1st Internet Question: DO YOU BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION? FOR
THOSE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND REINCARNATION, IT’S A PROCESS WHEREBY
YOU LIVE A NUMBER OF LIFE-TIMES IN ORDER TO PERFECT YOUR LIFE
THAT COULDN’T BE ACCOMPLISHED DURING ONE LIFE-TIME BEFORE YOU
ARE ACCEPTED IN THE GREAT BEYOND.
The responses come from 2 Christian websites and 1 Hindu website
1) Corbin says: I have some problems with this concept. Some say
that all living beings are reincarnated, but I don’t see how a
cockroach can perfect itself to be a better cockroach to advance
to a higher stage in life. And just thinking in terms of human
beings, I don’t see how one can become perfect, no matter how
many life-times you live because there will always be lessons to
learn. Besides if this process were true, I would feel the world
should be getting better and better over such a long period of
time.
2) Frank says: Maybe the cockroach can come back to a higher
form because I’m sure I’ve met a few in my time.
3) Mary Anne says: Hebrews states that man is given once to die,
otherwise Jesus would have had to suffer many times for us to
put away our sin.
4) Carlos says: I believe in reincarnation. I believe that when
we were created we were created out of Diety and somehow we lost
our way, but as we relearn more and more of our lessons we will
become more and more of a Diety until that time when we learn
all of our lessons which will cause us to become a pure Diety
again. And you can’t do this in one life-time. It will take many
life-times.
5) Will says: I agree with Chris, but I go even further. Before
the time of the current chaos, death was not. Spirit could
change from form to form at will, that it might come to
understand all things, and actions in the universe. After chaos
began, death became the new reality required to become aware of
the totality of the Cosmic illusion which is now petrified.
Before chaos the Cosmic illusion was fluid and spirits flowed
through it like a river. I personally have no recollection of
being an animal, but I do have a recollection of living as a
tree.
6) Mat says: I believe in reincarnation too because more and
more pyschologist are finding evidence of its existence, usually
through hypnosis.
7) Tom says: I don’t believe in reincarnation for a number of
reasons. These are as follows, that in reincarnation. 1) Evil
doesn’t really exist. 2) Whatever happens in life should be
accepted as being good. 3) There is no moral standard for right
and wrong. 4) It generates no social compassion. 5) Over such a
long period of historic time, the world should be improving. 6)
No explaination as to where evil really came from. 7) Then Jesus
must have been reincarnated too. 
Sins cannot be forgiven. And
9) you have to work for your Salvation, whereas in Christianity
Salvation is a free gift.
2nd Internet Question: IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION,
DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH, AND IF SO, HOW DO YOU
ENVISION IT?
1) Eddy says: The Resurrection. This is what we are promised.
2) Mathew says: The difference between the resurrection and
reincarnation is very little, if not at all.
3) Otto says: First, death is the separation of the soul from
the body. While the body sleeps, the soul is given a foretaste
of what is likely (but not certain) to be its eternal state;
this is often called the “intermediate state”. At the
resurrection, the soul and body (in its spiritual state) are
reunited for the judgement which determines one’s eternity.
4) Sally. Says: I think that heaven and hell are here on earth.
It is all a state of mind and how people look at you. For
example, when you die, it depends on how people see you and
think about you, and they will never forget that image, and this
is eternity. And I also believe in a heaven and a hell, where
every event will be judged as being good or bad, which will also
determine how we live in eternity.
5) Mat says: Yes. No idea.
6) Brad says: I can hope for a life after death, particularly
one that might let me make some amends for sad decisions made in
this life. However, I have no reason to expect it. Under the
circumstances, envisioning it would be fruitless speculation.
7) Corbin says: I don’t believe in reincarnation, but I know
there is life after death, and even though I enjoy this life
very much, and do not really know the specifics of the
after-life, I know it’s going to be better than the present life.
Michael says: I think it’s impossible to conceive of -
clearly it won’t be an existence in the same way as we know it
now, as it will exist in the spiritual parallel rather than in a
bodily sense. But I have some sympathy with what Bran said - is
there really any point in thinking about it, when there is so
much life to live now? It can give us hope, but I think there is
a genuine danger of becoming so other-worldly, that we forget
about being Christians today.
3rd Internet Question: DO YOU BELIEVE IN A HELL IN THE
AFTER-LIFE, AND IF SO, HOW DO YOU ENVISION THIS? OR DO YOU
BELIEVE THIS HELL IS HERE ON EARTH WHILE WE LIVE?
1) Shirley says: Neither. Hell is not a place of torment. It is
simply the common grave of all mankind. No one is conscious of
being in hell. It is a place of darkness, silence, and total
inactivity. (Ecclesiastes 9:5,10, and Psalm 146:4)
2) Ralph says: The Old Testament shows little, if any, knowledge
of the type of hell populated by mainstream Christian religions.
It seems to me that hell - along with the concept of a devil and
the after-life - was an idea evolved over time, probably greatly
influenced by the Hellenistic concept of the underworld. I don’t
see the Hebrew scriptures dealing with this concept much at all.
3) Saul says: Hell is the effects of believing in and
consequently experiencing oneself as separate from God.
4) Jack says: Lowest common denominator is hell. It is a place
where God is not, so I don’t want to be there. God is light and
love, so Hell will have none of either. Can you imagine how life
would be in total darkness and total hatred.. Not a place I
wanna experience whether there is fire or not. I don’t think you
have to be a rocket scientist to make that decision.
5) Alice says: I’ve often wondered if hell is here on earth. The
only thing I’m reasonably certain of, is that Hell is separation
from God.
6) Mary Jane says: Hell is other people. Separation from God?
How can that be possible? How can there be anywhere or anyone or
anything that is not sustained by God’s will? In my mind it’s a
logical impossibility. So what am I left with? A reality that is
chosen to be experienced in such a way by the belief systems of
other people, and by myself. These collective belief systems can
create nightmares out of waking reality: The Holocaust,
apartheid, sexual slavery in the far east and eastern Europe,
starvation, and AIDS in Africa. Hell is a here-and -now kind of
thing that lives in our hearts when we fear and despair.
7) Edward says: Hell is nothing more than the grave and
oblivion. There’s no Biblical evidence for a firey hell. And I
also don’t believe in an eternal hell.
4th Internet Question: HAVE YOU EVER HAD A NEAR-DEATH
EXPERIENCE? AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THOSE BOOKS ON NEAR-DEATH
EXPERIENCES AND OTHER PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL BOOKS ON THE EVIDENCE OF
AN AFTER-LIFE?
1) Corbin says: I had one when I was in primary school. I was
hit by a car while crossing the street and was knocked
unconscious. After that, I remember floating bodily above my
mother in the dining room while she was cleaning the room. For
many years I just thought that this was a dream, but after
reading a number of books on near-death experiences, I believe
that this was mine, and this helped me in being convinced that
there was life after death.
2) Jim says: I would be careful with this stuff, because most of
these books are into the paranormal, and that’s when I believe
some of the lines get crossed.
3) Mat says: I question near-death experiences. I haven’t found
any Biblical references for them. I saw a show once that
explained them away as something the brain makes up as it thinks
it’s dying in order to calm itself. Pilots who go into training
to handle g-force would also pass out and experience the exact
same thing that people with near-death experiences would
experience. I do believe in near-life experiences however.
4) Ralph says: I believe in near-death experiences. I was once
dead in 1987, and my life hasn’t been the same since. I believe
God gives the ones that have had the so called NDE’s, their
experience so that some of us will know that their is life after
death. My only question I have 15 or so years after my
experience is, “Can there be life before death?”. It is written
that man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes out of the mouth of God.
5th Internet Question DO YOU FEEL YOUR PET WILL BE WITH YOU IN
THE AFTER-LIFE, OR WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN TO YOUR PET
WHEN HE OR SHE DIES?
1) Jim says: This is based on the assumption that we will be in
heaven. Basic Christian doctrine asserts that when we go to
Heaven, we will be reunited with our loved ones. Since for many
“our loved ones” include our pets, then our pets would indeed be
in Heaven. This, therefore, clearly indicates that the pets, and
all animals for that matter, possess a soul/spirit.
6th Internet Question: DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A JUDGEMENT
IN THE AFTER-LIFE AS TO WHO HAS THE GOOD AFTER-LIFE OR THE BAD
AFTER-LIFE? HOW DO YOU FEEL THE JUDGEMENT IS REALLY MADE? What
about babies or small children, cruel dictators, suicides,
suicide bombers where the people involved feel they have good
intentions, the mentally sick or handicapped who commit
violence, those adults who grew up as unwanted children who
commit crimes as a result, and those who have accepted Jesus
Christ as their savior, but have really made some bad choices
that have harmed many people because of their intolerence and
segrational attitudes.
3 people stated that they believe in reincarnation so that there
would be no judgement involved in that each individual would be
in charge of improving themselves, no matter how many lives it
takes, until they reach the state of perfection that God expects
them to reach. In this case, I feel they don’t really need Jesus
Christ for Salvation.
1) Steven says: Jesus says that not everyone that says Lord,
Lord, shall enter the Kingdom. (Matt 7:21) I think one must
first realize that not all who claim to be Christian are.
2) Corbin says: And the opposite might also be true. Those who
we feel might not be Christians, or profess not to be
Christians, might very well be the people God wants in heaven.
3) JB says: I believe there will be a judgement of all the
people once they die, determined by who’s found in the Book of
Life. (Rev 20:12-15) Those who are found unworthy to be with God
will experience their second death.
4) Will says: I believe that if there is a judgement, God wil be
fair about it, and I will trust in His judgement..
5) Corbin says: I believe that there will be some sort of
judgement after death, and I agree with Will, in that God will
certainly be fair about it.
THE AFTER-LIFE IN PERSPECTIVE
NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHAT THE AFTER-LIFE WOULD BE LIKE, BUT I
BELIEVE IT WILL HAVE FANTASTIC SURPRISES FOR MANY, AND BE A
GLORIOUS HAVEN FOR THOSE WHO GOD FAVORS.
The names of the commentarians have been changed, except for
myself, to protect the privacy of the Internet contributors, but
the comments are accurate.