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Did You Ever Live Before?

Some people believe that after death a person’s soul is reborn into another body

SOME persons are convinced that if you are poor, crippled, blind or in some other way unfortunate, it is because of sins that you committed in a former life. On the other hand, if you are healthy and prosperous, it is believed that this is because, during a former existence, you were good. Such persons believe that after death a person’s soul goes into the spirit realm and is later reborn into another human or animal body.

Have You Ever Heard of This Belief?

It would be unusual if you haven’t. People in virtually all parts of the world, through centuries of time, have believed that they lived before. From the jungles of South America, the islands of the South Pacific, to the continents of Africa and Asia are found multitudes who feel that they benefit or suffer because of their previous “life” or “lives.”

In some countries, such as the United States, many psychologists are apostles of the “reincarnation therapy,” and, through hypnotism or other methods, attempt to induce a person to recall his former lives and thereby gain insight and experience to deal with his current problems.

Why Do They Believe It?

Have you ever visited a place for the first time and yet had the feeling that you had been there before? Or, on an initial meeting with someone, have you ever sensed that you have met earlier? Many believe that such experiences are evidence that during another life they either were at the spot or met the person.

One of the strongest reasons behind the belief is the claim that under hypnosis many individuals have described in amazing details their former existence. One case made headlines in the United States 25 years ago. A woman, after being hypnotized, described her life as an Irishwoman, Bridey Murphy, who lived from 1798 to 1864. Though she claimed never to have visited Ireland, this woman, while under hypnosis, spoke in an Irish brogue and gave a vivid description of Irish life over 100 years earlier. Similar cases to support reincarnation have been reported in different countries. However, . . .

Is the Evidence That Sound?

The fact that you feel that you already know someone whom you meet for the first time does not necessarily mean that you met that person in a former life. Think of how many living persons you have mistaken for someone else because of similar appearance and mannerisms. But what can explain the familiarity with a place a person has never visited before?

Our brain has a remarkable ability to store bits of information fed over the years through our eyes and ears. Our memory is like a library. Some of its “books” are in constant demand and circulating freely. “Other books, perhaps the vast majority,” states one authority,a “gather dust on obscure shelves and are referred to rarely or not at all. Masses of information are packed in compact quarters.” So when we sense a familiar scene, we may have visited a place like it, read about it, heard someone talk about it, seen pictures of it, perhaps in a movie or a book​—even as a youngster.

It appears that under hypnosis much of the information on “back shelves” of the brain is stimulated. Yet, despite the extraordinary details from what appears to be a former life, the evidence from some of the narration shows that the person really did not live at that time.

For instance, the American housewife who felt that she had lived as an Irishwoman during the 19th century described, while under a hypnotic trance, scratching “the paint off all my bed . . . It was a metal bed.” She supposedly was then four years old (1802). The fact is that iron bedsteads were not introduced into Ireland until at least 1850. She also reported of her former life: “I go to St. Theresa’s church.” Yet, though there is such a church in Ireland, it was not founded till 1911​—47 years after her “first death.” Investigators found that though there were some accuracies (such as her description of certain places), there were numerous discrepancies. A team of scientists agreed that her expressions ‘sprang from her subconscious memories’ and not from her former life. The fact that she was raised by persons of Irish descent may in some part account for the origin of such memories.

Despite such exposés, many cling to the belief in reincarnation because they feel it is based on the Bible.

What Is the Bible’s Verdict?

One Bible account used to support the belief is at John 9:1-3, where some of Jesus’ disciples, upon passing a man blind from birth, asked Jesus: “Who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?” Jesus replied: “Neither this man sinned nor his parents.” Jesus’ reply showed that the man was not paying for sins committed during a former life. His disciples may have believed, as did some rabbis, that a child could sin in his mother’s womb before birth. Jesus explained that such infirmities would make manifest the works of God. This was so when Jesus healed the man, and onlookers beheld God’s power overcome the miseries of sickness and disease.

Rather than its supporting reincarnation of the human soul, the Bible shows that a soul is the person himself. (Genesis 2:7) It speaks of individuals “striking every soul that was in [the city of Hazor] with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction.” So souls die.​—Joshua 11:11; Ezekiel 18:4, 20.

The soul is given life, or spirit, from God. At death this life-force, or spirit, dissipates, and a person’s thoughts perish. So the dead person is unconscious, as if in a deep sleep. The dead ‘go down into silence.’​—Psalm 104:29, 30; 115:17; 146:3, 4; Ecclesiastes 9:5.

The Bible holds forth the hope of the resurrection. God will bring to life again all those that are unconsciously asleep in death. These will then be given the opportunity of enjoying everlasting life under conditions totally free of all the misery and heartache that we see today. Why not learn more about this precious hope by contacting Jehovah’s Witnesses locally, or by writing to the publishers of this magazine.​—John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15.

[Footnotes]

[Blurb on page 11]

Our memory is like a library. Apparently under hypnosis much of the information on the “back shelves” is stimulated