Could a Little Boy Be Proof of Reincarnation?

ABC News ^ | April 20, 04 | ABC News

[lentulusgracchus]

There are AT LEAST TWO OTHER possible explanations . . . for such claims . . .

Why only two? All you have to do is invoke epistemic defect of any kind, or alternatively, quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur = "they have no hard evidence" (= OK by me), and poof, your challenge to faith goes away.

Don't you feel better now?

[PAR35]

The relevant section is here:

I don't know that any of it is relevant to this New Age post-equine organic matter, but it does establish that the ship was at Iwo Jima.

[Aliska]

Give the kid some credit

I do and tend to accept the account at face value. It's not his fault he has been terrorized by some entity. Look at what he has been through. It isn't something most parents would want for their kids and is something that could require psychological help which can lead one into even further trauma rather than healing.

The kid maybe tuning into some kind of universal mind.

Yeah, just like Edgar Cayce. I see the boy as a victim of something or somebody very likely not of this world. He remembered his first name, he knew the name of his carrier, the type of plane he flew, his best friends name, exactly what day he died and where, that he was James the III (in previous life his father was James and he was James), he knew where his plane was hit (right in the nose). That is a lot for a toddler.

Knowledge of the unknown now known. A nice way to lure people into desiring it for themselves. What is a better power trip than to be privy to knowledge that is denied most of us? What could we do with such knowledge if only we possessed it? If we are meant to know hidden things, the Christian God can supply it according to his will and not some possible fallen creature's or that of some poor, lost soul which it sounds like may be the case here.

The airman died a sudden death and may have been spiritually unprepared, we don't know if he had a Christian burial, etc., etc.

[Lord_Baltar]

Don't forget General Patton...

[Drango]

When she took the toy gun away from him, he would cry uncontrollably.

Ahaa. More proof that reincarnation is real! A normal child would not cry if you took away a toy, but a reincarnated one will.

[lentulusgracchus]

Put him behind he controls of an F4U and let's see what happens...

Oh, I get it. Like a ducking stool, or a trial by water, only with avgas instead. Good!

[Young Rhino]

Does this kid or reincarnation have two religions going back 5000 years based around it and was it fortold in the old testament which is written in a language preserved and still in use today?

1. Religions that believe in reincarnation pre-date Christianity.

2. The Old Testament is used to foretell many things, just like the writings of Nostradamus. I don't put much credence in either.

3. As for preserved language, no language exists today in substantially the same form it existed a few thousand years ago. Teaching oneself to speak Aramaic or Latin just doesn't cut it as evidence of anything except one's linguistic skills, certainly not the basis for believing or disbelieving something written in the language.

[lentulusgracchus]

You need either to be a bit more intellectually honest or well-informed than that.

Show us how. Post up. What would you post instead?

[Lord_Baltar]

Or...

Pythagoras (Greek philosopher and mathematician, c.582-c.500 BC)
Socrates (Greek philosopher, 469-399 BC)
Plato (Greek philosopher, 427-347 BC)
Plotinus (Greek philosopher, founder of Neoplatonism, 204-270)
Giordano Bruno (Italian philosopher, 1548-1600)
François Voltaire (French philosopher, 1694-1778)
Benjamin Franklin (US statesman, philosopher and inventor, 1706-1790)
Gotthold Lessing (German philosopher and dramatist, 1729-1781)
John Adams (Second president of the United States, 1735-1826)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German poet and dramatist, 1749-1832)
August Wilhelm von Schlegel (German poet, critic and translator, 1767-1845)
William Wordsworth (English poet, 1770-1850)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (US philosopher and writer, 1803-1882)
Robert Browning (English poet, 1812-1889)
Richard Wagner (German composer, 1813-1883)
Henry David Thoreau (US social critic, writer and philosopher, 1817-1862)
Walt Whitman (US poet, 1819-1892)
Thomas Huxley (English biologist and writer, 1825-1895)
Leo Tolstoy (Russian novelist and social critic, 1828-1910)
Mark Twain (US writer, 1835-1910)
Gustav Mahler (German composer, 1860-1911)
Rudolf Steiner (Austrian philosopher, 1861-1925)
David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister, 1863-1945)
Henry Ford (US automobile pioneer, 1863-1947)
Rudyard Kipling (English writer, 1865-1936)
W. Somerset Maugham (English writer, 1874-1965)
Carl Jung (Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist, 1875-1961)
Sir Hugh Dowding (British Air Marshal during the Battle of Britain, 1882-1970)
George S. Patton (US general, 1885-1945)
Robert Graves (English poet, 1895-1985)
Erik Erikson (US psychoanalyst, 1902-1994)

[Aliska]

Don't forget General Patton...

Didn't know he was into that. Lots of psychologist types are heavily into it.

Here's a link to Dr. Ian Stevenson's work of 40 years with cases such as this:

childpastlives.org

[DannyTN]

"Hebrews 9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

I agree with the guy who said the parents had built a fairy tale. The kid probably saw a plane crash on TV which caused nightmares. Then they took him to a therapist who believed in past lives. The next thing you know the kid believes he has a past last.

[lentulusgracchus]

Sorry, but I think like JonBenet Ramsey's parents used her, this kid is being u$ed, too.

Sorry, but I missed the part of the narrative where one parent turns to the other and says, "Let's do a big book contract -- for mucho bucks!"

Got a memo? An eyewitness? Film at ten?

[Right_in_Virginia]

slow news day....

Must be ;^D

[lentulusgracchus]

....it is incompatible with our understanding of Christianity.

Thank you for repeating my point.

The lives of those who espouse and cling to this philosophy are not anything I would want to emulate. Look at Shirley McClaine, Alice Bailey, Helen Blavatsky, all kind of weirdos.

Odd, but I once heard a minister offer his congregants the same assurance, to the effect that Christianity was self-proving: if you think you have problems in this world now, he thundered, just wait until you consecrate your life to Christ! Just wait until you are born again in the spirit and give your life to God, and then let's see what happens! His point being that becoming a true Christian, as opposed to the kind that doesn't offend Satan as a true enemy, makes one a special case for the Devil and invites a heaping-up of diabolical trials, temptations, and worldly torment.

Looking on the plight of the committed Christian laboring, Job-like, under all those darts and afflictions, we should all prefer, following your argument, to be Madame Blavatsky.

[TRY ONE]

"But when he was 2, they said the planes their son loved began to give him regular nightmares...."

When you're heading back to the Future and you meet someone going into the past --- it's best to avoid eye contact!

[lentulusgracchus]

LOL!

Speaking of the Devil, anybody on this thread ever see Broadcast News? Dennis Miller has a great speech in it, in a working-lunch scene with Holly Hunter, in which he describes what the Devil would be like if we ever met him. And of course, he describes the William Hurt character, who was modeled on Peter Jennings.

Good one!

[RonHolzwarth]

This is for the Christians that have commented upon this subject!

IF you believe the New Testament,

you MUST believe that on at least one occasion,

a person was reincarnated!!!

This is quite clear!

Elijah was reincarnated as John the Baptist, meaning that either reincarnation actually happened

AT LEAST ONCE,

or

JESUS CHRIST WAS A LIAR!!!

Check your Bible:

Matthew 17:
[10] And the disciples asked him, "Then why do the scribes say that first Eli'jah must come?"
[11] He replied, "Eli'jah does come, and he is to restore all things;
[12] but I tell you that Eli'jah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands."
[13] Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

[Quix]

Some parents are certainly that tricky.

[Quix]

I can readily accept that they might be unfathomable to you.

They don't seem to be to a number of other discerning, experienced and perceptive people hereon and in my own life experiences.

. . . including a couple miraculously rescued from alcoholism in India.

Otherwise, I'm not real positive that I have much of a clue what you're going on about.

[Quix]

Certainly the Scripture has it accurately!