One very obvious clue to the pattern of life and death has been left for us in nature.  It is the example of the seasons.  Right now if it is winter, everything is dead or dormant. Life is not really dead, however.  It is incubating in the earth's womb.  When spring comes, that new life will be brought forth.  It will grow and live in the summer of life's seasons.  When fall comes, it will wane and die back.  Once again, there will be a waiting period, and that life will spring back into existence again.  It is a never-ending cycle. Birth, death and rebirth.

It should be very obvious that this represents the possibility of reincarnation, that after we die, we can come back and live another life.

But in looking at our nature example, does every plant that dies out in fall come back to live again in the spring?  Will everyone who dies have another life to live, or just some people?

Plants can be classified as annuals, biennials and perennials.  Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in a year, die at the end, and don't come back.  Biennials take two years to complete their life cycle.  Perennials are plants that survive the winter and come back the next year.  They live through many life cycles.  If we are to take the lessons of nature as the blueprint for our own physical and spiritual lives, we would have to conclude that some people will live one life and not come back, while others will be reborn over and over.

People often ask, "If I've had other lives, why don't I remember them?"  Perhaps this is your first life, and you've never had any others yet.  In my case, I have only remembered one of my past lives.  Some people have remembered many, many other lives before their present one.  Psalm 139:16 says "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  This would imply that before our lives were even created, thought was given to our purposes for being here and how long we should remain here.  It would also imply that the time of our deaths were chosen as well.

But who made this choice?  Did God decide for us, or did we decide?  The design of the plants suggests that some are created to be annuals and some created to be perennials.  However, gardeners know that even a plant that is by nature an annual characterizes itself as such based upon the prevailing weather conditions.  A plant that could not survive the cold northern winters can sometimes survive just fine in the mild Florida winters.  This
would suggest a situation in which God designed us a particular way allows leeway for us to alter that design based upon the circumstances of the life we are going to live.  It would suggest that we collaborate with God on deciding just whether we will live one life, or whether we need another one or not.  Ultimately, however, I believe we have the free will to decide.  If we didn't, then whatever our design, we wouldn't be able to change our
path.  The fact that an annual can become a perennial by changing its growing conditions even though it was designed to complete its life cycle is one year definitely speaks to me about our power to change the course of life events that may have been designed to proceed down a particular path.

If there is no free will, then this whole exercise is pointless.  Why try to figure anything out, why try to change anything if we can't?  Why were we given the ability to learn and grow if what we can be has already been decided?

What I learn from the plants is that there seems to be a basic design to our existence that has been fleshed out before we are born.  We make certain decisions before we come here which can't be changed.  We choose the family we are born into, we choose the obstacles we will face, we choose the kind of personality, the kind of lifestyle we will have.  Then as we go through it, we have liberty to decide how we will meet those
obstacles, how we will adapt our personality to situations we come in contact with.  It's like running a race.  You have a starting point and an ending point already decided upon, but how you run the race in between can have many variations.  Some may start out and never get to the ending point.  You may have started this life with certain goals and not reach those goals due to your own shortcoming or circumstances.  Because you did not make it the goals you set, you need another life to complete them.

Christians particularly are bothered by the idea of reincarnation.  While they agree that God is merciful, they don't agree that he would give us a second chance to get our lives right.  I find this stance totally illogical.  What is to be gained on God's part if we fail and are lost?  Much more is to be gained if we learn our lessons, therefore I see it as much more likely that he created a way for us to learn, grow and get it right.

In addition, they are bothered by the verse which says "It is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment."  They say there can be no reincarnation because that would mean that men die more than once.  This is not the case, however.  The person who I am now, Judie Rall, will only die once.  There is no possibility of anything else.  When I come back, however, I will NOT be Judie Rall.  My identity will be different, and whoever I am will once again only die once.

Then they say, "What's the point of the judgment if everybody gets to come back?"  The point is, when you are done with this life, you get to sit down and go back over what happened and learn what you did wrong.   This is a very valuable step if you want to get it right the next time.  The judgment is important because it gives you feedback about how you can do better next time.

In any event, the Bible gives clear indications that reincarnation exists.  In Matthew 3:3 a prophecy delivered by the prophet Isaiah was quoted, "A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" Later in chapter 17 verses 10-13, the disciples asked Jesus, "Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?" Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all
things.  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."  Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist."

Jesus clearly taught that Elijah had been reincarnated as John the Baptist.  The disciples seemingly had no trouble understanding this.   When Jesus taught this principle to Nicodemus, however, he was surprised that Nicodemus did not understand, since the Hebrew Book of the Dead (1) and its teachings about reincarnation would have been known to every teacher of the Law.  Jesus clearly taught that "no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."  "How can a man be born when he is old?"  Nicodemus asked.  "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"  Jesus answered "You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.'  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."  "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.  "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?"

Jesus clearly expected a teacher of the Law to understand what being born again meant.  We can see that Nicodemus understood that Jesus was talking about actual physical birth because he says so, and tries to get Jesus to explain further.  Jesus said that it should not surprise Nicodemus that the spirit can go where it pleases like the wind.  It shouldn't surprise him that the spirit can enter the body and be born again.

Yes, the spirit can go where it pleases.  We are in control of our own lives and existence.  And we can see a beautiful metaphor of our eternal existence as we learn to enjoy and appreciate the seasons.

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