![]() ![]() It involved two pictures of Jesus Christ: Either he was a God who had always been God or he was a human who became God’s Son. The Arian controversy was really about the nature of humanity and how we are saved. ![]() But, in fact, the Arians gave him an exalted position, honoring him as “first among creatures.” Arius described the Son as one who became “perfect God, only begotten and unchangeable,” but also argued that he had an origin. The orthodox accused the Arians of attempting to lower the Son by saying he had a beginning. He decided to resolve it himself in a move that permanently changed the course of Christianity. ![]() ![]() The Church had nearly split over the issue when the controversy reached the ears of the Roman emperor Constantine. In 320 A.D., Alexander held a Council of Alexandria to condemn the errors of Arius. Athanasius became the Church’s lead fighter in a struggle that lasted his entire life. A debate erupted, led by Arius on the one side and by Alexander and his deacon Athanasius on the other. For many bishops, Arius spoke heresy when he said that the Son had a beginning. In other words, if the Father is the parent of the Son, then didn’t the Son have a beginning?Īpparently, no one had put it this way before. “If the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence.” The Mystery of God in HumanityĮarly in the fourth century, while Bishop Alexander of Alexandria was expounding on the Trinity to his flock, a theological tsunami was born.Ī Libyan priest named Arius stood up and posed the following simple question: Prophet, Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity. The following information comes from my favorite book by Ms. This article on reincarnation is authored by Elizabeth Clare Prophet (1939-2009) who was a minister with The Summit Lighthouse and author of several books dealing with early Christianity and many related metaphysical books, such as: Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity (1997), Fallen Angels and the Origins of Evil (2000), Karma and Reincarnation (1999), The Lost Teachings of Jesus (1986), Quietly Comes the Buddha (1998), The Path to the Universal Christ (2003), Kabbalah: Key to Your Inner Power (1997), Keys to the Kingdom (2003), The Astrology of the Four Horsemen (1990), and Walking with the Master (2002).Įlizabeth Clare Prophet’s meticulous and impressive research into the history of reincarnation in the early Christian movement provides the seeker of truth a valid reason to believe that the early Church officials decided to halt the long history of reincarnation in the early Christian sects in order to further their own political purposes. However, reincarnation does provide a reasonable theory to account for the apparent absurdities in the dispensation of divine justice. There is probably no special spiritual advantage for a person to believe or not believe in reincarnation. Debating about whether reincarnation exists or not is the equivalent of debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. The ultimate goal of reincarnation is to learn enough lessons from Earth lives that reincarnation is no longer necessary.īut does it make any difference whether or not one believes in reincarnation? The doctrine of reincarnation, like any dogmatic tenet, is not very important when it comes to living a spiritual life. Because time does not exist in the spirit world, a person can spend “eons of time” in the spirit realms, if they wish to do so, and have the freedom to decide if they want to reincarnate or not. Near-death experiences prove this misconception to be untrue. Many Christians have the misconception that the concept of reincarnation means that, at the time of death, people reincarnate immediately and do not have any experiences in the spirit realms in between Earth lives. ![]()
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