reincarnation

do you believe in reincarnation?

Yes, but not "cyclic" reincarnation like the Hindus believe. I believe we can return for more lessons here (or punishment) if we choose to.

No.

Logically, I will accept it a bit more than going to heaven or hell but I can't say I'm sold on it. All beings are energy. You can't destroy energy.

Well, being one of the token Bible-thumpers around here, I don't believe in reincarnation based on the following quote from Hebrews 9:27 :

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"

Reincarnation would allow for you to die more than once, multiple times even, if you kept coming back to re-live different lives, and that goes against what the above passage says.

I believe that we keep on living, after our Earthly deaths, as the body can be destroyed but not the soul within it. Therefore, that indestructable part must go somewhere after it leaves the body, hence the Christian belief of Heaven and Hell.

And to keep it light and add a little humor, here's a great dissertation on "Hell":


HELL EXPLAINED

BY A CHEMISTRY STUDENT

The following is an actual question given on a University of Arizona chemistry mid term, and an actual answer turned in by a student.

The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :


Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?




Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.
One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely.. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.


Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.




This gives two possibilities:


1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct..... ....leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'





THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.

FREAKIN HYSTERICAL!!!!

I find reincarnation a more logical concept. It even explains to some degree the extinction of many lesser animals as humans overpopulate the earth. Reincarnation is the evolution of consciousness (or the soul), always adding experience from one life to the next and always upgrading. So forget the Western non-believers' mocking humor that "I'll come back as a (insert funny lower life form and punch line here)."

I am not sure why memory of past existence is non-existent but in India, where such is the accepted norm there is an occasional person who remembers a past life. Rare, considering the billions of ppl there, but convincing in many instances.