I am what many call a lapsed Catholic, though I still have a great affinity for Catholics and all people who are trying to tread the long and difficult path of spiritual advancement. I was particularly interested to read your thoughts on reincarnation on your web site last night.
Unfortunately all of our family apart from our father have left Catholicism because it seemed so strongly opposed to what we naturally feel - and in some cases know - to be true. There is a natural psychic vein in our family which for some inexplicable reason only runs in the females from my mother's side. Amongst other remarkable things, both my sister and my mother have memories of various past lives - which were not spoken about for many years as they felt their memories were unacceptable, even to other family members. They aren't the past lives of famous people, but those of ordinary folk, living and dying - often prematurely, but sometimes at a ripe old age.
I am not trying to convince you of reincarnation as that would be a pretty foolish endeavour, but simply to mention that since I have looked into the matter I have come across many respectable people with (amongst other interesting experiences) inexplicable flashbacks of themselves in what appeared to be previous lifetimes. The problem is though, that even in today's world, anyone who mentions having any kind of metaphysical vision is often regarded as a "kook" and scoffed at - so unfortunately they seldom feel they can share their mystifying experiences with other people. (Strangely, even a close and devout Pentecostal friend was reluctant to mention that he had seen a pair of what appeared to be angels present at a school recital, because he was afraid I might scoff at him! Which is something I would of course never do.)
I don't want to dissect the logic of your website disproving reincarnation as I know that it would be petty of me, but I do think that you might be surprised if you read the experiences of J J Dewey - a very devout Christian like yourself who wondered about the idea of reincarnation. http://www.greaterthings.com/JJDewey/Eternal_Lives/
Of note too is a past life "memory bank" which has been created on the web where more and more people are recording their memories... http://www.open-sesame.com/memorybank.html
..and Rabbi Gershom's work on helping people who have unpleasant memories of dying in the holocaust. He has written a couple of books on his experiences. http://www.pinenet.com/~rooster/
Warmest regards,
Richard :)
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RICHARD HOLMES
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Dear Richard,
Thank you for your email. I appreciate the polite tone. I have to admit that people who write me from New Zealand and Australia seem more courteous than American - or even Canadians. But maybe I have just had good luck.
Still, if you believe reincarnation is true, I would want you to try to convince me, that is, share with me the evidence. I go along with Shakespeare:
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt
of in your philosophy."
My problem to date with reincarnation is that I have tried to ask some questions - and instead of getting an answer, I have gotten lengthy attacks on the Catholic Church. See for example the correspondence with John Jensen. He operates a reincarnation website, but was unwilling to address even the simplest questions.
I did take a look at the websites you recommended and also noticed you have one. Unlike John you seem to recognize that the Fifth Ecumenical Council was not dealing with reincarnation - and that Origen's doctrines of pre-existence of the soul and apocatastasis are not the same as reincarnation.
The testimonies about previous life experiences do make one think. I did do some reading about Edgar Cayce. So far I haven't been able to get an answer to the question about languages. If Patton remembered his previous life as a Roman soldier, why wasn't his Latin better?
I do have other questions. Like I say, if either of us is laboring under a delusion, the best thing we can do is help the other out of it. This would especially be the case if Jesus is correct that this life is our one opportunity to choose between eternity with God or separated from him.
Sincerely,
Fr. Phil Bloom
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Fr Bloom -
Thank you for your courteous answer too! Yes, I have found that many people seem to easily forget that people with different opinions are not their mortal enemies. And though I am a lapsed Catholic, I do cringe whenever I hear people bemoaning "bloody Christians" - which is unfortunately such a frequent occurrence. What they usually mean is they don't like "intolerant, narrow-minded people" but then this is certainly something which any person can be - whether religious or not. And let's face it - many scientific people seem to fit that description perfectly...
Let me think on this one and get back to you. This is a bit of a busy day here and I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I am a tireless investigator.
And I'm glad you like the Shakespeare quote. It's one of my favourites and I will add to my website.
Take care,
Richard :)
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Letter from a "Christian" Who Believes in Reincarnation
Early Christian Teaching regarding Reincarnation Other
Questions
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Below is a recent email:
From: ProfessorOddjob@aol.com [mailto:ProfessorOddjob@aol.com]
what makes you so sure that reincarnation verses weren't removed from the scriptures? and what is so bad about living with the implications of reincanation for you? if you can incarnate once, why not twice? why would that be bad or infathomable or detrimentel to one's life? what would be the difference between considering it as true and not? CONTROL you actually believe people don't have a higher purpose, do you? that is why they need to be babysat by you and others, no? and that is why whoever it was, removed it from the bible. simply control. is it not true? maybe you aren't allowed to consider it are you? it would be a sin, wouldn't it? and how is that? who says so? so then why do you not even consider it? incarnating more than implies that we come from the spirit realm to earth voluntarily to do something, which is none of your business or anyone else's? wake up fool.
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 6:48 PM
To: frbloom@holyfamilyparish.net