Reincarnation

[Janice]

Has anyone ever read in the Bible anything about reincarnation?

[x-y-no]

Well, there are the references to John the Baptist being Elijah.

Matthew 11:14 and Matthew 17:11 and following.

EDIT: also John 1:21.

[MomH]

Don't know about the Bible but do know that it wasn't until around 600 AD that Catholic Church officials decided to recind the belief in reincarnation. As I understand it, they felt that those who believed in they had a chance in another incarnation were not so concerned with doing well in the present one.

[coriolis]

Those passages in Matthew are rhetorical devices I think. I'd guess that these references to John the Baptist "being" Elijah are a type of foreshadowing. I'm not going to take the time to research it, but that's how they strike me.

The weight of the evidence and teaching is that reincarnation is not a doctrine in the old or new testaments - at least not in the sense that you come back as an animal or a different person. It would run counter to all the teaching about responsibilities, choices, and consequences that are central threads to the whole story. There is teaching about a future life in heaven which could be viewed as a type of reincarnation, but it's really a continuation or a culmination of this life.