How do we know John Hicks idea of Many Worlds is incorrect?

[Thomas_Jennings]

It seems to follow quite neatly that, if God wants us to grow to know Him and have a choice in finding His glory rather than simply being landed with it, it seems logical to believe what Hicks does…where God gives us many lives to live through (each providing spiritual growth) being that NONE of us (even the holiest person) dies as a perfect being. Thus, with each death, we enter into a new life where our development from the last life remains intact (though most likely the memories needn’t)…and eventually…after many lives, we are ‘fully grown’, ‘fully baked’ as it were, and ready to be as one with God.

Reincarnation always sounds a little loopy at first glance…but I actually think this makes a great deal of sense. If God is perfect (as He is) then He must do the best thing for His creatures…which certainly doesn’t necessitate making things easy for them!

Rebuttal?

 

[steido01]

Rebuttal is simple: Look at this world, with its shrinking freedoms for the religious and it’s ever-more-militant, growing atheism. Note also how we still destroy creation, only now more effectively than in the past. Now tell me with a straight face that anyone on this miserable marble has become, spiritually, more “fully grown” than previous generations. If reincarnation were true, there ought to be Utopian societies by now.

 

[Thomas_Jennings]

Rebuttal is simple: Look at this world, with its shrinking freedoms for the religious and it’s ever-more-militant, growing atheism. Note also how we still destroy creation, only now more effectively than in the past. Now tell me with a straight face that anyone on this miserable marble has become, spiritually, more “fully grown” than previous generations. If reincarnation were true, there ought to be Utopian societies by now.

Ah, well I didn’t word myself very well…you see John Hicks posits that we are reborn in different worlds/possibly dimensions as besuits our current degree of growth.

 

[JackVk]

Ah, well I didn’t word myself very well…you see John Hicks posits that we are reborn in different worlds/possibly dimensions as besuits our current degree of growth.

The only plausible way this could be true would be Purgatory. Purgatory is where God takes care of any “loose ends” on our souls before we are allowed entry into Heaven. This doctrine renders reincarnation unnecessary.

 

[Gorgias]

with each death, we enter into a new life where our development from the last life remains intact (though most likely the memories needn’t)…and eventually…after many lives, we are ‘fully grown’, ‘fully baked’ as it were, and ready to be as one with God.

That would imply that our ‘salvation’ is based on our own work – the ‘development’ which we undertook on our own – and not on the grace of God. So, no, that doesn’t fit what Christianity tells us.

Reincarnation always sounds a little loopy at first glance…but I actually think this makes a great deal of sense.

Unfortunately, it’s in direct contradiction with Scripture: " it is appointed that human beings die once, and after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).

If God is perfect (as He is) then He must do the best thing for His creatures…which certainly doesn’t necessitate making things easy for them!

Why would ‘not easy’ correlate with ‘the perfection of God’? That doesn’t make sense.

 

[GEddie]

Reincarnation is altogether irreconcilable with the teachings of our LORD and His Testament.

Anybody who says otherwise is kidding themself.

ICXC NIKA

 

[steido01]

Ah, well I didn’t word myself very well…you see John Hicks posits that we are reborn in different worlds/possibly dimensions as besuits our current degree of growth.

Irrelevant. In those worlds/dimensions, utopia also ought to have been reached. I suppose the scale could be larger, but that would mean the god of Hicks’ universes deliberately separates his people. This is incongruent with Christ’s desire that “all may be one,” and the Great Commission. How can we “make disciples of all nations” if we can’t contact those in the other worlds?

In any event the purpose of life is not to ‘better perfect’ the self through repeated death, but to be perfected by One death. Reincarnation requires a paradigm that doesn’t jive with Christianity.

 

[Mary_Estelle]

Tell me, please. What exactly is “death?” If there is a Holy Spirit, then what of our own spirit? Of our own souls? If we go to purgatory or heaven, does that mean that there is no true “death” or only the non-viable human body? Can there be a third-kind of in-between phase or after purgatory option? Inquiring minds want to know. We will never know until we “die.” Scientist will tell you that energy is never lost, but transformed. Just tossing this out to make readers think that we DO NOT have all answers. The Bible warns us not to mess with the spirit world-didn’t say there wasn’t any- does that imply there isn’t any or reincarnation? Hmm. I do love a good debate and to aggravate!!

 

[GEddie]

Tell me, please. What exactly is “death?” If there is a Holy Spirit, then what of our own spirit? Of our own souls? If we go to purgatory or heaven, does that mean that there is no true “death” or only the non-viable human body? Can there be a third-kind of in-between phase or after purgatory option? Inquiring minds want to know. We will never know until we “die.” Scientist will tell you that energy is never lost, but transformed. Just tossing this out to make readers think that we DO NOT have all answers. The Bible warns us not to mess with the spirit world-didn’t say there wasn’t any- does that imply there isn’t any or reincarnation? Hmm. I do love a good debate and to aggravate!!

Death is no more nor less than the loss of the body.

 

[Catholic1954]

Death is no more nor less than the loss of the body.

Death is the separation of the soul from the body.

 

[Ricky_C]

I feel like it’s fairly simple, but maybe there’s more to it.

If we’re all going to be reincarnated into better and better individuals until we’re “fully baked,” then there’s no judgment involved. Jesus Christ will judge all individuals based on how they lived their lives, and if everyone’s going to be re-created into a completely separate person, then people are never judged. Plus, it isn’t ever the same person; even if a person’s soul were taken to a new life in a new body, the new life has nothing to do with the previous life, so how can you call those the same person? I don’t think it’s plausible.

 

[kimg901]

Maybe I’m understanding this wrong, but if we are to be reincarnated then what purpose was there for Jesus? Why didn’t He speak of another life in which we could better ourselves over and over? Doesn’t make any sense to me

 

[Ricky_C]

Maybe I’m understanding this wrong, but if we are to be reincarnated then what purpose was there for Jesus? Why didn’t He speak of another life in which we could better ourselves over and over? Doesn’t make any sense to me

That’s actually a great point; Jesus’ death is what leads us to be saved; reincarnation by the above theory leaves it to newer lives to be what save us, which nullifies Jesus’ existence. With reincarnation, you take away Jesus Christ.