For all who write about the Doctrine of Reincarnation,
under the Spiritist perspective, it is very common to
confront dogmatic religious, arguing that Jesus did not
preach it in His sublime teachings. They expose, despite
the large number of evidence in favor of the
reincarnationist principle, the resurrection thesis, the
return of the Spirit to the physical arena, in the same
already disintegrated body, in conflict with science
that demonstrates the impossibility of bringing to life
the being who has already suffered decomposition, its
elements being reabsorbed in Nature, contributing to the
formation of other bodies, forming part of its molecular
or atomic groups.
The opinion that “there is nothing impossible to God and
whoever made the heavens, the earth and everything in
them can resurrect anyone who so desires” escapes common
sense and reason. Unfortunately, this appreciation
mirrors unreasoned faith, the cult of “credo quia
absurdum” (I believe, even if absurd).
The Spiritist Doctrine, as a belief based on logical
reasoning, claims that God is the author of all things
and is the exalted artisan of natural laws, encompassing
the precepts that govern matter and the laws of the soul
(OLE, 617). “[...] God's laws are perfect. The harmony
that regulates the material universe and the moral
universe is based on the laws that God established for
all eternity” (OLE, 616). Therefore, God would not
revoke His sublime legislation, giving life to the dead.
At the same time, the divine law, governing Nature,
allows a decomposing body to reveal an exuberant and
voracious cadaveric ecosystem, with the presence of
microbes and insects, causing, in a period of 20 to 50
days, the meat to be all devoured and the body dry out.
After all this, what will be left of the body for the
Spirit to resurrect? Regarding the waiver of the divine
legislature, Leon Denis, known as the philosopher of
Spiritism, emphasizes that “the miracle is a
postponement of the eternal laws established by God,
works that are of His will, and it would be unworthy of
the Supreme Power to exceed its nature itself and vary
in its decrees” (Christianity and Spiritism, Ch. 5).
In early Christianity, the doctrine of successive
existences was splendid, since the exalted Jesus taught
it explicitly. Compelling the Gospel of Matthew,
precisely in Chapter 17, verses 12 and 13, it appears
that the Master alludes to the reincarnation of the
prophet Elijah, returning to the physical environment,
quickening the personality of John the Baptist, saying:
“But I say to you that Elijah he has already come, but
they have not known him; rather, they did what they
wanted with him. In the same way they will make the Son
of Man suffer. The disciples then understood that he was
talking to them about John the Baptist”. This emphatic
affirmation of Christ leaves no doubt about the return
of Elijah as John the Baptist, unmistakable, despite the
denial of dogmatists, defending the thesis that the
prophet Elijah had not returned to Earth.
The disciples, of course, fully accepted palingenesis or
reincarnation, so much that there was no question on
their part before the revelation made by the Master
regarding Elijah's return to the physical places. It is
noteworthy that the “born again” of the prophet had
already been predicted, in the Old Testament, by the
prophet Malachi, who claimed to be this rebirth covered
with an exalted mission, that of preparing the way of
Christ, being his predecessor (Ml. 3:1).
Like Matthew, the evangelist Marcos, likewise, brings up
the Spiritual explanation for the teratological lesions
verified at birth and not understood in dogmatism: “Woe
to the world because of the scandals! They are
inevitable, but woe to the man who causes them!
Therefore, if your hand or your foot make you stumble,
cut them off and throw them away from you: it is better
for you to enter life lame or limp than, having two feet
and two hands, to be cast into eternal fire. If your eye
causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away
from you: it is better for you to enter life, blind in
one eye, than with your two eyes, and be thrown into
hellfire” (Matthew 18:7-9).
These verses indisputably demonstrate reincarnation. The
statement that "scandals are inevitable" corroborates
the Spiritist teaching that the Earth is a world of
trials and atonements, where the creature gains
acquisitions and experiences and redeems its debts
("entering life", reincarnating, "lame or blind”).
The Gospel of John addresses, for example, in Chapter
nine, verse three, with great propriety, one of the
functions of suffering, that of developing Spiritual
vitality: “Neither he (the man born blind) sinned, nor
his parents; but it was for the works of God to manifest
in him”. Very striking, in this case, that the blindness
was not due to some ancestor, an anathema against
original sin; as well as emphasizes that this congenital
visual impairment is not the result of an expiation,
that is, the rescue of an error made in the past (“you
will not leave prison until you pay the last penny”).
Here it is a test, of a painful event, serving as a test
for the instruction of the Spirit, requested by itself
in Spirituality.
Reading the rest of the evangelical texts, one can see
the evidence that the former blind man achieved greater
Spiritual learning, as he gallantly faced the Pharisees,
giving a courageous testimony of Jesus. At the same
time, I could not fail to mention, in a more
comprehensive way, the other usefulness of pain: to
rescue past faults, through “being born again” or
reincarnation. The law of action and reaction announces,
in a magisterial and exuberant way, divine justice: What
man creates, good or bad, affects his own Spiritual
clothing, creasing the perispirit with harmony or
maladjustment. In case of misuse of free will, the
marked damage in extraphysical clothing will predispose
the appearance of a certain illness in the physical
structure: "What a man sows in the flesh, he will reap
corruption from the flesh" (Galatians 6:8).
With eternity in front of him, being the bearer of
immortality, the Spiritual being will be able to rectify
his own mistakes of yesterday and prepare to take the
great flights of tomorrow, leaving aside the exuberant
suffering, allegorically described as "hell of fire”,
which, when experienced in the extraphysical dimension,
has the appearance of consuming the being forever and
ever and will never cease.
In another evangelical episode, the Master says to the
former paralytic: “Look, you are already healed; err no
more, lest anything worse happen to you” (John 5:14).
The assertion that man did not suffer due to mistakes
made by a very remote antecedent like Adam is quite
logical. Without the explanation given by the
reincarnationist doctrine, everything is confused,
without logic and coherence. Reincarnation reveals the
sublime presence of divine fatherhood, extremely loving,
providing, through His just laws, the due and gradual
improvement of creatures.
Jesus, likewise, emphasized the existence of the
doctrine of reincarnation, in the dialogue with the
Jewish scholar, member of the supreme court of Judea
(Sinhedrin) named Nicodemus, who sought the Christ, in
the dead of night, and promptly considered him a master,
coming from God. The gentle Nazarene, in front of a
sage, took the opportunity to talk to him about a
doctrine that offers arguments in accordance with
reason: "In truth, I say to you that he who is not born
again cannot see the Kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to
him: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
reenter his mother's womb and be born?” (John 3:3-4). It
is quite clear that Nicodemus understood that Jesus
spoke of a rebirth in the flesh, but he was completely
unaware of how this emergence takes place, even though
he was a scholar in Israel. Then, the Christ replied,
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he that is not
born of water and the Spirit, cannot enter into the
Kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
According to Professor Pastorino, in the Greek original,
there is no article before the words water and Spirit,
the translation being correct as: “born of water” (born
in water) and “born of Spirit” (by the reincarnation of
the Spirit). The text would be correct, then: "Verily,
verily I say to you: whoever is not born in water and in
Spirit cannot enter the Kingdom of God." The Master, in
fact, as a being of excellence, taught Nicodemus what
today would be a Biology class. The embryonic cell is
95% water, formed by the meeting of the sperm with the
ovum. Both are almost 100% water. At the same time, the
little being develops in the so-called water bag, the
amniotic fluid. Water represents the great generating
element of physical life, being also the essential
constituent of all living creatures. The formation of a
physical body is then the result of another physical
body, that is, flesh begetting flesh: “What is born of
flesh is flesh…” (John
3:6).
However, the exalted Master goes further, going even
deeper, revealing a transcendental fact which is the
presence of the preexisting Spiritual being, endowed
with immortality, joining the somatic garment, needing a
denser vibration for its evolutionary ascent. The
Spirit, an improved and individualized divine spark,
needs the physical arena, with its own resistance, to
awaken and externalize its potentials ("The Kingdom of
God within itself"): "What is born of the Spirit is
Spirit" (John 3 :6).
Those who do not accept the reincarnation process, in
these verses, preach the occurrence of a moral rebirth,
saying that Jesus would be talking about a new life
("born again"), which the creature can experience when
accepting Him as savior. Unfortunately, the history of
religions reveals that such Spiritual renewal is not
accompanied by a profound change in moral attitudes and
behavior. What good is it for a being to enter and leave
places of religious worship, considering himself saved,
without a radical and intense transformation within him?
It is not enough just to have the faith and understand
the Master as the Savior of Humanity; what matters is
the inner modification, which is not forced, nor exerted
with much difficulty and anguish; however, it flows
normally and is externalized through works and
spontaneous attitudes towards the good.
At the end of the memorable encounter with Nicodemus,
Jesus sent His message to Humanity, exhorting it, using
the verb in the second person plural. Emphatically, He
reveals a great truth: “(…) You must be born again”
(John 3: 7). Indeed, the Spiritist Doctrine asserts that
human incarnation is primordial, teaching that "the
union of Spirit and matter is necessary" (OLE, 25) and
that "Spirits have to suffer all the vicissitudes of
bodily existence" (OLE, 132), as equally “simple and
ignorant servants are instructed in the struggles and
tribulations of bodily life” (OLE, 133). The good
Spirits, according to Kardec's Codification, are those
who achieved “predominance over matter” (OLE, 107).
Dogmatic religious, to the detriment of many verses of
the Scripture, where the reincarnationist truth is
unquestionable, childishly quote a passage in the book
of Hebrews, where it is written: "It is commanded for
men to die once and, after that, judgment". The text is
referring to the personality, the body that gives
opportunity for evolutionary growth to individuality,
the immortal Spirit. The physical body is composed of
water and minerals and naturally has a limited
existence. Man, earthly personality, is destined for
death; however, the present Spiritual entity never dies
and will reincarnate as many times as necessary. After
the disappearing of the somatic garment (death), the
Spiritual individuality takes the flight of liberation;
subject, however, to the judgment that takes place in
the most intimate reflections of his being, often
embittered by the remorse that seems to consume him
entirely like the burning flames of a furnace.
The doctrine of reincarnation explains, sensibly and
logically, the adversities of the path and the blows of
destiny. Just as the Master Jesus questioned Nicodemus,
so would the opposing exegetes and deniers of being
"born again": You are Israel's teachers, and don't you
know it? (John
3:10).
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