Ravage Thoughts

I really don’t do this kind of articles because it has nothing to do with atheism and as we all know very well, atheists don’t believe in the afterlife. But it seems someone is interested about it and…well to break the monotony, I will talk about afterlife belief, Reincarnation vs. Resurrection.

In Myk Legaspi’s message on my Yahoo group, it seems he choose the concept of reincarnation against resurrection. Well who can blame him? If I would make to select between the two, I might choose what Myk chooses.

Well according to Myk, punishment is given as a deterrence or reformation. That’s true! You are being punish because of what you have done, so that means you may never do it again or you are punish so that you may change for that better, that’s what jails are all about, isn’t it?

But we are talking about an afterlife, there’s no turning back when you are already 6 feet under! So punishment is now useless. You cannot reform the dead nor change it.

According to Christian belief, bodies are to be resurrected to be judge in the “Day of Judgement”. So here we see that we are to be resurrected to face a Judge. Those who were judge as “good” will live eternity in heaven and those who were judge as “bad” will live eternity to hell. Sounds simple huh? Well…not quite.

If we read the Bible or any Christian literature in that matter, we don’t see any ruling on these punishments, well except the concept of a purgatory that the Roman Catholic have cooked up. Now I’m having a little trouble with this concept of “punishment”. According to Christian belief God will be the judge so we are to be judged base on his expression of His justice. Now God’s justice is linked on his own definition of righteousness. Let’s forget what these Christian theologians say and let’s focus on God’s brand of righteousness as written on his own Bible.

We know that this Judeo-Christian God have favoritism. We never saw his action on the abolition of slavery. He gives more authority to a man than a woman. Divine justice is more about total annihilation than reformation – just read the pages covering the story of the flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. He gives more credit to war and blood shed as a solution to problems regarding territory than peace settlements. He’s vindictive. He seems to be more misinformed and ignorant about the natural world, the science of psychology and society in general. He enjoys blood sacrifices, burnt offerings, and destruction of civilization. To top it all, He’s a jealous God. To be judge by a fellow with this kind of rap sheet seems a little disappointing.

Now here’s something more interesting. In a debate at Luneta Park, I asked a pastor about these punishments. Well he told me that if someone sinned and didn’t repent and believed Jesus, he is condemned to hell. I asked the pastor what will happened if you’re in hell? He told me that all those souls that sinned will be thrown in the lake of fir for eternity.
I asked him again, “Suppose a person committed a sin from age 14 and live to the age of 88, still committing a sin. That makes him a sinner for 74 years. And God will punish him for eternity in hell? Where’s justice on that scenario?”

Now, how about this, a man sinned because he killed one person and another one slaughter 57 people, or a hundred or a thousand, yet both people go to hell to suffer the same punishment?

The concept of reincarnation is very different. Unlike the resurrection and the concept of Last Judgement, your own action is your responsibility and destiny to your own self. You don’t blame anyone or anything on the consequences of your action. Reincarnation is more connected on the Law of Cause and Effect.

Reincarnation is governed by the law of Karma. The law of karma states that every action is influences how the soul will be reborn. In a simpler quote, “What you sow is what you reap.” You don’t need a judge to judge you base on his standard as the mystics have declared, “Every man is absolutely his own law-giver, the decreer of his own good or ill.” In the classic mystic book “Light the Path” it was stated, “ Each man is to himself absolutely the way, the truth and the life. But he is only so when he grasps his whole individuality firmly, and by the force of his awakened spiritual will, recognizes this individuality as not himself, but that thing which he was with pain created for his own use and by means of which he proposes, as his growth slowly develops his intelligence, to reach out to the life beyond individuality.”

The term punishment and reward don’t apply in the concept of reincarnation. We are not punished for a sin nor reworded for our righteousness. The laws of karma simple adjust effects to the rightful cause. So that means if you were born blind or poor it is not a punishment but merely the effect of your action in the past.

There are also boo-boos in the karmic and reincarnation concept, but that’s another subject.

So now we have some good ideas between resurrection and reincarnation. Hope I have given you a simple bird’s eye view on the subject matter.

I would like to state that I used the Bible and Mr. Jaime Licauco’s “Exploring the Powers of Your Inner Mind” as reference to the subject.

Until then,
Paalam

Pinoy Atheist