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Does the soul of a human exist before his birth?

Does the soul of a human exist before his birth? This question interests me very much because if it really does, then the society´s view of the so-called unjust destiny has to change, too. What has been so far considered as a wrong or as God´s injustice, for example if sombody is born poor, ill or otherwise life disadvantaged, is then just the consequence of previous deeds.

Believers and many numerous Christian religions claim that the human soul starts its existence at the moment of conception – that it does not exist before the conception. If the mother-to-be has her still unborn baby taken from her in fear, logically it goes immediately to heaven since it has not had the time to become guilty and burdened with sin.

However, is this teaching logical? If it really was so, then every mother who has her unborn baby killed would actually render a salvation-bringing deed for which she should be rewarded, not punished as for a deadly sin! How could she burden herself with a deadly sin if she has actually relieved the soul of the unborn baby of life´s hardships and has sent it directly towards eternal bliss? Moreover, if the human soul did not need life for its own necessary development, couldn´t God let us enter Paradise straight away without the hardships that the life on the Earth brings, without any exertion?

It is to be contemplated that for whole centuries such leaks in dogmatics have been tolerated or disregarded and all this with references to Jesus and His perfect Justice.

Further it is also to be thought about that in prophecies, which the belivers believe in after all, it is written about the prophets coming or being sent onto the Earth for the rescue of mankind. If we muse upon these words, not just accept them dogmatically or mechanically, we will realize that they clearly confirm the existence of the soul before birth. How could anybody be sent onto the Earth to the rescue of mankind if he has not existed before? Just let us think about the true meaning of the words we are using and a lot will become clear completely on its own.

Believers also declare ardently that for God everything is possible! In this they see the fundamental presupposition of the truthfulness of a teaching. Yet if everything is possible for God, why couldn´t He grant a man the chance to be born upon his own pleading into a new body if he had spoilt his previous life and now he is yearning to make it good? Who from the believers can deprive God of this right?

The true penitence of the soul for its mistakes is accompanied by nothing but the wish to be able to set everything right, not just being sentimental and regretful. How can a soul of man rectify its guilt in the physical world if it has after death no body that would make it possible for it? Even if this soul was allowed to return to Paradise for its sincere repentence, first it would surely wish to be permitted to rectify its sins on the Earth. What bliss in Paradise would it be for this soul if somebody on the Earth was still suffering due to its former incorrect life model or attitude?

Many people generally refer to reincarnation not being mentioned directly anywhere in the Bible. Therefore they claim it definitely does not exist. Yet it is interesting that in the Bible there is no mention of the non-existence of reincarnation! Is this not worth serious consideration? As well as the fact that allusions to reincarnation are preserved in more places directly in the New Testament.

Let us just remember the story where the disciples asked Jesus if the man who had been blind since his birth was blind for his sins or for the sins of his parents. How could a man blind since his birth suffer for his sins if he had not lived before and so he could not become guilty? The answer of Jesus was that through the blind man´s suffering God shall be solemnized in Jesus, but if Jesus had regarded reincarnation as fallacy, wouldn´t He have warned the disciples from incorrect thinking? He did not do anything like that, even though he did so on other occasions.

Another thing worth mentioning is Jesus´ words that nobody shall leave this world until he repays to the last cent. It is obvious that Jesus would see sinners who were dying and leaving this world without repaying their debt towards God and their neighbours. Were these words of His meant just for somebody? Definitely not! It is necessary to comprehend them all-encompassingly. They say that a man, even if he died and crossed over to the other side, will not be able to return to Paradise as long as he is bound to the Earth through the guilt he will have to make right here. And this will often happen thanks to a re-birth, without which the rectification of guilts, that “repaying of debts” is mostly impossible.

However, the possibility of return is always an act of grace and it is not possible to count on it light-headedly, the same as it is not possible to rely calculatingly on other graces of God, if we do not want them to turn away from us. Nevertheless, the return of the soul into the earthly body excludes the incarnation into the body of a plant or an animal, because nobody can exceed the scope of his specific essence. An animal will always be an animal, a plant will always be a plant, and a man – even at the highest degree of inner decline – will always be a man due to his kind.

Another very paradoxical assertion of the believers is that Jesus was teaching people completely everything they needed to be entirely knowing. Yet there is a documented passage where Jesus is complaining that He should say much more but the people of that time would not bear it on their level of maturity. So who can say with certainty that he would not have publicly proclaimed reincarnation if its acceptance enables to understand the justice and logic of life?

Our human patience when bearing any suffering is often based on the assumption that through our suffering we are rectifying the sins of mankind – that it is us who God has chosen to kindly carry the cross for others, and thus to help everybody reach the longed-for Kingdom of God. However, if we are confronted with the reality that we are not suffering for the sins of other people, but exclusively for the sake of our own sins, for our spiritual blindness, deafness and short-sightedness, then our willingness to bear this suffering noble-mindedly and with the feeling of heroism disappears completely. Is this not a manifestation of a low ego, which wants to search for the way how to put itself forward even in suffering? And finally, is this not the reason why reincarnation is rejected by people so fervently?

If only we could understand this and stop grumbling about others and about God Himself. There would be more humbleness and love instead of shallow and unwise religious zealousness on the Earth.

T.L.