In your Nov. 17 reply you said "I will check my references and get back to you." Have you found those references which back up your statement? Viz,

"From the beginning of Catholicism in 325 AD, the major ancient Pagan gods were taught to be incarnated as Christ's disciples. Matthew was Mithras, Thomas was Tammuz, John was Oannes (Dagon), Mark was Mars, and Peter was Jupiter. In fact, the statue of Jupiter in Rome was relabled as the statue of Peter with the claim it had always been the statue of Peter."

Also I assume from your statement:

"I had recalled the council specifically rejected the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul. I am now only seeing mention of parties who accepted reincarnation, in part or whole."

That you recognize the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553 AD did not condemn reincarnation.

Did you get a chance to read: http://www.catholic.com/answers/tracts/_reincar.htm ?

Sincerely,

Fr. Phil Bloom P.S. I assume you know that "pre-existence of the soul" is not necessarily the same thing as reincarnation.

(Reply from John) Sorry, got busy. > > You email address got buried under a few thousand technical > > mail-list messages. Besides, I got burned on all the fundies who > > refuse to accept anything as valid if it is not in an officially > > sanctioned Bible verse. I'll get back to you. Thanks for the > > reminder > Dear John, > > No problem. I will look fwd. to your research. Meanwhile what do you > make of the Baptist's denial that he was Elijah? See: > http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/2964/elijah-john.html > > Sincerely, > > Fr. Phil Bloom Poor logic: he replied, "I am not". Here the word of God clearly denies that St. John the Baptizer is Elijah! So, John is now God? John's word is now God's word and Christ's word isn't? The problem is that the person "John" is distinct from the person "Elijah". Elijah could have returned to corporeal form in John, without John having any recall of his former life. Most people don't have any such recall while conscious. Nearly eveyone has such recall under hypnosis. Many have conscious recall as young children, but parents too often have no tolerance for such notions, so they they push it out of their consiousness, again. A few people have clear conscious recall as adults, usually spontaneously. Musician Vincent Fermier had such a spontaneus recall, and remembered having been burned at the stake as a witch. He used the name of that "witch" as a successful stage persona: Alice Cooper. Gen George Patton recalled having been a Roman general, and had fought on the same battlefields in Italy, which he demonstrated by describing terrain not yet in sight. Many people can instantly recognize others that they have known from past lives, without knowing where they know them from. A very few people have demonstrated detailed knowledge of past- life connections and relations. I have no doubt that Christ was one of these. In all probability, John had no such recall, but Jesus did. Although conscious recall may not be present, incarnates bring with them innate abilities, moral lessons, character strengths, honed and refined from past lives. These are the "treasures laid up in the Kingdom of Heaven" which allow us to gradually build better and better lives, even unto learning how to manifest the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.