Top Stories

“What Awaits Us”

The Pew Research Center is a non-partisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. that provides information on social issues and public opinion.  In 2021, they did a survey about adults in the U.S. and religious beliefs.  According to their findings, 30% of adults in this country who are Christians believe in reincarnation.  You read that right.  Almost one-third of Christian adults in the U.S. believe that when we die, our souls come back in another human or animal form.  Reincarnation is a central belief in Hinduism and Buddhism.  But Christianity?

  I’ve actually encountered a surprising number of Christians over the years who believe in reincarnation, and their reason is always the same.  They say, “Well, I believe that we’re all given certain things to accomplish here on earth and that we keep coming back until we’ve accomplished them.”  It’s always something like that: everyone has certain items on our earthly to-do list, they say, and we keep being reincarnated until we can check off all the boxes.

  There’s only one thing wrong with that. As Christians, if you want to know what happens to us after we die, look at what happened to Jesus after he died.  When Jesus died, the Gospel had hardly been spread at all.  Nations were still at war.  Disease was still rampant.  The powerful still exploited the weak.  And there was hatred among human beings in every category imaginable.  In other words, there was a lot that Jesus hadn’t accomplished.  But he wasn’t recycled into one human form after another until he finished everything himself.  He rose and was given a glorified body.  Then the Holy Spirit was sent so that others could continue his work in his name.  If you want to know what happens to us after we die, look at what happened to Jesus after he died.

  There is one aspect of the “to do” list way of thinking that does ring true.  We do put off doing many good things and saying many kind words until we’re on our death bed, and then we regret our procrastinating.  There is still time to say the words of gratitude and love that we haven’t said to people yet.  After my father died from leukemia in 2017, Mom found a sealed envelope addressed to her in the folder containing Dad’s will.  On the outside of the envelope were the words “Judy, read this first.”  Inside was a three-page hand-written letter from Dad to Mom, filled with tender words of love and comfort.  Mom later shared the letter with us.  I like to think that the letter was Dad’s way of giving her his spirit.

  What awaits us is the resurrection.  What we haven’t finished is placed into the hands of others.