The Fallacy of Reincarnation
By Brannon S. Howse
Most followers of New Age thinking do not believe in heaven or hell, but in reincarnation—the belief that a person’s soul repeatedly passes from one body to another at death. The process continues until the soul reaches a state of perfection when the soul’s good karma (good deeds) outweighs its bad karma (bad deeds). Accumulating good karma results in a soul being reincarnated into a desirable state. If someone accumulates bad karma, he or she will be reincarnated into a less desirable state.
An inconsistency arises when you discuss “good” and “bad” karma. According to the New Age Movement, there is no right or wrong, only interaction of forces. Dostoevsky has said, “Anything is permissible if there is no God, but anything is also permissible if everything is God.” The faulty thought process—earning your way to heaven, happy reincarnation, or whatever—is the same.
If Cosmic Humanism claims there is no good or evil, no right or wrong, then how can there be good and bad karma? In order to have good and bad karma, there must be a standard by which to determine what is good and what is bad. This is just one of many contradictions within New Age philosophy.
New Age leader J.Z. Knight claims to have a 35,000-year-old spirit that speaks or channels through her. On the ABC News program 20/20, Knight claimed, “If you believe in reincarnation, how could murder be wrong?” If someone is murdered, it happened because they wanted it to happen or their “bad karma” caught up with them. (Just to set the record straight: I submit that J.Z. Knight is not channeling a 35,000-year-old spirit but a demon from the dark side of the spiritual world.)
Similarly, New Ager Kevin Ryerson says killers can actually turn out to be great people, thanks to reincarnation:
[quote] Criminals and murderers sometimes come back around to be murdered themselves, or perhaps to become a saint. For instance, Moses was a murderer…He beat the fellow to death out of rage, which was not exactly the most ethical decision. But he went on to become a great intellect, a great law-giver, and is considered a saint by many people. So basically, you get many chances. Your karma is your system of judgment. There is justice. [end quote]
A look at the inconsistencies in this one paragraph points out again why “earning points” to get to heaven just doesn’t wash—even in a system of thought which teaches so. Ryerson claims that Moses did not act ethically when he got mad and killed the Egyptian for beating the Israelite slave. But how could a New Ager judge the actions of Moses as unethical if there is to be no personal judging and no absolute standard exists? Ryerson also says karma is “your” system of judgment, and there is justice. If there are no absolutes, if evil and good are all part of each other because all is part of God and God is part of everything, then an idea such as “justice” has no meaning. The more you read and listen to these various New Agers, the more you realize they talk in circles and contradict themselves every time they turn around. They’re really getting nowhere—let alone to heaven.
Copyright 2006 ©Brannon Howse. This content is for Situation Room members and is not to be duplicated in any form or uploaded to other websites without the express written permission of Brannon Howse or his legally authorized representative.
