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It is a commonly held although incorrect belief among Christians 
that reincarnation is contrary to their faith. 
In fact, there has never, ever been a papal edict issued 
against the teaching of reincarnation. 
Further, the early fathers of the church (see: Origen) 
who steadfastly taught reincarnation were hunted and destroyed 
by corrupt thinkers wanting people to believe 
that they only had one chance at life to "get it right."

It wasn't a Church official or any Church procedure 
that ultimately stripped Christian teaching and understanding 
of reincarnation from the faithful. 
It was a politician, the emperor Justinian, 
who'd imprisoned the pope (Vigilius) 
because the latter had refused to outlaw the teaching.
With the pope imprisoned, reincarnation was forever banished 
from Christianity in an illegal anathema proclaimed  at the Fifth Ecumenical Council 
where Justinian had railroaded the voting by allowing only his own bishops, 
and not the pope's bishops, to attend.

IMHO, political corruption, not divine inspiration, 
forever changed the face of the Church's teachings. 
For my money there is an ironic freedom in knowing 
that the Church has, in fact, never approved the suppression
of teaching reincarnation.

Sonnymoon writes: Reincarnation is absolutely contrary to Christian faith.
The following two links may or may not interest you ...
click here
and 
click here

Sonnymoon writes:  To argue otherwise is to grossly mischaracterize Christianity 
and its central belief of personal salvation.

Well, actually, I'm not arguing anything ...
The intention behind this thread is to reach out to Christians 
who struggle to reconcile what they might be experiencing
with the constraints of a man-made dogma which limits their faith.

See, the concept of reincarnation,
and acknowledging it or not,
is deeply rooted in empirical understanding.
It's a hands-on kind of thing ...
definitely not a third person event,
meaning... 
When one experiences a valid past life memory,
its veracity can no more be denied
than can the face one sees in one's own mirror...
it's that real.
Moreover, and more significantly,
neither can one escape the deep shift in self-knowledge
which always accompanies a valid past life memory ...

Be that as it may ...
*shrugs*

I've written this many times in this forum,
but I'll share it one more time:
for disbelievers, no proof is possible -
and for believers, no proof is necessary

sonnymoon writes: You would, however, be hard pressed to find a mainstream Christian who
would say that reincarnation is part of current Christian doctrine.

The OP neither says nor implies as much...

Sunnymoon writes: My feeling is that the brain is the seat of consciousness,..
'Just curious...
If one's brain is the "seat of consciousness",
how and why is consciousness lost because its seat is no more? 

If you're saying heart : blood = brain : consciousness
(as in, heart is to blood as brain is to consciousness) -

with all due respect, IME your analogy has a minor glitch in balance ...

heart, blood and brain are all physical ...

Consciousness is not...

=]