RobedWithLight:
It also conflicts with Christianity this way.
If suppose we assume that Reincarnation is true and likewise the Resurrection is also true. If suppose at the last Judgment a person has already been reincarnated 100,000 times, therefore it means he has already inhabited 100,000 bodies. Now, which among those physical bodies would be resurrected on the day of judgment? All of them? Some of them? With which physical body would he be reunited finally, and what would happen to the other 99,999 physical bodies which he would not be reunited with in the last day?
These two doctrines are so diametrically opposed that this absurdity is one of its unfortunate consequences.
Gerry
Hi Gerry,
I agree that this absurdity is a major problem. But as I was watching the movie “Little Buddha” (starring the inimitable Keanu Reeves as the Buddha himself), I was sort of surprised to find out that in Tibetan Buddhism, it is possible for a single individual to reincarnate as more than one person. (I say “sort of surprised” since I’ve long since ceased to be surprised at what I find hidden within the nooks and crannies of Tibetan Buddhism
.)
In any event, I was wondering and proposing this scenario: Let’s say you live through 100 lives. Which one gets resurrected? Well,
all of them get resurrected (into either a physical or glorified body, according to one’s interpretation of St. Paul). If at the end of the reincarnation process, you find God (lets say, through the Church), then when you die, all of your preceding body/souls (since body and soul are one unit) are resurrected.
The problem here, of course, is how to explain eternal damnation. Well, one possibility is that to remain in the reincarnation cycle is to be damned – unless, by grace, one is liberated from it, and then resurrected in a glorified physical body.
What about the Final Judgment then? Perhaps God allows the reincarnation process until the Final Day of Judgment. If you haven’t gotten right with God by then, then it’s too late: reincarnation ends and you’re spending eternity in hell – and not just you, but all of your previous reincarnation body/souls. If you find God before Judgement Day, then not only does your presently living body become resurrected, but all the body/souls of your previous lives become resurrected.
One problem would be the precise relationship between you (your body and soul as it exists in this lifetime) and your previous incarnations (your bodies and souls of previous lives). One solution is to take a Buddhist solution: your previous incarnations are neither you, nor are they not you. That is, some sort of spiritual link connects all of your incarnations in some deep way, but all of them are separate body/souls, each of which is born once, and dies once. However, each body/soul has a chance to get right with God. If it fails, then it somehow gets connected to a new body/soul that will be born in the future. This new body/soul then lives, and if it gets right with God, its success will not only help it alone, but it will also help all the previous body/souls who were linked to it, but who failed to achieve salvation.
In other words, all of your previous incarnations are
counting on you to get right with God.
OK, that’s my theory, and I may not necessarily stick to it!
Ahimsa
