Resurrection and Reincarnation

4. Reincarnation was part of the Jewish dogmas under the name resurrection. Only the Sadducees, who thought that everything ended with death, did not believe in it. Jewish ideas on this point, like many others, were not clearly defined because they had only vague and incomplete notions regarding the soul and its connection with the body. They believed that a person who had lived could live again, without comprehending the exact manner in which it could happen. They designated by the word resurrection what Spiritism more correctly  calls reincarnation.  Actually, resurrection supposes the return to life of the body that died, which science has demonstrated to be materially impossible,  especially when the elements of that body were dispersed and absorbed long ago. Reincarnation is the return of a soul, or spirit, to corporeal life, but in another body newly formed for it and having nothing in common with the old one. The word resurrection might thus be applied to Lazarus but not to Elijah or the other prophets. Hence, if, according to their belief, John the Baptist was Elijah, John’s body could not have been Elijah’s, since John had been seen as a child and his mother and father were known. John, then, could be Elijah reincarnated but not resuscitated.

5. Now, there was a man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a senator of the Jews, who went at night to meet Jesus and said to him, “Rabbi, we know you have come from God to instruct us as a doctor; for no one could perform the miracles you are doing if God were not with him.”

Jesus answered  him, “Verily, verily I say to you: no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man who is already old be born? Can he enter his mother’s womb in order to be born a second time?”

Jesus responded,  “Verily, verily I say to you: If a man is not born again of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Whatever is born from flesh is flesh, and whatever is born from the spirit is spirit. Do not be surprised that I have said to you that it is necessary for you to be born again. The spirit blows wherever it wishes and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. The  same occurs with every man who is born of the spirit.”

Nicodemus responded to him, “How can this be?” Jesus said to him, “You are a teacher in Israel and yet you are unaware  of these things! Verily, verily I say to you that we say only what we know and that we testify only to what we have seen; yet you have not accepted our testimony. But if you do not believe me when I speak about things of the earth, how will you believe me when I speak to you about  the things of heaven?” (Jn. 3:1-12)

6. The thought that John the Baptist was Elijah and that the prophets could live again on the earth may be found in many passages of the Gospels, especially in those indicated above (nos. 1-3). If this belief had been in error, Jesus would not have failed to combat it just as he combated so many others; far from it – he sanctioned it with all his authority and set it as a principle and necessary condition when he said: “No one can see the Kingdom of Heaven if he is not born again.” And he insisted, adding, “Do not be surprised that I have said that IT IS NECESSARY  for you to be born again.”