Catholic view on reincarnation

What is Reincarnation?

Reincarnation simply means rebirth of a soul in another form or body.

In Latin language the word Reincarnation means entering the fresh again.

It is the process by which a persons soul, after death is transferred into another body(animal,plant or human) and begins a new life in it.

In many religions like the Buddhist, it’s believed that the form or body a person will take in the next life depends on his deed in the present life which is called Samsara.

The Cathars believe that one will constantly be reborn till he or she attains salvation.

In the Bible many people believe that Elijah reincarnated as John the Baptist due to what Jesus said in this passage Mathew 17:10-13. The passage is greatly being misunderstood by many people and at the end of this article I will make you understand what the passage actually meant.

What does bible and Catholics say about Reincarnation

The Catholics doesn’t believe in reincarnation, they believe that we have only one life and after death the soul separates from the body. In the Bible Hebrew 9:27 says “Everyone must die once and after that be judged by God. “. The passage shows we didn’t die previously neither will we die again in the future.

In the year 2018 a poll revealed that 36percent of Catholics in US believe in reincarnation although the church is against it. This is because of the lack of understanding and knowledge of the doctrine of the church and the Bible.

The soul and the body of a person works together and individuates one person from another, this means a soul can’t take different body . We didn’t take our body by accident ,but our bodies makes us who we are and the soul takes the consequences of what our body did .

Catholic believe in resurrection of the body in the last day which we say when we recite the Apostle creed.

Just as Jesus resurrected with his body after he died Christian also believe that on the last day everyone will resurrect with his or her body which will be anew. The belief of reincarnation makes resurrection impossible because if we have lived in different bodies, which one will we resurrect with.

Doing the creation, God created everything with same expression but when he wanted to create human he said let’s create them in our own likeness, this means that unlike animal and plants human being where created in image and likeness of God and we are special and superior to animals and plants ,turning to plants or animals after death shows that God didn’t fulfill his words when he said he will create human in his own image.

In conclusion, Mathew 17:10-13 made it seem like Jesus said that Elijah was reincarnated as John the Baptist, but what the passage actually meant was that the spirit of Elijah was with John the Baptist and was guiding him, Luke 1:16-17 helps us understand the passage more about the connection between Elijah and John the Baptist “He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children  and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. ”

The statements says John will go on before the Lord in the power and spirit of Elijah, that shows John is not Elijah but he works with the power of Elijah and that is what Jesus meant in Mathew 17:10-13.

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