Last Things: Reincarnation

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/reincarnationmp3/" target="_blank"><strong>website.</strong></a></p><p>Hinduism has taught reincarnation for many thousands of years. Sikhism, which derives from Hinduism and Islam, also accepts reincarnation (many passages in the <i>Granth</i> teach this doctrine).</p><ul><li>The <i>Chandogya Upanishad 5.10.8 </i>reads, “... those who are of pleasant conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a pleasant womb, either the womb of a Brahman, or the womb of a Kshatriya, or the womb of a Vaisya. But those who are of a stinking conduct here—the prospect is, indeed, that they will enter a stinking womb of a dog, or the womb of a swine, or the womb of an outcast.”</li><li><i>Kaushitaki Upanishad </i>12 teaches reincarnation "... either as a worm, or as a moth, or as a fish, or as a bird, or as a lion, or as a wild boar, or as a snake, or as a tiger, or as a person, or as some other in this or that condition, he is born again here according to his deeds, according to his knowledge."</li><li><i>S</i>tatus and the body you inhabit in the next life (canine, porcine, or “untouchable”) depend on your conduct in the present life. Karma (actions) determine the level at which you are reborn.</li><li>Eventually all souls “graduate” until <i>atman</i> (soul) becomes one with <i>paramatman</i> (the world soul).<ul><li>Individual existence then disappears.</li><li>And that means communal existence disappears, too. But we were created for community. Reincarnation ultimately negates the social dimension of humanity.</li></ul></li></ul><p>John the Baptist reincarnated?</p><ul><li>In Matthew 17 Jesus says John the Baptist was the Elijah to come, yet in John 1:21 the Baptist denies it. Is this because Malachi only speaks of a prophet to come "in the spirit of Elijah," not Elijah himself?</li><li>Was John's denial a way to steer his disciples away from the idea of an actual reincarnation? Yes, I think so. Many expected Elijah to