pull down to refresh
Resurrection.... Reincarnation....
Are these really different things?
I mean, we can discuss the difference between Star Wars and Stark Trek, but ultimately they're both just fiction.
It's highly possible that Enoch and Elijah were reincarnated in the stories, but after hundreds of years of language translation and cultural changes have made it appear different modern humans.
So, to my original point: vague, fictional stories can be manipulated and interpreted any way you like. I cringe whenever someone says "The bible teaches......" because no it doesn't. It's fiction and it's vague.
You’re arguing against something I didn’t say.
You're correct.
The Star Wars fan says "Han shot first"...
and I say, "How the fuck do you know? It's fiction!!!!"
I didn't address your point, I piggybacked off yours in order to make my own, and we both can be correct.
Then we are discussing two different questions.
I was answering what the Bible teaches within its own framework. You are arguing that the Bible is fiction and therefore teaches nothing.
That is a separate debate, and not one I was making.
I believe the Bible. You do not. We can leave it there.
You’re arguing against something I didn’t say.
I’m not saying Enoch and Elijah prove reincarnation is impossible. They are relevant because they are the Bible’s clearest examples of people leaving earthly life without first dying.
Neither becomes someone else. Both remain themselves, and both are later described as having clear roles as Enoch and Elijah—Enoch as a heavenly scribe and Elijah as a returning prophet and forerunner.
In the King James Version:
“Reincarnation” appears 0 times.
“Resurrection” appears 41 times.
That does not include phrases such as “raised from the dead,” “rise again,” and “the dead shall be raised.”
The point is simple:
The Bible repeatedly teaches resurrection. It never teaches reincarnation. Enoch and Elijah illustrate that pattern. They do not prove it by themselves.