Prior to the damnation of Origen, early Christians believed in reincarnation. But this was not the modern Hindu version of random endless reincarnations, but rather one governed by the Laws laid down by Jesus (Yahweh). “Love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:31), “you must be perfect to enter into the Kingdom of God” (Cf. Matt. 5:48), and “You will repay your debt to the last farthing”. (Cf. Matt. 5:26)

Under these Laws, reincarnation looks like this: Your spiritual body (created by God in His image prior to the Fall)[1] is placed into the newborn fetus by the Divine World. Locked in this material body, the spirit is in most cases unable influence the heavy matter and surface into consciousness, but serves as our subconscious, our true heart, our conscience, and our inner voice. The goal of this incarnation is to pay back some of the debt incurred in the Fall and to pay back the debt incurred in previous lives on Earth, without being consciously burdened with the knowledge of past failures. The Angels of God select the appropriate family and living conditions in which you are to grow up that will best provide the tests needed accomplish the goals set out for this life. Every virtue can be learned under the right circumstances: patience, love, humility; generosity, forgiveness, and selflessness.

With this belief, the early Christians did not fear their oppressors. They knew that their next life on Earth would be determined by how they felt and acted under the hand of their oppressors. They knew that God would provide the best penitence for their oppressors in their next life on Earth and that they would not have worry about revenge. Their oppressors would be born into conditions that would place them at the mercy of their fellow man, and they would most likely suffer the same type of oppression that they had once practiced. This is what was meant by “an eye for an eye” (Ex. 21:24), but the early Christians knew that God was the only Perfect Judge to administer this type of justice.

More importantly, for the would-be emperors of the world, people with this belief could not be controlled. They could not be forced to do things against their will or against the teachings of Jesus. They would live by their morals under any conditions of oppression and could not be forced to fulfill every wish of the emperor. People with this belief would avoid doing anything that would increase either their guilt or that of their fellow man.

This is why the Emperor Justinian saw Origen as such a great threat to his empire and that the best way to gain control over the people was to be able to strike fear into them. Control was gained by usurping God’s authority as judge on Earth and by creating the threat of eternal damnation. This threat is powerful to anyone who did not believe in reincarnation and they could be persuaded to follow any dogma created by the church, for the good of the emperor. But by making it also illegal to believe in the pre-existence of the soul, he took away the meaning of life for humanity, and without meaning, it was easy to waste lives. The church wasted lives for centuries, and modern Christians continue to waste them in the name of God.

It was by a narrow margin at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553 AD that the [physical] church eliminated the [spiritual] reincarnation teaching that had existed in the early Christian teachings of Jesus, Paul, John and Origen. It is true that in His short, three years of teaching that Jesus did not specifically teach reincarnation. This was not His mission, but rather to make sure that people believed that He was the Son of God: our Savoir and the King of Heaven. It is important to note that He never denied reincarnation in his teachings, but rather He did acknowledge it a few times (see below). Jesus promised to send the Spirit of Truth (Cf. John 14:26) in order to teach the many spiritual teachings that Jesus did not have time to explain in detail, and which the people of that time could not yet comprehend.

The Bible available to us today does not explain reincarnation in great detail, but there are a number of clear references to it. Looking at the many passages surrounding the second coming of Elijah (Mal. 4:5, Matt. 16:13-14 and 17:10-13, Mark 9:11-13, Mark 6:14-16, John 1:19-21), one gets the impression that reincarnation was a common belief at the time the Bible was written from all of these comments about someone being born again and the longing for a Prophet to come again.  This would explain why there is not much detail on it, since one does not have to elaborate on concepts that are common knowledge.

Nicodemus was concerned about his ability to change at such a late stage in his life when he asked Jesus: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus’ answer was: “Most assuredly.” In John 3:1-21, Jesus is telling an old man, who had just heard the teachings of Jesus, that clearly he did not have enough years left to change his ways, but that through God’s Love he would have at least another life in which he could live according to these new teachings.

Modern genetic research confirms that it was impossible for any human to live to the ages quoted in the Old Testament. Genetic research done on human remains confirms that there has been no change in the human body over this time period. Genesis 5:5 says: “So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died.” This is not the same as saying Adam lived to be 930 years old. Saying that his total years on Earth were 930 reconciles modern scientific knowledge with the Bible. It also helps to properly place biblical events into both geological and archeological history since Adam’s 930 years could have been scattered over a 10 to 20 thousand-year time span.

The eruption of the volcano Santorini (on the island of Thera, north of Crete) in 1646 BC, has helped historians to accurately date Joseph’s life. The volcanic ash fallout from this eruption most likely caused the 7 years of famine foreseen by the Pharaoh, and which forced Jacob and his family to travel south to Egypt. Based on this, Jacob-Israel died around 1627 BC.[2] At the same time, archeologists have placed Abram’s life in the 22nd century BC. It does not take super-human life spans to explain the missing 400 years in this family history when you consider the possibility of multiple lives. Intuitively, it is hard to believe that it was the same Jacob who so easily stole his older brother’s first-born right, but later, so patiently put up with many years of abuse in order to win the daughter of Laban. It is also hard to believe that the great hunter Esau let his brother get away with such a dirty trick. It is more likely that he tracked down and killed Jacob for his treachery shortly after he discovered it. This means that the Jacob-Israel who woke up in Genesis 28:18 did so 400 years later, in a new life on Earth, and with a stronger belief in God. This logically explains Jacob’s 147 years on Earth, after dying in his 80’s in Egypt. It also helps to explain how Esau’s family got so big in what was earlier thought to have been a short period of time.

Reincarnation has widely been discussed in esoteric circles, but the modern medical community does not consider it as a serious possibility. Although scientific evidence exists, there is no concrete proof of multiple lives. But what if this is just one of God’s Laws? Life would no longer be a test if everyone knew they could keep trying until they finally get it right. Where would the need for belief go? Doesn’t it require infinite love to allow a terrorist to enter a new life with a chance to right his atrocious wrong doings and not be plagued with the conscious memory of them? Such subconscious memories of past lives help to better explain the broad range of psychosis diagnosed in the youngest of children than modern medicine currently can.

A recent re-analysis of behavioral data collected on identical twins throughout the years can shed light onto this subject. The current two-factor behavior model does not explain the data collected in identical twin studies. It includes only genetic and environmental factors as determinants of behavior. In other words, all behavior is determined solely by what you physically inherit from your parents and how you were raised. In the special case of identical twins, one of the two factors is thrown out since the physical inheritance is truly identical. Thus the current model says that the differences in behavior between two identical twins are solely due to how they were raised. Ask any mother of identical twins and you will find that she cannot explain the behavioral differences of the two because she has painstakingly made sure that neither is favored. The statistical patterns seen in twin studies on alcoholism, smoking, criminal behavior, Schizophrenia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and Bipolar Disorder confirms her feeling, and they show that there are other factors at play than currently recognized by the medical profession. One of these factors is that each of us carries a certain amount of spiritual baggage or gifts into our lives.

By seeing the bigger picture, it is much easier to recognize the beauty of God’s creation and to realize that it is not Him who is behind the evil in our world. Evil is clearly caused by our misuse of the Free Will that He gave to us. When we chose to follow Lucifer eons ago, we chose to reject Jesus’ right as the King of Heaven and we were thrown out of Heaven along with Lucifer into the darkness and death (separation from God) of Hell. But fortunately for us Jesus descended into Hell and broke Lucifer’s tight-fisted reign over us, and now we are free to return to Heaven. It is a long road, but once we have again accepted Jesus as our only King and rejected the “king of this world” (Cf. John 13:86) we have unlimited support on our road to perfection from the Divine Spiritual World. People are placed in our path to help us, situations are created for us to learn and to repay our many debts; they will need to be repaid to the last farthing.

Physical human suffering is only His way of effecting meaningful spiritual teaching. By taking away the conscious knowledge of God and His Love, God is able to test the true orientation of the spirit. Jesus had to pass this ultimate test Himself, and to prove to Lucifer that He was able to maintain a true Love to His Father regardless of all the tests that Lucifer put Him through during his physical life. Only after passing this Ultimate Test, was Jesus able to descend into Hell with Michael and his army and to pass Final Judgment on Lucifer and the Fallen. (Cf. Rev. 12:3-4, 12:7-9, 20:1-3) From St. Fulbert of Chartres (d. 1028) we have a poetic rendition of this occurrence.

For Judah's Lion bursts his chains,

crushing the serpent's head;

and cries aloud through death's domains

to wake the imprisoned dead.

Devouring depths of hell their prey

at his command restore;

his ransomed hosts pursue their way

where Jesus goes before.

Reincarnation is the norm, divine incarnation is the exception, and demonic incarnation was limited to the time prior to the Final Judgment. The goal of reincarnation is restoration, the return of all of the fallen to Heaven. Reincarnation is the greatest gift given to us by God. No matter how many times we fail, He will give us another chance to reach the required perfection so that we all can re-enter His Kingdom. “Not one will be forgotten” (Cf. Luke 12:4-7 and John 18:8-9).