Reincarnation and the Law of Karma: A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and EffectAtkinson, William Walker
Religion
Reincarnation and the Law of Karma: A Study of the Old-New World-Doctrine of Rebirth, and Spiritual Cause and Effect
Atkinson, William Walker
Karma; Reincarnation
Rev. R. J. Campbell, the eminent English clergyman, in his recent work
entitled, "The New Theology," says, speaking of the popular evangelical
views: "But they are even more chaotic on the subject of death and
whatever follows death. It does not seem to be generally recognized that
Christian thought has never been really clear concerning the
Resurrection, especially in relation to future judgment. One view has
been that the deceased saint lies sleeping in the grave until the
archangel's trumpet shall sound and bid all mankind awake for the great
assize. Anyone who reads the New Testament without prejudice will see
that this was Paul's earlier view, although later on he changed it for
another. There is a good deal of our current, every-day religious
phaseology which presumes it still--'Father, in thy gracious keeping,
leave we now thy servant sleeping.' But alongside this view, another
which is a flagrant contradiction of it has come down to us, namely,
that immediately after death the soul goes straight to Heaven or Hell,
as the case may be, without waiting for the archangel's trumpet and the
grand assize. On the whole, this is the dominant theory of the situation
in the Protestant circles, and is much less reasonable than the Catholic
doctrine of purgatory, however much the latter may have been abused. But
under this view, what is the exact significance of the Judgment Day and
the Physical Resurrection? One might think they might be accounted
superfluous. What is the good of tormenting a soul in Hell for ages, and
then whirling it back to the body in order to rise again and receive a
solemn public condemnation? Better leave it in the Inferno and save
trouble, especially as the solemn trial is meaningless, seeing that a
part of the sentence has already been undergone and that there is no
hope that any portion of it will ever be remitted. Truly the tender
mercies with which the theologians have credited the Almighty are cruel
indeed!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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