Padre Pio and his past lives ?

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by sky123

To control the masses is the only reason that makes sense to me, if we know we have more chances to learn and behave lol, then we wouldn't do what they demanded of us. They wanted total authority over our souls, but who knows the true reason, we can only guess.

Power and control, yup.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Molearner

Personally I view the fact of reincarnation as evidence of the forgiveness of God. We are given additional chances to continue our journeys.

And I see reincarnation as an example of no death...we
just keep on tickin'!
Whatever planet, whatever dimension...we are always THERE!
Hahahaha
What a concept for our minds...we are eternal.

[Molearner]

Hi all,

There are other things that I can point to besides reincarnation that can be factors in the way that we live and the way that we live lives with purpose and fulfillment.

For example, I can make strong arguments for the following:

God is always loving
God is always forgiving
There is no permanent hell
We are all going to heaven

The trouble is that if we are fatalistic in accepting any of these premises we can lose the reason for pursuing the spiritual path. We can assure and convince ourselves that it will 'work out' in the end. But by adapting this fatalistic approach we rob ourselves of the incentive to practice the ACTIVE life of love. We cannot be transformed in THIS life and experience the full joy and meaning of life. We live a life of purpose......but that purpose is to respond to the demands of our egos. We help only ourselves in this life and it is an empty victory. It is the transformation of ourselves that leads to the transformation of others and the world.

[Molearner]

I know that it is popular in these forums to criticize the Church, religions, Christianity, the scriptures, dogma, doctrine, etc. Much of it is justified. What worries me is the negative energy that is being devoted to these efforts. I cannot believe that it is healthy. It is better to pursue with enthusiasm that which one knows to be true.

[sky]

Originally Posted by Molearner

sky123,

It was a mistake on my part to mention nirvana. It is originally a Buddhist term that has subsequently also been borrowed by Hinduism. Mankind's highest spiritual goals have to do with the raising of consciousness and depending on the orientation of the seeker are given different names.......e.g. illumination, enlightenment, self-realization, nirvana, the Kingdom of Heaven(within) to name a few. Any of these goals can be achieved in a lifetime.

The question is: Which lifetime? For those who believe in reincarnation the hope is that a future lifetime will provide this opportunity if it is not achieved in the present one. So, yes, reincarnation can happen many times but we do not have to believe that this is an endless repetition. In other words, there is an end goal. In my mind this is the resurrection......I know others might disagree.

Once again I must say that one should not expect the Church to embrace reincarnation despite the reality of it. If the Church actually taught reincarnation it could be construed as a message roughly translated as "Better luck next time". I must say that the Church by accepting this seed of doubt concerning the reality of reincarnation has provided an incentive to many to begin their spiritual journey with expectations for this life. So for those of us who believe in reincarnation we bear a heavier burden. That burden is that the temptation it gives us is put off our spiritual quests knowing that we can pursue that in our next life.

The ultimate goal of Christianity is to transform the world...i.e. New Heaven and New Earth(Rev. chapter 21). This differs from other religions whose goal can be seen as escape from the world.

I do expect the church to include reincarnation in there teachings, if it was a belief that Jesus held and taught then it should never have been removed, but as we know Religions can be extremely hypocritical and bend the rules to suit. If it was good enough for Jesus and Christianity is based on his life then who are they to alter his teachings.

[sky]

Originally Posted by innerlight

Because if you keep reincarnation, then you don't need Jesus.. Without Jesus you have no Christian movement, or christian church.

innerlight, Jesus himself taught and spoke about reincarnation so to follow the path of Christianity we should be following his teachings not Justinians...

[Amilius777]

I never understood how reincarnation cancels out Jesus' importance.

It probably took away that "saving from your sins" dogma. But honestly unless anyone understood what the ancient Jews were talking about it is no wonder Christianity misunderstood that .

Jesus like many other prophets in his Hebraic Tradition was a master of Wisdom and spirituality and a social prophet.

The "sins of the world" had to do with what human beings have allowed in this world and their unfortunate contribution towards hurting their brother and not being their keeper- and this is objectively seen in our governments, empires, and societies.

Basically the Injustice of the world (our sins) killed Jesus. He went to the Cross fulfilling his mission from God despite the false accusations of blasphemy of sedition by the State and Religion. Even though his society put him through hell, he turned their violence and hatred into love and selfless service to God and the future of mankind.

We as souls still have to reincarnate and learn from our own personal mistakes and we have to evolve on our own, but our evolution can be quickened by the Spirit that was seen in Jesus' life.

That is pretty much the "salvation". But salvation isn't the end story. It's part of the journey back to connection and union with God.