Theological Hybrids
ONE OF THE MOST PERSISTENT challenges to orthodox Christianity is syncretism, the idea that all religions say the same thing "in a different language" and that all paths are equally valid in knowing God. The early church fought a long, hard battle against syncretism when Gnosticism, Greek philosophy and the mystery religions tried to assimilate the faith. Ultimately the church was victorious, but not without a number of casualities. Now, eighteen centuries later, we face a similar situation.
Many Christians stand bewildered and confused by the subtle and intricate maze of oriental and humanistic philosophies that are gaining credence in the West. Eastern mysticism and pop occultism mixed with humanistic psychology have already seduced large numbers of nominal Christians onto the broad road to the nether regions. Even many church leaders and theologians have warmly embraced a modified gnostic or pantheistic world view and, with it, reincarnation.1 Because of these developments, the question needs to be asked again for the sake of summary: Can
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the doctrine of reincarnation be christened? Does it offer anything that would enrich Christianity? MacGregor observes:
Is it not like baptizing a company's balance sheet or profit and loss account? Everything we are told of Christ, everything that leads the Christian to accept Christ as his or her Savior, tells of a generosity so immense, of a love so selfless, that it has no conceivable place for any such mathematical reckoning [i.e., karma and rebirth]. Typical of the Christian's conversion experience is the awareness that if God were looking for merit, he would certainly look elsewhere.2
Rather than try to accommodate various theories of rebirth within Christianity, Paternoster suggests that "perhaps we should be better employed trying to persuade the Orient that it is not a self-evident fact, but a nightmare from which they can awake. Even if we do want to believe it, is there any convincing reason why we should suppose it to be true?"3
The biggest barrier to reincarnation for the Christian is not so much the simple concept of being born again and again. It is conceivable that rebirth could coexist with biblical doctrines if it were highly sanitized and applied only to unbelievers. What makes reincarnation impossible for Christians is that it cannot be separated from its metaphysical undergirding, the superstructure of gnostic mysticism and monism. Helmut Thielicke saw gnostic mysticism as "a secular theory of immortality," referring to it cryptically as "the ultimate refinement of blasphemy, for it sets God in analogy to man."
Rarely is this blasphemy and overt hostility evidenced more than in some of the writings of Madame Blavatsky. In Isis Unveiled she vents her deepest antagonism, complaining bitterly and inveighing against Christianity, as she often does:
How strangely illogical is this doctrine of the Atonement.
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We propose to discuss it . . . and show that it has proved one of the most pernicious and demoralizing of doctrines . . . the cause of three-fourths of the crimes of so-called Christians . . . But if we step outside of the little circle of creed and consider the universe as a whole, balanced by the exquisite adjustment of parts, how all sound logic, how the faintest glimmering of sense revolts against this Vicarious Atonement!4
Blavatsky's polemics are quoted to underscore the overwhelming differences between Christianity and the gnostic world view that nurtures reincarnation. Blavatsky loathed the idea of divine forgiveness, and her opinions are shared by many reincarnationists who are less outspoken. Pages 124 & 125 show how diametrically opposed to one another these two world views are at virtually every major point of doctrine.
It should be rather obvious now that reincarnation is incompatible with the biblical view of God and humanity. As Friedrich Gogarten has aptly said, "Mysticism and historical revelation mutually exclude one another so forcibly that a mixture of them destroys both."5 Reincarnation obviously cannot be grafted onto Christianity, but neither can it be ignored, for reincarnation presents the only real systematic alternative to the biblical teaching of resurrection. After thousands of years of development and refinement, reincarnation is a highly philosophic and subtle doctrine which seems both reasonable and exotic to the novice spiritual seeker. It is here to stay and is gathering force and credibility in the eyes of many, its appeal strengthened by the influx of Eastern thought and the revival of the ancient Platonic doctrine of immortality of the soul through occultism and psychic research, all of which hold that the eternal life of the soul is a natural component of human nature.
But the truth about immortality is radically different. It is a gift of God imparted to the redeemed, by which all who trust in Jesus are raised from their natural state of physical and spiritual death. Eternal life is not just the next step of (skip to page 126)
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Gnostic-Pantheistic World View
1. "God" is totally synonymous with creation (monism or
pantheism): "All in One," "Thou art that."
2. God is a principle, a universal law, vibration or energy. Universal
Consciousness. "It," not "Him." Holy Spirit is an impersonal force.
3. Humanity is
good—a
part or mode of God. The totality of existence is really good as it is, although
we do not perceive this. Moral evil is only an illusion or imperfection,
negative vibration or energy. "Evil" is simply a result of the law of cause
and effect. "Good and bad" are part of karmic balance. And enlightened person
transcends moral distinctions.
4. Christ's death, resurrection and atonement for sin are unnecessary
and irrelevant. No forgiveness.
5. View of history and humanity is cyclical. Problem of evil and suffering
is never resolved. No redemption, only an eternal balancing of karma.
6. The physical world is illusory, a projection of consciousness:
Maya, "the veil of ignorance."
7. Works win righteousness. You save yourself by working off your
karma, and getting off the wheel of reincarnation.
8. God inherits the imperfection of the world. He / "it" is equal
to the lowest form of creation by definition. Or, alternatively, the world
mirrors the imperfection of God.
9. Language, doctrine and written revelation are ultimately inadequate
and meaningless. They are a barrier to the experience of enlightenment and
truth.
10. An endless and confusing stream of "god-men," gurus and avatars
impart enlightenment, but are limited in power and duration.
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Biblical World View
1. God is eternally transcendent, "other" than creation
(although he is immanent or
omnipresent—Acts
17:28). Creatures are individual and unique (Col 1:16-17; 1 Cor 4:7; Is 55:8-9;
48:11).
2. God is a personality or Infinite Person. He is holy, to be worshiped
(Rev 4:11). The Holy Spirit is a Person (John 16:13-14).
3. Humanity is fallen and sinful, although created in the image of
God and therefore having great value. Moral evil is a reality. Satan is a
personal, wicked entity, with his will set against God (Jer 17:5-9; Is 64:6;
Rom 3:23; John 3:19; 8:44).
4. Existence of evil necessitates God's action. Forgiveness is offered
via the death of Christ to atone for sin (John 3:16; Romans 5:8).
5. View of history and individual lives is linear. Problem of evil
and suffering is permanently resolved by Christ's redemption, with the creation
of a New Heaven and a New Earth (Rev 21:1-4; Heb 7:25-28; 9:12, 25-28). "Once
for all."
6.
Cosmology—Physical
world is real and good (although fallen); it is not to be discounted. It
has ramifications for spirituality and is to be integrated with spiritual
reality (Genesis 1:31).
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spiritual evolution whereby we merely slide into another realm or move grudgingly on into a new body to receive a fresh allotment of karmic affliction. For if reincarnation were true, we would all be at the mercy of an imperfect and compulsive Deity for eternity, and nihilism would be the truest and most consistent philosophy.
Jesus of Nazareth came and died to stop "the wheel of birth, death and suffering," not to keep it rolling. If this is the qualification for the Saviour of the human race, then there can be only One.
For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the briers shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off (Isaiah 55:12-13).
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4)
Reincarnation: A Christian Critique of a New
Age Doctrine is online courtesy of:
1. Not all mysticism should be rejected out of hand; in its classical sense, mysticism may be defined as the seeking of the experience of the presence of God, or union with God and his will. Needless to say, these concepts are quite biblical. So, in that sense we may say that God calls all believers to be mystics. Christianity has a rich heritage of orthodox mysticism and pietism, which has often (e.g., in the Middle Ages) been a bulwark of the church.
2. MacGregor, Reincarnation in Christianity, p.123.
3. Paternoster, "Reincarnation—A Christian Critique," p.126.
4. Quoted in Head and Cranston, Phoenix Fire Mystery, pp. 504-45.
5. Friedrich Gogarten, Die Religiose Entscheidung,
quoted in MacGregor, Reincarnation in Christianity,
p.148.
