so i'm one of many mainstream christians that believe in reincarnation. the numbers of us are growing and the reasons that we believe in reincarnation are many. there was a cbs sunday morning piece not to long ago that said there were a number of mainstream christians,(such as myself) that are breaking away from their particular organized religion, becoming more spiritual and believing in things such as reincarnation and u.f.o.s.
i have several reasons for believing. i believe that a person's soul is an energy force that powers your body. once the body is worn out it dies, but the soul i believe continues to live on. i think it's like electricity that just keeps moving along a power grid. i think that soul enters a body sometime after conception. this would explain why some children are so much different than their parents or siblings. you may receive physical characteristics from your birth parents, but i believe that if you are reincarnated your soul comes from somewhere else.
i also believe in some of the writings in the bible. for example, when they say " the kingdom of heaven is at hand. well maybe what that means is that heaven is right here. maybe our reward for turmoil in a previous life is another chance at a better life.
i was talking to someone the other day, who also believes in reincarnation. he thinks that the more times you are given a life to lead, you become smarter and more talented. it makes sense. maybe people like steve jobs have been around many times while people who say work at wal mart are experiencing their first time around.
and then i thought of something else. what if you were a woman in a previous lifetime? so you're soul continues to live on and comes back in a new body. say for sake of argument that it is a male body. you are basically a woman reincarnated as a man. you may not be very masculine. you may have feminine traits and want to dress and live as a woman, because that what you are accustomed to. maybe you are a woman reincarnated as a man, but because you were a woman in a previous lifetime you are still sexually attracted to men.
this is probably an oversimplification. i suppose that if you do believe in reincarnation, then you can find all the reasons in the world to make it believable. but believe i do and the more i think about it and reasons like these, i find it more and more compelling.
what say you.