Skip to main content

Reincarnation

I know I've written about this before, but I really do like the idea of reincarnation. Here's something striking I just discovered: Reincarnation was once an accepted belief of the Christian church. The only reason they got rid of the doctrine is that the leaders feared it would weaken their ability to command obedience in their members. If Christians believed that they had multiple lifetimes to work out their salvation, then perhaps they'd be less motivated to strive for perfection in this one?

Here is the section that blew my mind from the "Autobiography of a Yogi:"

The early Christina church accepted the doctrine of reincarnation, which was expounded by the Gnostics and by numerous church fathers, including Clement of Alexandria, the celebrated Origen (both 3rd centurty), and St. Jerome (5th century). The doctrine was first declared a heresy in A.D. 553 by the Second Council of Constantinople. At that time many Christians thought the doctrine of reincarnation afforded man too ample a stage of time and space to encourage him to strive for immediate salvation. But truths suppressed lead disconcertingly to a host of errors. The milliions have not ulitzied their "one lifetime" to seek God, but to enjoy this world--so uniquely won, and so shortly to be forever lost! The truth is that man reincarnates on earth until he has consciously regained his status as a son of God.
Amen!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holy Treason

I don’t know if you’re like me or not, but I was born into the one and only “true” religion of God. I spent my entire life studying and living the principles and teachings of my faith. I knew the doctrine, and I believed it to be true. Until I didn’t. The road to the unraveling of my faith is a rather long one—definitely another article for another day--but suffice it to say, I began studying other religions and realized that all of them contained beautiful truths. I felt as uplifted and inspired while reading their scriptures as I did reading mine. I understood why some referred to religion as a “faith culture” for I was now aware that had I been born and raised in a different religion, I’d have believed that religious tradition to be true. I came to see religions as merely vehicles leading us back to God. Surely God didn’t care whether his children drove jalopies or Jaguars so long as they were moving along the superhighway back to Him. Or could it be her? Or perhaps there wasn’t ju...
2 comments
Read more

Relationships

I've been thinking a bit about relationships. I'm seeing them differently than I've ever seen them before. First, I realize that relationships are created in our minds. What we think about our relationships defines them. If I think my daughter is ungrateful, I will see ingratitude in all her actions. If I tell myself my coworker is annoying, I will find him extremely so.  And so it goes. What we think about others creates how we relate to them. So why not think happy, positive, loving thoughts about the people we relate with? We absolutely have the power to create amazing relationships by changing the way we think about our relations. Second, I've been thinking about the importance of loving the people in our life for who they are, not for what we need them to be. People need freedom to be who they want to be. If you love someone, you don't try to change them. That isn't love. Love is accepting someone for who they are and where they are right now. Love know...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reinforcements and Revelations

Today was full of fun reinforcements and revelations. I belong to a private Facebook group of former Mormons and there is always interesting information being shared. I enjoy reading the experiences of other members and I find comfort in knowing I'm not alone. This weekend several members of the community shared posts about an email they have received from the church asking them to complete a survey on why they left the church. Here is what one member shared: Did anyone else receive a survey by email today from the church? I guess I’m still on their mass email list. Normally I would have just deleted it, but it said if I filled it out I would get a $10 Amazon gift card, so I decided to hurry and complete it. 😂 😜 It had some general factual questions, but then it asked some deep hard questions. Basically, it is trying to figure out who and why people are leaving the church and what they can do to prevent it from happening even more.  They are trying to see if t...
2 comments
Read more