Reincarnation question

[DaMaMaXiMuS]

Greetings again,

As I understand it the Catholic Church does not teach reincarnation. In the religion of used to belong to we held the belief that reincarnation was real. The main scriptures we would use to justify this belief was Malichi 4:5-6, Luke 1:15-17, Matthews11:11-14, 17:10-13. We also would used Ecclesiates 1:9-11.

In the first set of scriptures the point was that God promised in a prophesy that he would send Elijah back to turn the people to him. And from our interpretation, we understand it mean that this prophesy was fulfilled in John the Baptist because he was Elijah reincarnated.

In Ecclesiastes the point we would make was that its not speaking of physical objects. Because there are things that exist today that did not exist in the past back then. So we would say it is speaking of man’s spirit, in particular due to verse 11 when it would say “there is no rememberance of fomer things.” We would say this means man can not remember who he was in the past or in a past life.

Now as I said, this was our interpretation back when I was in that former religion. So I am most definately not trying to argue in favor of reincarnation.

But I would like to know what the official Church interpretation of these scriptures.

Thanks and God bless You All,

Nelson

 

[Fidelis]

DaMaMaXiMuS:

But I would like to know what the official Church interpretation of these scriptures.

It surprises many people to find out that the Church does not have “official” interpretations on every verse of Scripture. In fact, I’ve heard there are only a handful of Scriptures which the Church does require the faithful to understand with a certain interpretation, for example Matthew 16:18 (the primacy of Peter) and John 20:21 (the institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation).

Suffice to say then, in the verses in question, it is enough to say that the Church does not interpret them to justify reincarnation. John is seen to be a one who “comes in the power of Elijah,” but not Elijah himself. Even John himself denies it in John 1:21. As far as Ecclesiastes goes, there is no direct or even contextual reference to reincarnation–it is simply an isolated verse that only vaguely and with great effort be applied to reincarnation by those who wish to see ot there.

 

[DaMaMaXiMuS]

Thank you for you (name removed by moderator)ut Fedelis.

Nelson