"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.' Nicodemus said to him, 'How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot re-enter his mother's womb and be born again, can he?' Jesus answered, 'Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit . . . Nicodemus answered and said to him, 'How can this happen?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
New American Bible, New Testament, John 3:3-15, (Christianity, Catholic, Words of Christ)
"Is it not rational that souls should be introduced into bodies, in accordance with their merits and previous deeds . . ."
"Every soul . . . comes into this world strengthened by the victories or weakened by the defeats of its previous life. Its place in this world as a vessel appointed to honor or dishonor is determined by its previous merits or demerits. Its work in this world determines its place in the world which is to follow this."
Reincarnation - An East-West Anthology, Page 36, Early Church Fathers, Contra Celsum, De Principiis, (Christianity, Catholic, Words of Origen)
"It is absolutely necessary that the soul should be healed and purified, and if this does not take place during its life on earth it must be accomplished in future lives."
Reincarnation - An East-West Anthology, Christianity, Early Church Father, Page 36, (Christianity, Catholic, Words of St. Gregory)
"Mary answered and said unto the Saviour: 'My Lord, before thou didst come to the region of the rulers and before thou didst come down into the world, hath no soul entered into the Light?' The Saviour answered and said unto Mary: 'Amen, amen, I say unto you: Before I did come into the world, no soul hath entered into the Light. And now, therefore, when I am come, I have opened the gates of the Light and opened the ways which lead to the Light. And now, therefore, let him who shall do what is worthy of the mysteries, receive the mysteries and enter into the Light.' Mary continued and said: 'But, my Lord, I have heard that the prophets have entered into the Light.' The Saviour continued and said unto Mary: 'Amen, amen, I say unto you: No prophet hath entered into the Light; but the rulers of the aeons have discoursed with them out of the aeons and given them the mystery of the aeons. And when I came to the regions of the aeons, I have turned Elias and sent him into the body of John the Baptizer, and the rest also I turned into righteous bodies, which will find the mysteries of the Light, go on high and inherit the Light-kingdom . . . The rest of the patriarchs and of the righteous from the time of Adam unto now, who are in the aeons and all the orders of the rulers, when I came to the region of the aeons, I have through the Virgin of Light made to turn into bodies which will all be righteous,- those which will find the mysteries of the Light, enter in and inherit the Light-kingdom.' (Elias is the Greek form of Elijah)
Pistis Sophia, Fourth Book, Page 293-294, (Christianity, Gnostic/Essene, Words of Christ)
"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
King James Bible, Old Testament, Malachi 4:5, Old Testament, (Christianity)
"And his disciples asked him, saying, 'Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?' And Jesus answered and said unto them, 'Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.' Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist."
King James Bible, New Testament, Matthew 17:10-13, (Christianity, Words of Christ)
"Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked shall I go back again."
New American Bible, Old Testament, Job 2:21, (Christianity, Catholic)
"The victor I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again."
New American Bible, New Testament, Revelations 3:12, (Christianity, Catholic)
"And then cometh Yaluham, the receiver of Sabaoth, the Adamas, who handeth the souls the cup of forgetfulness, and he bringeth a cup filled with the water of forgetfulness and handeth it to the soul, and it drinketh it and forgetteth all regions and all the regions to which it hath gone. And they cast it down into a body which will spend its time continually troubled in its heart. This is the chastisement of the curser."
Pistis Sophia, Sixth Book, Page 315, Paragraph 2, (Christianity, Gnostic/Essene, Words of Christ)
"And these hand it over to their receivers, in order that they may lead their souls out of the bodies, - they hand over to them the peculiarity of the seals, in order that they may know the time when they are to lead the souls out of the bodies, and in order that they may know the time when they are to bring to birth the body."
Pistis Sophia, Fourth Book, Page 288, Paragraph 1, (Christianity, Gnostic/Essene, Words of Christ)
"For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins, and incontinencies, and disgraceful passions, and fleeting pleasures, which men embrace until they become sober and go up to their resting place. And they will find me there, and they will live, and they will not die again."
The Nag Hammadi Library, The Thunder: Perfect Mind, Page 303, Stanza 2, (Christianity, Gnostic/Essene)
"Whoever knows that he has lived before, and sees heaven and hell, and has arrived at the destruction of birth, him I call a brahman."
The Group of Discourses II, III. The Great Chapter, 647, Page 73, No. 647, (Buddhism, Theravadan)
"I mind not if I must pass through sextillions of lives, undergoing the throes of birth and the pangs of death; leaving behind me a heap of my mangled fleshly forms - if at last I find thee."
Whispers from Eternity, Page 21, Paragraph 2, (Hinduism, Kriya Yoga, Words of Paramahansa Yogananda)
"A single soul can be reincarnated a number of times in different bodies, and in this manner, it can rectify the damage done in previous incarnations. Similarly, it can also achieve perfection that was not attained in its previous incarnations. The soul is then ultimately judged at the end of all these incarnations. Its judgment will depend on everything that took place in all its incarnations, as well as its status as an individual in each one."
The Way of God, Part II, Chapter 3, No. 10, Paragraph 2-3, (Judaism, Author: Rabbi Moshe Chayim Luzzatto)
"The first light that God created was so bright that the worlds could not endure it. God therefore made another light as a vestment to this one, and so with all the other lights, until all the worlds could endure the light without being dissolved. Hence grades were evolved and lights were wrapped in one another . . ."
The Zohar (Kaballah), Volume V, Balak (Numbers), Page 301, Bottom, (Judaism)
"You were without life and He gave you life? Again, He will cause you to die and again bring you to life, then you shall be brought back to Him."
The Holy Quran, Part 1, Chapter 2, Section 3, No. 28, (Islam, Words of Mohammed)
"I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?"
Coming Back, Chapter 1, Page 4, (Hinduism), Quotation from Rumi, Poet and Mystic by R.A. Nicholson, 1950, Page 103, (Islam, Words of Sufi Poet Rumi)
"In the third chapter of St. John, in the verses three to nine, we find another incident which clearly refers to the rebirth of the Soul. Here Jesus is telling how important it is for a man to be born again in order that he may enter the Kingdom of God. Nothing is said as to how many times or how often a person must be reborn in order to purge the being of its sins and attain that purification which would admit one to the Spiritual Kingdom."
Mansions of the Soul, Chapter XII, Page 169, Paragraph 2, (Mystery Religions, Rosicrucian, Author: H. Spencer Lewis)
