The Dr. Ian Stevenson research... did he prove reincarnation?

DennisTate · Feb 26, 2024

In my opinion... The Dr. Ian Stevenson research is powerful evidence that some part of each human may return to earth at a later time for another shot at "salvation."

I did not believe in reincarnation myself until I was in my thirties. Near death experience accounts caused me to take a totally new look at the entire Jewish and Christian Bible and once I knew a little bit about this I began to remember scriptures that would tend to at least hint at some form of reincarnation.

1Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. 2And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. 4I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 9: 1-5
https://www.bible.com/bible/114/JHN.9.NKJV
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Dr. Ian Stevenson’s Reincarnation Research
BY KEVIN WILLIAMSPOSTED ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

Dr. Ian Stevenson (1918-2007) was a psychiatrist who worked for the University of Virginia School of Medicine for 50 years. He was Chair of the Department of Psychiatry from 1957 to 1967, the Carlson Professor of Psychiatry from 1967 to 2001, and a Research Professor of Psychiatry from 2002 until his death. He was also the founder and Director of the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies investigating parapsychological phenomena such as (1) reincarnation, (2) near-death experiences, (3) out-of-body experiences, and (4) altered states of consciousness and psi. He became internationally recognized for his research into reincarnation by discovering evidence suggesting that memories and physical injuries can be transferred from one lifetime to another. He traveled extensively over a period of 40 years, investigating 3,000 cases of children around the world who recalled having past lives. His meticulous research presented evidence that such children had unusual abilities, illnesses, phobias and philias which could not be explained by the environment or heredity.

1. Introduction to Dr. Ian Stevenson’s Research
Dr. Stevenson’s reincarnation research began in 1960 when he learned of a case in Sri Lanka where a child reported remembering a past life. He thoroughly questioned the child and the child’s parents, including the people whom the child recalled were his parents from his past life. This led to Dr. Stevenson’s conviction that reincarnation was possibly a reality. That same year, Dr. Stevenson published two articles in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research about this child who remembered having a past life. The more such cases he discovered, the greater became his ambition to scientifically quantify the possibility of reincarnation – one of the world’s greatest mysteries – which had been virtually ignored by science in the past.
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Why reincarnation was edited out of Christianity?

Bruce F. MacDonald: "Thank you ,Dennis. An awareness of reincarnation is very important. When I was channelling the book, "The Thomas Book: Near Death, a Quest and a New Gospel by the Twin Brother of Jesus," I was constantly made aware of the importance of reincarnation to Jesus and to the early Christians. There are very important lessons about reincarnation in The Thomas Book, and the way it was written depends on the reality of reincarnation. A modern direct descendent of Jesus' teachings about reincarnation can be found in the Coptic Church in Egypt, which claims it drew its original teachings from St. Mark, who received his teachings from Jesus. They assert that reincarnation was one of the central teachings of Jesus himself, but that it was wiped out of the wider church by some of the later Roman emperors because those rulers did not want to think that they might be born as lesser beings sometime in the future. The emperors, in their pride, did not want to believe Jesus' teaching that "you reap what you sow," and that they might have to face the consequences of their actions in a future life. They wanted to be in the position where they answered to no one for their actions, as when they were emperors, so insisted that the Bishops pass a law that they would go directly to heaven instead of being reincarnated to face the consequences of their often cruel actions.

The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, says that the Pharisees and the Essenes believed in reincarnation. Since Jesus spent much time with the Essenes in his early life, it is natural that he would preach reincarnation. When I was told by Kevin Ryerson, one of the foremost trance channels in the United States, that I was the reincarnation of Judas Thomas, the twin brother of Jesus, it was a great shock in a way, even though I had been told by Jesus, when I was channelling the Thomas gospel in the early 1980s, that I was the reincarnation of Judas Thomas, and that was why I could write the gospel which came from him. To have this confirmed by someone with the stature of Kevin made it seem more striking in the modern world. By the way, for those who wonder about Jesus having a twin brother, there was an early and wide spread belief in this twin brother of Jesus (also wiped out by some of the people in power in the early Roman church) as can be found in "The Acts of Thomas," "The Book of Thomas the Contender," "The Gospel of Thomas" and "The Song of the Pearl" (all available on the internet).

Reincarnation was replaced with a belief in hell, which was a later, non-Christian teaching which found its way into the early Christian church. According to Jesus' teachings about reincarnation, facing the consequences of our actions in future lives is how we are "rewarded or punished" for what we do, and so, as Barbro Karlen says, we make our own heaven or hell.. But none of it is "punishment," even though it might seem like it is. When we face challenges or suffering in our life, it is a way for us to learn the consequences of earlier action -- it is not punishment. And it is the best way to learn. If we have caused suffering for others in the past, we need to learn what that suffering feels like so that we can decide not to do that again. As Edgar Cayce, the famous American "Sleeping Prophet" from the early 20th century says, "We must experience in our own soul what we have brought into the lives of others." That way we learn that bringing love and compassion and joy and peace into the lives of others brings the same to us, and bringing hatred and fear and pain into the lives of others brings the same to us. When Jesus said, "Do unto others what you would want done to you," he is reflecting this idea, because what we do to others is what will be done to us.

Of course suffering is not always punishment. Sometimes we choose to face challenges in our lives in order to strengthen our faith or our compassion or our understanding in some way. And sometimes advanced souls choose to be incarnated as poor people or beggers or others low in the estimation of the world, in order for us to realize that our negative judgement of the "least of these our brothers and sisters," may be all wrong, because, as Jesus puts it, these may actually be Jesus or some other advanced soul incarnate to teach us about the nature of love and compassion. (If people want to read more about this they can go to
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Your nomination for Nobel Prize in Literature?

DennisTate said: ↑

My recommendation is:

On pages 137 to 170 in this book.....the number one cause of anti-Semitism by Christians over these past eighteen centuries is addressed.........(brilliantly I might add)....... and it could be argued that the author also address anti- Semitic activity by Muslims........ over the past twelve centuries.........

Here is a good example of the type of literature that can win the Nobel Prize for Literature:

I admit that I may be biased.... but I do believe that Dr. MacDonald has even Winston beat in this category...... because three to five centuries from now more humans will be aware of what Dr. MacDonald wrote than will be aware of what Winston did.

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1953/summary/
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JET3534 · Mar 4, 2024

Per his book title (see link below), he presents evidence suggestive of reincarnation but make no claims regarding reincarnation. I have read this book which appears to present thought provoking facts in a scientific manner, but unless repeated and confirmed the evidence is not empirical evidence of anything. So I vote further study is needed.

https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Cases-Suggestive-Reincarnation-Enlarged/dp/0813908728/ref=sr_1_4?crid=NF8WTPVSWZ11&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Ehe9HqxlpMenso7P27PHCTnkQU5m2qAmSgu-cMCha5oxeYO6CHPsVSVa_3-1xVlXsagC4RL9rCKRjVO9qF8TbAqjWRyJLhmW8FGZfCSvzjTxNkMfIv0OnuVAB5AH2W10VfR2C8RpYFagheaAeQgYKezeKpVehuwX00T0Y37_HYCuiWLTBzjc2csOj5Qew0ckjHaEgf_jUm26ptLeSfl67BAxDcRr7QSzowsbVrQiHKA.EC36QDNXtmCKFkd8h36fzl55b1t4pS88X2uQE0MAlxA&dib_tag=se&keywords=ian+stevenson&qid=1709607133&sprefix=ian+stevenson,aps,221&sr=8-4

DennisTate · Apr 3, 2024

JET3534 said: ↑

Per his book title (see link below), he presents evidence suggestive of reincarnation but make no claims regarding reincarnation. I have read this book which appears to present thought provoking facts in a scientific manner, but unless repeated and confirmed the evidence is not empirical evidence of anything. So I vote further study is needed.

https://www.amazon.com/Twenty-Cases-Suggestive-Reincarnation-Enlarged/dp/0813908728/ref=sr_1_4?crid=NF8WTPVSWZ11&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Ehe9HqxlpMenso7P27PHCTnkQU5m2qAmSgu-cMCha5oxeYO6CHPsVSVa_3-1xVlXsagC4RL9rCKRjVO9qF8TbAqjWRyJLhmW8FGZfCSvzjTxNkMfIv0OnuVAB5AH2W10VfR2C8RpYFagheaAeQgYKezeKpVehuwX00T0Y37_HYCuiWLTBzjc2csOj5Qew0ckjHaEgf_jUm26ptLeSfl67BAxDcRr7QSzowsbVrQiHKA.EC36QDNXtmCKFkd8h36fzl55b1t4pS88X2uQE0MAlxA&dib_tag=se&keywords=ian+stevenson&qid=1709607133&sprefix=ian+stevenson,aps,221&sr=8-4
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The Dr. Helen Wamback research is further evidence for reincarnation.......
from what appears to be an entirely different angle!

What is that white guy doin in my head? (Past life regression under hypnosis).

DR. HELEN WAMBACH AND REINCARNATION

Dr. Helen Wambach (Ph.D.) was one of the earliest scientific researchers into past lives and reincaration. She was the author of Reliving Past Lives and Life Before Life (both published in 1978 by Bantam paperback books). The updated Reliving Past Lives: The Evidence Under Hypnosis was published in 1984. Mass Dreams of the Future was published by Chet Snow in 1993 after her death was based on her research.

Initially motivated by a desire to debunk reincarnation, beginning in the mid-1960s, Helen Wambach conducted a 10-year survey of past-life recalls under hypnosis among 1,088 subjects. She asked very specific questions about the time periods in which people lived and the clothing, footwear, utensils, money, housing, etc. which they used or came in contact with. Wambach concluded found peoples' recollections to be amazingly accurate and wrote that ''fantasy and genetic memory could not account for the patterns that emerged in the results. With the exception of 11 subjects, all descriptions of clothing, footwear, and utensils were consistent with historical records.''

Victor Zammit describes Wambach's research thus:

By doing a scientific analysis on the past lives reported by her 10,000 plus volunteers she came up with some startling evidence in favor of reincarnation:

50.6 % of the past lives reported were male and 49.4 % were female this is exactly in accordance with biological fact.

The number of people reporting upper class or comfortable lives was in exactly the same proportion to the estimates of historians of the class distribution of the period.

The recall by subjects of clothing, footwear, type of food and utensils used was better than that in popular history books. She found over and over again that her subjects knew better than most historians when she went to obscure experts her subjects were invariably correct.

Her conclusion was:

'I don't believe in reincarnation I know it!' (Wambach 197.
In Life Before Life Dr. Wambach described the results of hypnotizing another 750 people and taking them to the time between their past and current lives. One of her most controversial findings was that people have some choice in their current lives and that the disembodied consciousness or soul does not enter the body until near birth. "The soul usually enters the body near birth, and has a choice of which fetus to enter. If one fetus is aborted, it is possible to choose another. In some cases, the soul who will occupy the fetus, is in contact with the soul of the mother, and can influence her decision regarding abortion."

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Judaism and Reincarnation
Kabbalah on Judaism and reincarnation
Beginner

How prevalent is the Jewish belief in reincarnation today? How does it differ from the Asian belief? What do the Rabbis think of it?

The root of the word "Torah" is the verb "to instruct". Torah's primary function is to teach us how to live Jewishly, in harmony with G‑d's will. As such, the basic levels of scriptural interpretation lead to a practicalunderstanding of mitzvot and related Jewish values.

Many Jews are surprised to learn, or may even wish to deny, that reincarnation…is an integral part of Jewish belief…
The Torah, however, is a multi-layered document. Many of its deeper levels of interpretation are not readily accessible; and they may not lend themselves to obvious, practical application in daily life. As such, these more esoteric aspects of Torah are not of interest to significant segments of the Jewish population, including some rabbis and scholars.

Consequently, many Jews are surprised to learn, or may even wish to deny, that reincarnation - the "revolving" of souls through a succession of lives, or "gilgulim" - is an integral part of Jewish belief. But this teaching has always been around. And it is firmly rooted in source-verses.

Examples abound. Ramban, one of the greatest commentators on the Torah (and on the Talmud), and a seminal figure in Jewish history, hints several times that reincarnation is the key to penetrating the deep mysteries involved in the mitzvah of yibum (the obligation of the brother of a childless, deceased man to marry the widow). In his explanation of Gen 38:8, he insists that Yehudah and his sons were aware of the secret of reincarnation, and that this was a major factor in their respective attitudes towards Tamar.

The responsibility
lies with us…
The Jewish understanding of reincarnation is different from Buddhist doctrines. It in no way leads to fatalism. At every point of moral decision in his life, a Jew has complete free choice. If not for freedom of choice, how unfair it would be of G‑d to make demands of us - especially when reward and punishment is involved! Reincarnation does not imply pre-determination. It is, rather, an opportunity for rectification and soul-perfection.

The holy Ari explained it most simply: every Jew must fulfill all 613 mitzvot, and if he doesn't succeed in one lifetime, he comes back again and again until he finishes. For this reason, events in a person's life may lead him towards certain places, encounters, etc., in ways that may or may not make sense. Divine providence provides each person with the opportunities he needs to fulfill those particular mitzvot necessary for the perfection of his soul. But the responsibility lies with us. At the actual moment of decision in any given situation, the choice is ours.

One of the ways in which heaven maintains our ability to exercise complete freedom of choice is by not allowing us conscious knowledge of previous incarnations. Consequently, it might seem to some people that there is little practical benefit in being aware of this doctrine. Furthermore, many scholars contend that these mystical concepts can easily be misunderstood, or carried to erroneous and misleading conclusions. We can therefore understand why this and similar subjects are only hinted at in scripture, and why some knowledge and a great deal of determination are often required in order to gain access to this information.

For an in-depth English treatment of the Jewish doctrine of reincarnation, see the running translation and commentary of Shaar Gilgulim on KabbalaOnline.org. (For the first article in the series, "Gate of Reincarnations", click here).
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The Dr. Ian Stevenson research... did he prove reincarnation?

Did Dr. Ian Stevenson find powerful evidence that some part of us can return for some reason?

Yes

No

Possibly..... I want to research this further????

DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

JET3534 Well-Known Member

DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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The Dr. Ian Stevenson research... did he prove reincarnation?

Did Dr. Ian Stevenson find powerful evidence that some part of us can return for some reason?

Yes

No

Possibly..... I want to research this further????

DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

JET3534 Well-Known Member

DennisTate Well-Known Member Past Donor

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