Can Christians Believe in Reincarnation?

Can Christians believe in reincarnation? Short answer – absolutely not!

I often make a distinction between issues that are essential to the faith and those that are only of secondary importance, and I would have to say that the idea of people “reincarnating” in another life in order to improve or somehow “get it right” before being welcomed into heaven is completely antithetical to the Gospel.

I was talking with a man named Adolpho, who told me he believes that people will go to heaven when they die, but that many will experience reincarnation because they need more time to prove themselves worthy. As we talked further it seemed like Adolpho has many solid Christians beliefs, but his early statement of the possibility of reincarnation let me know that deep down he believes that our salvation depends on our being worthy or deserving, rather than the free gift of God that it is to those who trust in Jesus.

If anyone needed a chance to come back to earth and live a better life, it was the thief who was crucified next to Jesus. Yet Jesus did not reassure him he would be given a second chance but rather that “Today you will be with me in paradise”. (Luke 23:43)

Why no second chance? Because… “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”. (Hebrews 9:27) Some might see this as unfair, that some people have simply been dealt a horrible hand in life and need that second chance to make things right, but they miss the point: no matter how many chances we might have to repent and improve ourselves, whether in this life or in another, we are still guilty of the sins we have already done.

We don’t simply need improvement – we need mercy and forgiveness. And we can’t earn that forgiveness ourselves, not in one lifetime or a hundred. It is something that only Jesus could do, the perfect Son of God who lived the perfect life, yet died in our place.

To believe in reincarnation is ultimately to believe in our own ability to improve and deserve salvation, albeit over the course of several lifetimes. And that is simply not part of the Gospel of Jesus.