, now is the time for truth, the time to weigh what you believe and whether it is true truth, and not just some supposed contradictory "truth" that makes you feel good. The name mere self-appointed name "Christian" or "Born Again" won't do you any good (as its often used, it hardly means anything nowadays anyways), and neither will reincarnation. Only Christ can save us from who we are and reconcile us with God. Only God's saving grace manifested in drawing us to Him can avail.
As an aside: I must now state that my sincere apologies to all fellows with the given name of "Christian" who believe in reincarnation, but make no claims at being of the Christian religion. You, my dear friends, are the only ones who have the right of sincerely being called both "Christian" and "reincarnationist".
This is an example of going above and beyond the common maxim, "if it moves, regulate it". Reincarnation is fake and, yet, some governments wish to regulate it!
But the saddest part of the article is a short comment at the end. It says:
"Recent surveys by the Barna Group, a Christian research nonprofit, have found that a quarter of all U.S. Christians, including 10 percent of all born-again Christians, embrace [reincarnation]
as their favored end-of-life view."
I realize we live in an age of double-speak, but this is getting mind boggling! At this rate, words will have no meaning whatsoever. The terms "Christian reincarnationist" or "Born-Again reincarnationist" carry as much coherent meaning as "Square Circle" or "False Truth".
There are many legitimate explanations and differences on eschatology within the pale of Christian orthodoxy, but reincarnation is not one of them. In can understand a loose usage
of the term "Christian" to some degree, but not "Born Again". I always thought "Born Again" would be held as being quite a bit more specific than "Christian", but that thought was probably naive.
If you believe in reincarnation, perhaps call yourself a marginally cultural "christian" with eastern leanings, if you absolutely must. However, please reserve the use of "Born Again" and the unqualified use of "Christian" for those people whose worldview resembles the worldview of Christ and the Apostles more than an elephant resembles a shrew. I'm serious. There can be a Square Non-Circle, but not a Square Circle. Sure, the consumer mentality may prevail here in the West and you can "pick and choose" the details of what you believe with a greater degree of freedom and safety than perhaps ever before in history. However, now is the time for truth, the time to weigh what you believe and whether it is true truth, and not just some supposed contradictory "truth" that makes you feel good. The name mere self-appointed name "Christian" or "Born Again" won't do you any good (as its often used, it hardly means anything nowadays anyways), and neither will reincarnation. Only Christ can save us from who we are and reconcile us with God. Only God's saving grace manifested in drawing us to Him can avail.
As an aside: I must now state that my sincere apologies to all fellows with the given name of "Christian" who believe in reincarnation, but make no claims at being of the Christian religion. You, my dear friends, are the only ones who have the right of sincerely being called both "Christian" and "reincarnationist".
Labels: doctrine, reincarnation
posted by Mark Nenadov at 5:22 PM
2 Comments:
I once had my aunt tell me that her and my grandmother believe in Christ and that He died for their sins, BUT that if they screw up too much in this lifetime, they'll reincarnate and get a second chance.
Unfortunately I was too young and illiterate in my faith to communicate to them that their thought processes were self defeating.
My question is what happened to thinking logically in today's society?
Christina, what you say here is so true! Logic and reason are so neglected in this day and age!! I'm sure the reasons why it is so are many, but I think the following contribute to it:
- A change in the emphasis in teaching material
- Basic laziness/selfishness in our culture
- Attempting to avoid the pitfalls of rationalism, but ending up quite far in the other direction
- An emphasis of vague mystical spirituality over rationality.
God has given us all varying degrees of intellectual ability. And even the most gifted are prone to unclear thinking and inconsistencies sometimes.
Not every brain is created equally. But ultimately we are still going to be held accountable for what we know, how we construe it, and how we use it.
We can see many examples how the lack of critical thinking can make people exposed to doctrinal error.
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