Do any Christians believe in life after death, ghosts or reincarnation?

reply to post by Sundancer


I wish I had time to read all the posts but I dont so I will stick to the original question.

I believe in spirits on earth maybe some are in limbo as hell, not sure.
When my grandmother passed I was 14 , she came to me while I was sleeping. I woke up because i felt something at the end of my bed.
It was her sitting looking at me. Then she left. I forgot about it but knew she was sick and in the hospital. At 14 your not really in touch. A few days later I asked my mother when we were going to see grandmother again, she said oh she died a few days ago. My mom is a little wacky, it was her mother. Anyways true story.
I think the bible is true I am a christian. I also believe that God has tried over and over to put us on this earth and we keep distroying are selves.

Adam and Eve were the last attempt. Look what a mess we are in now.
Why keep trying , I dont know. Maybe one day the human race will do better.

reply to post by Sundancer


Check my second link, it gives a breakdown of when these holidays occur

Shiva Asar B'Tummuz is The Feast of Trumpets
Yom Kippur is The Day of Atonement
Sukkot ( I think ) is the feast of the Tabernacle or Booth it actually occurs in Oct 1-7 in 2012

reply to post by MonoChromeWrayth

These would be the dates of the Feasts IF the apocalypse occurs in 2012
Trumpets July 8
Day of Atonement Sept 26 ( this actually a fast not a feast )
Tabernacle or Booth Oct 1-7

The problem with this is that there are no feasts in the summer months. Trumpets happens in September/October, depending on the moon.

reply to post by octotom


Is the apocalypse supposed to happen in summer?
I wasn't aware of that. Would you please elaborate.
Thank you

reply to post by MonoChromeWrayth


There are some that believe that the Tribulation will start some time this summer. I don't know what I think about that, but I think that it is interesting that July 10th-ish is 1260 days away from December 21, 2012.

I didn't mean to imply in my previous post that the Tribulation would start this summer. I just wanted to point out that there was no Jewish Feast in the summer time.

Though, if Jesus does fulfill the final three Jewish feasts the same way he fulfilled the first three, the Tribulation would end in the fall.

[edit on 6/8/2009 by octotom]

Originally posted by Sundancer
If God promises that you'll inherit the earth and doesn't actually promise you the kingdom of heaven as was brought to my attention in another post earlier today, why would you not believe in reincarnation?

If your a Christian, the Kingdom of Heaven is inside of us. Because God lives in us. 1Cor 3:16
As for 'inheriting the earth' that is for those who are Christians. Meekness can also mean gentleness in accordance with Strong's Concordance and meekness, i.e. gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit of God. Gal 5:22

There is no reincarnation because it is destined for man to "die once" and then face the judgement, Heb 9:27.
To be absent from the body is to present with the Lord. 2Cor 5:8

Originally posted by Sundancer
On the other hand if the biblical translation of hell is actually the word grave, and if God said you'll sleep there until Jesus returns, then I can see you believing in reincarnation.

'Hell' is an Anglo-Saxon word for grave
( a 'hell-ground' was a graveyard) and in the Old Testament
is usually translated from an original Hebrew word 'Sheol'
meaning pit or grave.

"In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return. Genesis 3:19

The Bible says that death is a "sleep" - you will "sleep" in the grave in a state of unconsciousness, completely unaware of the passage of time or the presence of others until Christ returns to resurrect you.

It also says

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words". 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

The dead stay in the grave until Jesus returns. There wouldn't be any point of God coming back, should his people already be in heaven as some teach.

The body stays in the grave when we die. I can't see reincarnation through that (if your really talking about coming back as a animal) because we are dead.

Originally posted by Sundancer
So as a Christian, do you believe in life after death, ghosts, or reincarnation or do you believe as the bible states that you go to the grave until Jesus returns?

I believe in life after death. Our spirits go back to God and our body stays in the ground until Christ comes in the rapture.
Ecc 12:7, 2Sam 12:23, Matt 22:32
Us Christians who are alive at that time will not see death because we will be transformed.

Ghosts are demons, evil spirits, disembodied spirits, fallen angels, etc...
The devil and his demons have many aliases.

There is no reincarnation because the Bible says there isn't. Once your dead your body goes to the ground and your spirit goes into Heaven (if your a Christian). Then we await for Christ to return at the rapture to get our new bodies. 1Cor 15:52

Thanks,
TT

There's all the possibility of reincarnation. After all, Jesus did it as he is God on Earth. But dieing and sleeping seems odd. I always took it that your body rests with the dust, while your soul does up and waits. Then the two reunite on the last day so you are an immortal human being.

reply to post by saralee


Adam and Eve were the last attempt. Look what a mess we are in now.
Why keep trying , I dont know. Maybe one day the human race will do better.

Adam and Eve were the last attempt. Look what a mess we are in now.

Keep the faith Saralee. Everythig's going to work out and this old world going to be fine.

reply to post by MonoChromeWrayth


I was in your link last night when I got this post lol.
Thanks

reply to post by octotom


Hi Octotom. You are here by my resident bible expert. I'm thinking maybe "true Christians" get that way because they actually read their bible, no?

reply to post by texastig


Those are all very good points. I appreciate you taking your time to post your thoughts here.

My neighbor's always telling me she wants to come back as one of my dogs lol.

reply to post by Gorman91


I was shocked to find the dying and sleeping part! I know so many people that feel that loved ones are watching over them after they pass away

Originally posted by Sundancer
reply to post by saralee

 

Adam and Eve were the last attempt. Look what a mess we are in now.
Why keep trying , I dont know. Maybe one day the human race will do better.

Adam and Eve were the last attempt. Look what a mess we are in now.

Keep the faith Saralee. Everythig's going to work out and this old world going to be fine.

Humanity has the ability to reclaim what was lost by Adam and Eves' mistake. God gave us the greatest weapon to handle the trials and tribulations of the world.

The weapon is free will, we choose how we want the world to be that we live in. With free will we can choose to make this world a beacon of light or darkness. God is essentially just an observer and administrator if you will, however, he gives us free will to make the world anyway we see fit. However, He does intervene when He sees fit to do so.

To me the greatest gift God ever gave man was the gift of free will and Adam and Eve had that even in the garden.

[edit on 8-6-2009 by Jakes51]

reply to post by Jakes51


Aw, that was beautiful Jakes51, absolutley. Some of us have it, some don't - you have it!

hi/
There is no teaching in Christianity of Reincarnation.
Jesus Christ did not reincarnate into someones body.
"the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14)The WORD is also mentioned in Genesis.

"Behold, a Virgin in womb shalt conceive and She shalt give birth a Son, and they will call Him the name Emmanuel, in interpretation: God is with us [S nami Bog / Meth' hemon ho Theos / Nobiscum Deus]" (Mt 1:23).

Man(spirit-soul) only re-unites with his body(which is to corruption)at judgment Day.
They do not come back in so called past life nonsense bodies.

helen

reply to post by Gorman91

There's all the possibility of reincarnation. After all, Jesus did it as he is God on Earth. But dieing and sleeping seems odd. I always took it that your body rests with the dust, while your soul does up and waits. Then the two reunite on the last day so you are an immortal human being.

Jesus resurrected. He didn't reincarnate. Had he reincarnated, he wouldn't have been Jesus at the age of 33ish.

Sleeping was a euphemism that the Jews used for dying. They did this because, according to Judaism, everyone will be resurrected, therefore, when someone died it wasn't the end. They also believed that when people died, their souls went to sleep down in Sheol, awaiting for the resurrection so they would be united with their bodies. At this juncture, it's important to note that in Christian theology, everyone will be resurrected. But, some will only be united with their fleshy, fallen bodies. These are those that throughout all time, never heeded the word of God. Those that have, from the Old Testament Saints, to the Church Age Saints, to the Tribulation saints, will receive glorified bodies. These bodies are incorruptible and the curse has been removed from them, therefore, we won't sin anymore! Boy am I looking forward to that day.

reply to post by contemplator


I am a Christian and I have gone thru the deaths of my parents in the last 2 years ,my Dad unexpectedly and my Mom from Inflammatory breast cancer.I actually cared for my Mom during her last 3 weeks with Hospice help and was there when she passed away.It is really hard to know that the people you love will not be here on earth anymore,it hurts and it sucks every day.At the same time I know they are alive and well and I am thrilled for them.

reply to post by octotom


Well God, being God, means he doesn't have to send anyone to hell. I don't understand how 100 Years of living as a pure evil person is repayed with eternity of hell. A just God should give 100 years in hell. Or 1000 years if he's feeling happy and wants to go with exponential punishment.

Eternity for a being who is prone to do evil doing just that seems confusing.

Of course I'm not evil, so I don't care about it. I just think that a loving God makes sure that he saves everyone, even if it takes half of eternity counciling to them on why they are evil and why it is bad.

reply to post by Gorman91

Well God, being God, means he doesn't have to send anyone to hell. I don't understand how 100 Years of living as a pure evil person is repayed with eternity of hell. A just God should give 100 years in hell. Or 1000 years if he's feeling happy and wants to go with exponential punishment.

First, we have to understand who God is. God is holy and pure. There is no evil in him and it can't be in his presence. He cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden due to their sin because, sinful beings can't be near him.

We also have to understand a simple point about how God thinks (Isaiah 55.8, ESV):

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

In other words, God's thinking is different than ours. Throughout the Bible, we see that God just absolutely abhors sin. (In fact, we're lucky that God doesn't wipe us all out today. Him not doing so shows his grace and mercy.) God doesn't see things like we do. He sees sin as sin. It's not a joke to him like it is to us sometimes. Somehow, sin needs to be paid for.

God doesn't want people to perish. That is why Jesus came and died. He paid our penalty. God for millenia has made his plan crystal clear. "You humans are all sinners. Sin needs to be paid for. There are two options. The first, accept Jesus as your sacrifice for sin. This will bring you back to me. The second, pay the penalty of your sin yourself, over eternity, in the lake of fire. It's your choice."

I find it funny that you should say that, in eternity, if you were bad for only 100 years, you should get punished for one hundred years in eternity. Since it's eternity, how would one gauge when 100 years has passed? There is no time in eternity. Eternity is removed from time. It's not, which is contrary belief, never ending time. In eternity, the past is the present which is also the future which is the past.

In the Bible, God says that if you don't accept the sacrifice of Christ, you'll be judged based on your works and be forced to spend eternity in hell. There is no way around it. So, for God to renig on this wouldn't be good. In fact, God can't because it's contrary to his nature. God has made his plan clear, the world will be without excuse.

reply to post by octotom


I know. And I also know the whole quantum theory with eternity. It really explains how God is. Even if there was a time when God was not there, then was, it would be irrelevant, because wherever he is, time isn't, so the second he came into existence, he always was. It's a concept I've toyed with a lot, even tried to think up in technological terms. That eventually concluded with designs for a warp engine which I still have. But in the end the facts are simple, God has all power. There's absolutely no reason why he can't do a trick as he's always been able to do and have the memory of an eternity in hell put into you for punishment, then come into his kingdom.

Remember, God pulled a trick with Jesus. A loophole though the system he made so that humans could go to heaven. There are loopholes we probably can't even imagine because, as you said, we can't think like him.

[edit on 12-6-2009 by Gorman91]