Reincarnation or Resurrection? – Father Theologos

Asian religious trends are in vogue today in certain social strata. In these religions one of the most dangerous teachings is reincarnation. Watch this video to learn more about reincarnation and its effects.

Enjoy!

The history of infanticide, of murdering little girls, is a history longer than 2000 years old. An Athonite Cell Joys from the Holy Mountain Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy. Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. Amen. Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen. The Resurrection of Christ is a stumbling block, you should know, for the people separated from Christ, for those who cannot imagine overcoming the laws of fallen nature, who cannot imagine overcoming death. We are used to, in this world, to consider that this is the final reality, but in actuality this is not the final reality, the reality, as I said, is the world beyond. Just like life here is more important, more real compared to intrauterine life, in the same way, the life after death is much more important, much more real than life here. Because of this we are interested in what happens after death. Well, those who are not aware of this, those who are not aware of the Resurrection, are not aware of the overcoming of death, as I said. Of course, one of the wrong teachings which is hit head-on by the Resurrection is reincarnation, is the problem of reincarnation. Because reincarnation does not truly solve the problem of overcoming death. That is, the fulfillment of the eternal person, like we actually are, like we are now. Understand?

It does not solve a person, and it does not ensure their resurrection. Reincarnation is also called metempsychosis, in Greek, metapsihosi, that is, the passing of the soul from one body to another. That is the meaning of reincarnation. It is a wrong belief, of course, according to which the soul of a person goes through a certain number of previous lives – in animals, plants and so on – the current life being one of these lives. According to this belief, there would be some kind of continuous moral improvement and the respective lives could be the lives of some plants or animals. Think about it, what improvement could there be when you are reincarnated into an animal for example? It is humiliating just telling others that you are, God forbid, an animal or a plant and so on. Understand? This belief was popular in antiquity, especially among Indians, from where we still have influences to this day, but it was also present among the Egyptians, and some Greeks and the Pythagoreans and even Plato, if you read him. It was also among the Germanic peoples, among the Celts, in many peoples of Antiquity, including in some heresies – the Manichaeans. On the one hand, some – Hindus, Greeks and Romans believed that man reincarnates in animals and plants, because they said that it is quite difficult for someone to reincarnate as a person. But for others, and today, reincarnation is usually limited to humans. You can see how reliable this thing is, how stable this teaching is.

Why am I saying this? Because it is obvious that man is very different from animals, of course. And he is different from animals not because of the body, but because of the way of thinking, the aspiration to infinity, to deification. Brethren… The difference between man and monkey does not consist in the fact that we do not have tails. But it consists in the way of thinking, in our aspiration to God, our aspiration to eternal personal perfection. We know the history of thousands of years, but we can say that we know the history of the last, let’s say, 2500 years, roughly speaking, very well. Well, all this time, the monkey has remained at… bananas. That is, it has not built itself a society, it has no aspiration towards infinity, it does not create culture, it does not try to unite, to perfect itself, it does not have a religion, it does not have the problem of God, it does not have the problem of philosophy. Do you understand? That is the difference between man and monkey.

We, in the last 2500 years, have evolved extraordinarily while the monkey not at all. I have not encountered in history any kind of advancement in this direction. I even remember now a very interesting experiment in which some wanted to show that the difference between man and monkey is only that man is more advanced, and that human language is more advanced, meaning it has more words, a larger vocabulary. And that’s why they studied the languages… that is, the human way of communication and the monkey way of communication because we can’t talk about another language in monkeys. Well, the main issue was not the number of words, as those who did the experiment thought. The main problem was that the monkey doesn’t ask itself questions. The monkey thinks it all boils down to what it knows. The monkey does not have this idea of advancement, doesn’t have a tendency towards eternity, a tendency towards infinity, towards perfection. You see, it does not have the idea of personhood. Of course, it has no idea of ​​sin. So then how can we say that reincarnation helps to perfect us when apparently we are reincarnated into an animal? If we speak to each other and unfortunately call each other animals, that does not mean reincarnation, that is a form of aggression, as you well know. Let’s be serious. Again, another problem of reincarnation is the fact that, beyond the net difference in thought systems, – in an animal there is no free thinking and the thinking towards perfection, and there is no idea of God and the experience of God in the human sense – another problem, as I said, is the fact that, well, if we say we reincarnate; Then we should have the experience, that is, I should know the other lives I have lived before. No? That would be logical. But we do not have that experience.

Of course there are all types of experiments, all kinds of hypnosis, regressions and so on which of course are scientifically challenged and beyond that, all kinds of other cases can appear, but let’s talk about that a little later. Here I want to insist very much on the fact that if reincarnation were true, and if it were useful, it means that I should have the experience of these lives, which I could use and say – yes, look, in the past life I did this, it was not good, now I will do better. Do you understand? But in reality this does not exist, 100% it does not exist, even if some consider and offer all kinds of sensational cases.

I’ll tell you a case now. It’s a bit sensational, and it’s also hilarious. A case that happened in the Holy Mountain. Especially in the 60s and 70s, when, thanks to Hindu influences, so from Asia – from India – many believed in reincarnation and there was a German pilgrim who came to the Holy Mountain. And on a path he met a monk. The father was with a donkey – with a mule – he was leading it by a rope and the moment they met on the path, the donkey started braying. He started flapping its ears and braying. And then the German shouted, “Mein bruder – my brother!” His brother had died and the German believed that his brother reincarnated into the donkey in front of him. He began to say to the father, “Give me the donkey because he is my brother!” The father said to him, “Get out of here, because it is my donkey.” “No, because the donkey is my brother” and so on. And after a small dispute and negotiation, in the end, the German paid in change, a lot of German marks as it was at that time – hundreds, thousands of marks, something like that. The fathers told me that it was a serious amount. After that, the father was able to buy two or three donkeys for this price. And the German went with the donkey “that was his brother”… You can figure out where it can end up! You should know that people think they remember things from a previous life based on all kinds of things like: the donkey is flapping its ears and so on, based on vague feelings, based on fears. Actually, they believe their thoughts, they have fantasies, all kinds of things like that, and even childhood traumas which they can’t remember where they are from. All kinds of wrong teachings. As usual, it’s a war of thoughts or it can lead to very serious demonic influences, even demonizations. All these have the devil as their source – almost all of them – because some could actually be hereditary, based on genetics.

Do you understand? Then those who believe in these things say that they come from a previous life, that “My soul was there.” If his soul was there, he should have remembered everything, and above all, as I said, the animal in question should have shown signs of human intelligence, which is not the case. Of course, the most dangerous and impressive in a negative sense, are the cases where people say things from the past that they had no way of knowing. Well, these are usually cases of possession, you should know. Cases of possession, meaning spirits are instilling such experiences in people. Of course, some also talk about hypnosis, but in the case of hypnosis all kinds of deceptions appear, all kinds of tendentious questions appear, and it is noticeable in these hypnosis sessions that in fact things are not honest at all because in things from the past there are also data from the present, that is, it can be seen that it is a product of the human mind. Do you understand? So if reincarnation tries to explain these things and fails, it fails to explain traumas and fears and demonic struggles, and the devil hides under the guise of reincarnation when he creates all kinds of war of thoughts for man and all kinds of fears and all kinds of things… Reincarnation also tries to explain certain injustices, you must know. Perceived injustices in society. Usually when one is born into conditions that those who believe in reincarnation consider unfavorable or disadvantaged. Meaning, he was not supposed to be born and he was born there because in the past he was in an ox and so on. No, brethren, there is no such thing.

Christ Himself shows us, He showed us the opposite: that He was born in the most unfavorable socio-historical conditions, let’s not go into details, and despite all this, the Savior defeated everyone, including death. He defeated them all, being on a completely different existential plane. So one can’t use the idea that, I don’t know…the Savior was reincarnated and so on, because He was the Son of God, the Son of God incarnate, and He proved this by the multitude of miracles that He worked. and through everything else. And the saints ended up doing many miracles. Since we are talking about the church, Saint Ambrose, Saint Gregory and Saint Basil the Great, if I remember correctly, wrote against reincarnation and about the Resurrection. Because I said that the Resurrection hits reincarnation head on, and you must know, brethren, that we have a lot of evidence of the Resurrection beyond our inner evidence – that is, we are experiencing the effects of the Resurrection today, we are experiencing the grace of God today. You must know that we have more evidence about the Resurrection than we do about Julius Caesar. There is more historical evidence of the Resurrection of Christ than historical evidence of the existence of Julius Caesar. Read the New Testament and see. At one point, about 500 people saw the resurrected Savior, beyond the 12 apostles, beyond the Holy Apostle James, beyond the Holy Apostle Paul, beyond… people to this day have seen the resurrected Savior, including Saint Paisios the Athonite and others, Saint Porphyrios, for example, but let’s not go into details. Of course, since we are talking about the Resurrection, the idea of ​​multiple bodies for the same person, of course negates the Resurrection, because in which body would they be resurrected? Especially if they reincarnated in several human bodies, and even as animals. So at some point, if I’m unlucky, I’ll turn into a duck?! That’s not nice. Do you understand? Not to mention other animals, quadrupeds, or in a donkey, for example. And of course, it also denies the judgment because at the judgment, man will be judged with his body, you should know. This is known.

Because of these issues, the theme of reincarnation was condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Council, so 1500 years ago brethren, something like that. The exact date doesn’t matter, I can’t remember it. So brethren, we need to read a little history, we need to document ourselves before we believe all the nonsense that comes from the East. Beyond that, we know that in the Gospel we also have evidence against reincarnation when our Lord Jesus Christ said to the thief on the cross: Today, you will be with Me in heaven. He doesn’t say that you will be reincarnated and so on or you have to go through a state of energy, and so on, metempsychosis… He said: Today! And the negative is the parable of the merciless rich man when the rich man goes to a place of torment immediately after death. So it wasn’t that he reincarnated into something less pleasing to him.

After death, heaven and hell come immediately, not some intermediate stages and so on. So, as I was saying, brethren, it’s an old problem that the Church has solved and humanity has overcome. Of course there are some who don’t know history, as I was saying, and they listen again to all these things that come from the East, from a society that… It’s very important, you should know, now that I think of it, it comes from a society that has big problems. Those who teach us about this have not solved their own problems and the root causes of these problems, one of the root causes is reincarnation. The main problem of reincarnation – beyond the monotony, the lack of finality, that is, the lack of overcoming death, the lack of resurrection, the main problem is the delay of repentance and therefore the lack of value of the person. Why? That is, in my case, I could say, “Well, if this life is not unique, meaning it is not absolutely important, I’ll repent in another life later, I’ll think about it later, now I am having fun and all that.” And in the case of the other, if he did something that doesn’t suit me, I kill him because that way in a future life it will be better for him, he will see… I have to get rid of him because he disturbed me. Do you understand?

This is very important. This is the thinking when the present life is not unique, when it is not unrepeatable, and therefore it has no absolute value. So that’s why the Chinese, because, as you know very well, that’s where this problem is, don’t value people’s lives at all. There is no love. I will mention, I don’t know if you know, in China, the history of infanticide, the history of killing baby girls, is a history more than 2,000 years old. At least that’s how it’s been documented. Yes, you heard that right – 2,000 years old. This problem is valid untill today, you can search on Wikipedia and see. Why? Because boys were much better at work and in wars. In China there were continuous wars, for hundreds of years precisely because human life did not matter. And in wars a boy is better, right?! Let’s not forget that their national sport is martial arts, that is, the art of beating someone up – how to scientifically bloody up the other person. Well, because of this, of course, the man was considered a sign of good luck, and the girls were not wanted and they got rid of them because it was not convenient to raise them. Well, this is where all this amalgam of beliefs related to reincarnation, related to all these things leads… It leads to human life having no value. And until today, as I was saying, in China, especially now when there was this one-child policy, mainly little girls were killed, God forbid!

I’ll give you one more case because they’re a bit harsh… I could give you more, but I’d better not… I’ll tell you a case from our days that I know personally. I know three fathers – they are in the Holy Mountain, they are brothers from Australia. Their father was doing business in China. This man goes to China and what does he relate? He says that once he was in a crowded square, a large, huge area, in the middle of the day, and in this crowd, in this thicket of people, a kid stole someone’s wallet from their back pocket. He grabs it and runs off with it. A policeman sees him, runs after the kid, catches him, kills him and throws him in a dumpster. And all this happens without any Chinese people there moving a muscle. Not a muscle, in broad daylight. And that gentleman, the father of the three fathers from the Holy Mountain, is horrified and asks the policeman, “Sir, why did you do this?” And he says: “Well, what do you mean why? If he had grown up, he would have been a prowler and a shame for the Chinese nation.” Do you understand? And because of that he killed him. So as you can see, when human life is not eternal, is not unique, is not unrepeatable, you can do what you want with another, if you can… Let’s not forget that we could be not in the position of the policeman, we could be in the position of the one who is killed, right? It’s some terrible stuff brethren, you should know! Of course, I could tell you more cases, but it’s better not to trouble you. I think they are a little harsh. So this is happening in China.

While in India, there are things… It is shameful to talk about what happens there with the castes, with the very carnal permissiveness so to speak… It’s better not to speak on this topic because how can I put it?…It’s shameful. It’s a different story there, in a way it should not be, so to speak. So that’s what a lack of Resurrection leads to. That is what the lack of uniqueness of our life leads to. That’s what is brought about by the lack of true love, by the lack of love of the person. Understand? Our goal is actually to heal our souls, not to delay our healing to tomorrow, to the day after, to a future life.

Our goal is to heal our souls here and now. And even we who are Orthodox and know (or should know) about Resurrection and eternal life, we don’t even heal our souls, the more so the one who says, “Yes, ok, I’ll do it in a future life,” doesn’t. This is a big problem. So we must save ourselves, brethren, we must save ourselves. And this is done through Orthodoxy, that is, through the medical science which aims to heal the soul. This is the only way to get beyond death. This is the only way to reach the unity of love between us. This is the only way we reach the Resurrection, through healing, through virtue, through good deeds. This is how we reach the Risen Christ. This is how we are saved. Not by looking for all kinds of nonsense that has generated wars for hundreds of years, literally hundreds of years. Christ is risen! May we all rise! So help us God! Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. Amen.

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