Why reincarnation was edited out of Christianity?

I didn't know that the Cathars believed in reincarnation.

I'm very glad that you informed me of this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism

 

The book of Hebrews is in the New Testament.

 

I wonder to what degree Paul may have been referring to his own possible near death experience and "Life Review" as about a third of NDErs report having?


http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=2Co&c=12&t=KJV
2Corinthians 12:2


"I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth such an one caught up to the third heaven.

And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth

How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."


http://www.near-death.com/experiences/research03.html#a02

 

dammed if it ain't..I almost screwed up an entire religion,huh?

 

Remember that the Dead Sea Scrolls did NOT include the Gospel of John, which first appeared around the 3rd century, while the Scrolls were from the 1st century BC.

And, the few pages that we call the Gnostic writings were not part of the Gospel which was "to be preached over all the world," as it was in 382AD until today:

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

 

Yes, it is true that Elijah, (who is called Elias in the NT), was supposed to come back again, as stated in Mal 4:6.

But he never died, either.
He went to heaven on a chariot, alive!





2 Kings 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

 

Well, it would be kind of silly to have a book of Hebrews in the OT - pretty much the whole thing is a "book of Hebrews"

 

I was Moses.

 

It is by golly. Why even have a 'Book of Hebrews'. Kinda like having a Chicken Cook Book and naming the first chapter 'Chicken'.

 

Aren't there also other verses though that imply reincarnation in some form for Biblical heroes who died normally?

For example Zerubbabel.....


Zechariah 4:9


The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.

Daniel chapter 11 sure seems to imply that Antiochus Epiphanes would reincarnate!

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/rebirth03.html
Reincarnation In Early Christianity

 

Women tend to be more accepting of seeing themselves as a man in a past life whereas men are pretty freaked out to see themselves as women in another time period.

I think that you ladies are going to play a leading role in getting this important truth out to the world.

Here is an extensive quotation on the Helen Wambach Ph. D. research that I would hate to see disappear off the internet…. so I will copy it here as well……

http://www.pureinsight.org/node/1165

 

Here is part 2 of that article…..

http://www.pureinsight.org/node/1165

Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/9/6/18430.html

 

When I was channelling the book, "The Thomas Book: Near Death, a Quest and a New Gospel by the Twin Brother of Jesus,"

Oh brother...

There is NO evidence for Jesus spending time with the Essenes.

 

Zerubbabel started the building of the Second Temple. It was hindered after about 2 years work by the Samaritans. 17 years later he recommenced building and finished it in about 4 years. Where's the inference for reincarnation?

Daniel is supposed to be a young man who remained in Babylon after the exile was finished (and we know many did). Dating Nebuchanezzer tells us this.
It is also generally agreed that Daniels story was written circa 160 BC by scribes. So do we have a prophetical book or an historic one. Does it actually look forward or backward?

Just a thought.

I looked at the subject of reincarnation long ago and put it to one side.

We don't know enough about genetics or the brain to come to any real conclusion. Why do 2 coloured parents have a white baby or vice versa. Usually it is a gene that has lain dormant for generations in a possible mixed marriage.
How does the brain work? Who knows?

Here's a quote from Wiki. I use it because it shows the controversy surrounding so-called reincarnation.

Scientific consensus is that the memories are the result of cryptomnesia, narratives created by the subconscious mind using imagination, forgotten information and suggestions from the therapist.[1][2][12][20][21][22][23] Memories created under hypnosis are indistinguishable from actual memories and can be more vivid than factual memories.[2][24] The greatest predictor of individuals reporting memories of past lives appears to be their beliefs about the existence in reincarnation—individuals who believe in reincarnation are more likely to report such memories, while skeptics or disbelievers are less so.[1][19]

Examinations of three cases of apparent past life regression (Bridey Murphy, Jane Evans and an unnamed English woman) revealed memories that were superficially convincing. However, investigation by experts in the languages used and historical periods described revealed flaws in all three patients' recall. The evidence included speech patterns that were "...used by movie makers and writers to convey the flavour of 16th century English speech" rather than actual Renaissance English, a date that was inaccurate but was the same as a recognized printing error in historical pamphlets, and a subject that reported historically accurate information from the Roman era that was identical to information found in a 1947 novel set in the same time as the individual's memories, with the same name reported by the person regressed. Other details cited are common knowledge and not evidence of the factual nature of the memories; subjects asked to provide historical information that would allow checking provided only vague responses that did not allow for verification, and sometimes were unable to provide critical details that would have been common knowledge (e.g. a subject described the life of a Japanese fighter pilot during World War II but was unable to identify Hirohito as the Emperor of Japan during the 1940s).[18]
Experimental studies

A 1976 study found that 40% of hypnotizable subjects described new identities and used different names when given a suggestion to regress past their birth.[18] In the 1990s a series of experiments undertaken by Nicholas Spanos examined the nature of past life memories. Descriptions of alleged past lives were found to be extremely elaborate, with vivid, detailed descriptions. Subjects who reported memories of past lives exhibited high hypnotizability, and patients demonstrated that the expectations conveyed by the experimenter were most important in determining the characteristics of the reported memories. The degree to which the memories were considered credible by the experimental subjects was correlated most significantly to the subjects' beliefs about reincarnation and their expectation to remember a past life rather than hypnotizability. Spanos' research leads him to the conclusion that past lives are not memories, but actually social constructions based on patients acting "as if" they were someone else, but with significant flaws that would not be expected of actual memories. To create these memories, Spanos' subjects drew upon the expectations established by authority figures and information outside of the experiment such as television, novels, life experiences and their own desires.[18]
See also

2 questions.

Who chooses our reincarnated body?
Why do we need to be reincarnated?

Don't give me the old religious argument that we need to make amends for our bad acts in a previous life. How do we know what sort of life we lived perhaps 500 years ago? Was what we did wrong then acceptable today - or vice versa?

The whole thing does not make sense in todays world.

More I could go into but I consider it a waste of time.


Oh. Elijah went to heaven in a whirlwind - not a chariot and horses of fire. The fire was a symbol of seperation between Elijah and Elisha. Similar symbol when god showed Abram how he would seperate the Jews from the other nations.

 

Agreed.

Preferred the Da Vinci Code. Much better story line.

 

Well, Da Vinci Code sure put Roslyn chapel on the map and paid for much needed restorations.

It is also generally agreed that Daniels story was written circa 160 BC by scribes. So do we have a prophetical book or an historic one. Does it actually look forward or backward?


Yep....................

 

FUNNY how nobody has shown the POINT of reincarnation.

IF you are reincarnated but can't remember your past life without the EXPENSIVE help of a hypnotist what good is it???

 

Because the lessons our "higher selves" need to learn take hundreds or thousands of human incarnations, and quite possible even more in a more advanced species (or two or five). A human lifetime compared to our higher selves is even less significant as is a single dream compared to a human lifetime.

 

Thank you for that....I knew there was no point.

 

Is reading comprehension something you have a significant problem with? Because to draw that conclusion from my post implies a virtual inability to read in the first place.

 

Sorry, but anything that complicated is boring and if you have to wait for a hundred lives or whatever why aren't we at that number now and if we are what good do we get from it?

I don't mean to be rude but if I can't see the benefit in THIS life......there's no point...

 

You have no way to know that you're not, unless you're very advanced and can access that information through meditation.

That's possible. Not all lives serve to teach the intended lessons. In many others, there's only one or two meant to be learned. But when viewed verses the reality of an infinite existence (at least as we understand "time"), a human lifetime is nothing.

 

The problem with reincarnation is that there are more people today than there was yesterday. So suppose you had an original group of 100 people who died. Then before you know it there's 200 people. So the original 100 doubled and so forth until there's over 7 billion people. That means that there are thousands of each one of us running around at the same time in various bodies.

Between resurrection and reincarnation the resurrection process makes more sense even if you do end up as a rotting zombie corpse looking for brains to eat.

 

A percentage of the population do tend to remember past lives while they are children.

Dr. Ian Stevenson spent four decades of his life studying about 3000 cases somewhat similar to the Barbro Karlen/ Anne Frank case.

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/reincarnation01.html

http://www.iisis.net/index.php?page=semkiw-anne-frank-barbro-karlen-reincarnation-past-life

 

Reincarnation or rebirth? There is a difference.