Expert: Margaret Placentra Johnston - 8/5/2009

Question
What are your thoughts on reincarnation? What about, reincarnation as related to the Bible?

Answer
Thank you for your question, Joanna.  To be honest, I am anything but an expert on scripture, so anything I tell you about how the Bible relates to reincarnation would only be parroting what someone else said.

Now if you ask me what are "my thoughts" on reincarnation, that is a different story. While I do not explicitly say I definitely believe in reincarnation, I find that more and more these days I seem to be thinking in those terms.  I have read a lot of the books about Near Death Experiences (NDE's) and these seem to suggest that reincarnation is a possibility.  

Also, I have always had the feeling that one of my closest relatives is the reincarnation of someone else I knew who had died.  The two people in question share absolutely no characteristics in common, did not even speak the same language.  What makes me suspect they are the same 'being' is more that there is something in the way I relate to them; something at my deepest level that recognizes - not an emotion (I love(d) them both)- but rather something in the way I accept the younger incarnation or greet him at the spirit level - that is the same way I greeted the deceased one in my younger days.  IF reincarnation is a reality, then I know these two are the same being.  What I don't know for sure is IF reincarnation is an absolute reality.

Obviously, I don't' have any definite answers, and don't have access to any information about reincarnation that you don't have. But the topic does make for some interesting discussion.  

A big point for me though is - whether reincarnation is a reality or not - it is this life we are living now that counts. Whether we just want to make the most of this life for the sake of the gift that it is, or we want to do our best now so we don't have to suffer through the same problems in the next life, the result is the same. Living with integrity and love now assures us of the best life in either case.