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The earliest Christians, especially those who were members of one or other of the Gnostic sects, such as the Valentinians, Ophites and Ebionites, included reimbodiment among their important teachings. For them it enabled fulfillment of the law -- karma -- as well as providing the means for the soul to purify itself from the muddy qualities resulting from its immersion in matter and the egoism we have developed in the first stages of our journey through earth life.
After the original generations of Christians, we find the early Church Fathers, such as Justin Martyr (AD 100-l65), St. Clement of Alexandria ( AD 150-220), and Origen ( AD 185-254) teaching the pre-existence of souls, taking up reincarnation or one or another aspect of reimbodiment. Examples are scattered through Origen's works, especially Contra Celsum (1, xxxii), where he asks: "Is it not rational that souls should be introduced into bodies, in accordance with their merits and previous deeds . . . ?" And in De Principiis he says that "the soul has neither beginning nor end." St. Jerome (AD 340-420), translator of the Latin version of the Bible known as the Vulgate, in his Letter to Demetrias (a Roman matron), states that some Christian sects in his day taught a form of reincarnation as an esoteric doctrine, imparting it to a few "as a traditional truth which was not to be divulged."
Originally posted by NewAgeMan
reply to post by Somehumanbeing
That is a disgraceful interpretation of karmic law you should be shamed.
I'm sorry but this ignorant nonsense is started to get to be a little much.
A general Christian belief is not that "you sin, you go to hell,"
Originally posted by open_eyeballs
reply to post by adjensen
A general Christian belief is not that "you sin, you go to hell,"
uuuhhh, yes indeed it is.
.. Snip ..
there are millions of fundamentalist Christians that believe this to be the literal case. You sin, dont repent, you spend eternity in hell.