JOSEPH W. TKACH
PASTOR GENERAL

January 1988

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your question concerning reincarnation.

Those who believe in reincarnation teach that after death a person's "soul" is reborn in a new body, which may be that of an animal, an insect, or another human being. It is sometimes referred to as the "transmigration of the soul" or metempsychosis.

The immortality of the soul doctrine is basic to the belief in reincarnation. But, that doctrine is false! The Bible plainly shows that one's soul is NOT immortal. Notice Genesis 3:19: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust [not another body] shalt thou return."

Also notice Ecclesiastes 3:19-20: "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast .... All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again."

Psalm 146:4 states that when a man dies "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."

Our booklet WHAT IS MAN? explains in greater detail the real nature of man and why he does not possess an immortal soul that lives on or "migrates" after death. Please feel welcome to request it.

PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE DEPARTMENT