Is the biblical idea of being "born again" compatible with eastern religious ideas of reincarnation?
score:15
Being "Born again" and being reincarnated are completely different concepts.
The concept of being born again comes from this Bible passage below. I know it's long but the theological and doctrinal implications found in this passage are profound and critical to understanding what it means to be "born again" and what salvation requires.
John 3:3-21 (NIV)
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
TL;DR
If you balked at reading all of that, it basically says this:
- You must be born again, which means born of water (from your mother) and born of the Spirit (from God)
- In order to be born of the Spirit, you must believe in Jesus
- You must live your life according to Jesus and follow him in order to truly believe in him.
That's the essence of being "born again".
Upvote:-2
In my opinion, there is no contradiction between Christian concept of paradise and hell vs some other religions' reincarnation.
Maybe person has "two spirits" (for lack for a better term than "spirit" here). One person's spirit goes to paradise or hell and the other is reincarnated.
I am not sure that the above is an accurate picture of reality, but I consider this quite possible and not conflicting with biblical teaching.
Upvote:-1
I am curious, I get what your saying. I too have thought that these could be similar things. I did have a question which is not exactly of this topic. This is my question: So we know the bible says that(I am gonna paraphrase this) Basically he sent Jesus to come and save us and that he would die for our sins. And that the only way to heaven is through him. Now this is the question: So God was mad, according to the bible, bc people were worshipping entities besides himself, right? So my confusion is this if God didn't want anyone worshipped besides him why would he send his son to then be worshipped in order to get to him? Idk. I just cant see this I also dont understand how most of the bible seems to me, could have been just saying"all of us", in general and it seems that it could have been taken literally. I mean the MEN were tired of writing. I am just so torn on this issue. I studied Religion in college, thought it would help me to figure out exactly what I believed. Nope. I am open to hearing anyone's point but it always seems to have holes in it. I believe in God. However, I think that the bible is incomplete and has been rewrote so many times it has lost the real meaning. I also think that God would not waste his time writing this out when he talks to you as well as equiping us all with a conscious. In my college class we learned that historically there was not a Jesus that lived during the time that he was suppose to. Please dont attack me, I am only trying to get more thoughts on this. I think that all religions have something right but I dont believe in just one. I also disagree with the church aspect(money) as well. Dont get me wrong I understand why we have religion bc the world would be messed up. I get it. But what about the fact that most of the things like the flood etc.. coincided with events that were happening(maybe not to that scale) in the world at that time? I also do not see how the God of the bible would choose to allow a murderer in heaven, if of course he was saved. Yet deny a person whom may not be in church every week; but whom is good to others and does the right thing when they think no one is watching. I believe that is the key. How we treat each other not if we tithed that week, meanwhile a horrible person, is good as long as they ask for forgiveness. Idk. I would love to hear-NICELY what other thoughts are. Thanks.
Upvote:3
The idea of reincarnation is not compatible with the Bible. Others have discussed how the phrase "born again" does not mean reincarnation.
The Bible specifically denies reincarnation. Hebrews 9:27, "it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment". We die once and then are judged. We do not die and then be reborn to "try again".
Upvote:8
Being born again in Christianity is being born of the Spirit. Triune man, consisting of body, soul, and spirit at creation, died spiritually at the fall. Being born again revives the spirit, but body and soul stay the same. This is shown too when Paul says that we have been saved, are saved, and will be saved. This can be interpreted like:
- the spirit was saved when reborn by accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour,
- the soul is being saved as we work out our salvation daily, change our mindset, and become more like Christ,
- and the body will be changed in an instance at the sound of the last trumpet or when the dead are resurrected.
In eastern religions, the spirit never died, but is reborn into new bodies until it has changed enough to earn Nirvana for example.
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