THE QUEUE IN THE SKY

There are interesting views I’ve read in Facebook, although short ones, regarding personal opinions about the objections of the Catholic Church to the Philippine government’s stand on reproductive health in the effort to control population growth. The Church is against any law allowing all methods of contraception, except the rhythm method. Several FB writers opined that the obsessive position of the Church should have been against all crimes and corruption instead of population control.

I agree that all crime and corruption are matters of morality that should be the major concern of the Church. On the other hand, I think there is more to what is contended about. And I am going to relate it to the concept of reincarnation and karma.

The Church is not supportive of these concepts I mentioned – reincarnation and karma. However, my position is that these concepts are not alien to what the Bible teaches us. I have extracted an interesting article from the Internet, www.near-death.com/experiences/origen03, which you can refer to for more proofs of reincarnation and karma in the Bible. For instance, John the Baptist has been considered by Jesus as the reincarnated prophet Elijah (Matt. 11:11-15). And karmically, John the Baptist was beheaded in turn as retribution for his previous life as Elijah beheading the priests of Baal during his time. (1 Kings 18:40)
After my extracted article, I shall discuss other concepts related to the controversy on reproductive health.

“Many Christians have misconceptions about reincarnation. One particular misconception is that it means people don't inhabit heavenly realms between Earth lives. The misconception is that people reincarnate immediately after death. It ignorantly assumes people will never be permanent residents of heavenly realms. But near-death testimony reveals these misconceptions to be just that - misconceptions. People are free to spend an "eternity of eternities" in afterlife realms before reincarnating to Earth again. There is freedom of choice. This is because time, as we know it on Earth, does not exist in the afterlife realms as it does here. The ultimate purpose for reincarnation is for us to learn enough lessons and gain enough experience from Earth lives that reincarnation is no longer necessary. Like a graduation. Reincarnation is not the goal. Eternal life means never having to die anymore. That is the goal - overcoming death and rebirth. Reincarnation is the method and means to attain this goal.”
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“Due to the condemnation of pre-existence (and reincarnation) by church authorities in 553 A.D., reincarnation became an enemy concept to the Judeo-Christian West. The reason reincarnation was declared heresy was given by Gregory, the Bishop of Nyssa. The five reasons he gave were
(1) It seems to minimize Christian salvation.
(2) It is in conflict with the resurrection of the body.
(3) It creates an unnatural separation between body and soul.
(4) It is built on a much too speculative use of Christian scriptures.
(5) There is no recollection of previous lives.

“In conclusion, this Biblical defense of reincarnation leads to the following conclusions:
(1) The religious concept of a massive worldwide reanimation of corpses at the end of time is a foreign concept originating from ancient Persia.
(2) A massive worldwide reanimation of corpses seems bizarre, unnatural, and repulsive.
(3) The few instances recorded in the Bible where corpses were reanimated were miracles. Doctors today bring people back from the dead with modern technology.
(4) Reincarnation was widely believed by the people of Israel in the days of Jesus and by people all around the world.
(5) All Hebrew and Christian scriptures support reincarnation: the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Christian Gnostic gospels, the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, the Kabbalah and Zohar.
(6) Many of the Biblical references to "resurrection" refer to spiritual regeneration while already physically alive instead of the reanimation of corpses on the so-called "Last Day."
(7) Reincarnation is the rebirth of a person's spirit into a new body to be born again as an infant. Resurrection is the "spiritual awakening" of a living person's spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(8) The Bible records Jesus himself teaching reincarnation to his followers.
(9) Early Christians in Jerusalem believed in reincarnation and taught it until it was declared a heresy by the Church of Rome.
(10) Reincarnation has been a tenet in Orthodox Judaism for thousands of years and continues to this day.
(11)The concept of reincarnation is supported by many near-death experiences including those where Jesus appears.
(12)Reincarnation is a doctrine which can be accepted by every follower of Christ and should be a part of orthodox Christian doctrine.”

Let me now turn to the concept of life after death and the return to life. I got this from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

By the way, this Book of the Dead is a set of instructions given to a dying/dead person as a guide to the afterlife. Initially, the instruction is to go to the brightest light the dying/dead person sees. The brightest light is where GOD is. There are gradations of brightness of light, and of course, the last grade is darkness.

Further instructions give the entity (the dying or dead person) various descriptions of the afterlife. And in all these processes, the entity is told that a review of the previous life shows errors that need corrections in order to spiritually evolve. An entity that is about to die has the opportunity to do the review. Possibly, the entity that is in a coma is in the process of that review. (Those who recover from a coma must have realized that they can still correct their errors in their present life.) Reincarnation to another life is an opportunity to correct or redress the errors they have committed in the current life..

How do these concepts relate to the objections of the Church on all methods of contraception?

In the Book of the Dead, when a spirit decides to reincarnate, it selects the parents, the time and place where it should be born, because all these factors are involved in its resolving the karmic debts it has incurred. (There are instructions on how to avoid entering a womb, etc. as the to-be parents engaged in coupling, if they are not part of the plan of the reincarnating soul.) And, as the Church points out, the soul starts to exist at the moment when the sperm fertilizes the egg. (I recall that some Chinese consider the baby as already a year old when born.) An abortion (whether merely a fertilized ovum or already a fetus) is part of the karmic pattern of the spirit since it has to queue once more in order to become a human being. As well, it is a karmic burden or debt to the parent and the person who perform it.

Contraception in all forms, even the Rhythm Method, therefore prevents the reincarnation of spirits who want to evolve by living out their karmas. And there must be milliards of spirits lining up in long queues to be born on earth in constant watch of sexual intercourses in search of future parents. (Must be why we find it irresistible to watch pornography!) Since most of the countries of the world are into population control, there are many spirits that are denied the chance to evolve. Most therefore will come to the Philippines because of the stand of the Church on reproduction. And when they grow up they will migrate to the countries that were familiar to them in their past lives.

When we talk of spirits, these are not only spirits of humans who have existed before. There are also spirits of the insects and the animals, and whatsoever that lives, that are worthy to be spiritually evolved: insects to animals, animals to human beings, etc. And maybe, even the trees, huh? Closing the avenue of reproduction in human beings derails or blocks the traffic to spiritual evolution of all forms of life.

Thus, the Church is more (most likely subconsciously) concerned about easing the traffic to evolution. They (the religious hierarchy) can take care of handling (or mishandling) the spiritual strengthening of humanity, but they must not be instrumental in blocking the traffic in the sky.

THAT IS MY VIEW WHY THE CHURCH IS AGAINST THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BILL.

The Church will also deny my position; I could be excommunicated for expressing my opinions even if I have no specific position on the matter, except that we do need to control population growth without resorting to vasectomy for men or tubal ligation for women to sterilize them permanently. (The climate change, perhaps, and the capsizing of the Earth when the magnetic poles change places may stop population growth by reducing it. Or the nuclear war between Iran and the US. In 2012.)

If the Philippine government would submit to the position of the Church to ban all contraceptive methods but still control population growth, perhaps it should come up with a law that would legalize homosexual and lesbian or same sex marriages. That, truly will prevent population growth. Let us see how the Church will react to that.

But then, let me tell you – the Rhythm Method sucks. We tried it and we had six children. Anyway, the Method allows Free Will, and now my children had to work out their own karmas without my help.