Yes, I believe in reincarnation, although not in the way you probably think of it. Allow me to explain. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and all that is within them. On the final day of creation God created mankind in God’s own image, male and female. He created the male first, fashioning him a body from the dust of the earth. God breathed into that body the breath of life (God’s spirit) and the male became a living soul in a mortal body. God then created a female from one of the male’s ribs to be an equal partner with him, thus completing God’s image in mankind.  This was the first incarnation.

Mankind was put in responsible charge of all that God had made, thus creating the world’s oldest profession. It was not long before mankind began to mess things up though, out of a misguided attempt to become as gods themselves, knowing good and evil. God had warned them against this, telling them if they became aware of evil it would introduce death into the world. But they did it anyway. Before long they were to taste of this. One of their sons became jealous of his brother and killed him, thus inventing fratricide, which we have become quite skilled at in the subsequent ages. Things continued to get worse from generation to generation to the point that God wiped out most of mankind and started over with just one family that had not fallen prey to such evil.

Once again, however, over the ensuing generations, mankind proceeded to wax more and more evil, despite God’s repeated warnings of the consequences. Finally God sent his only begotten son, whose name was Jesus, to be incarnated in a human body to demonstrate to mankind how they should live. Jesus told them it was possible to live as God had intended all along and, if they would only follow him, he would show them how. He then travelled around spreading this message, while befriending the outcasts of society, healing those who were sick and on at least one occasion raising back to life one who had died.

His message was not well received by those in authority, the rich and powerful, who felt their position threatened by him. So they trumped up false charges against him, tried him illegally and managed to have him executed. Although they thought that was the end of the matter, God soon proved them wrong. After just three days in the grave, Jesus was raised back to life in a new immortal body, which was not subject to death as his mortal body had been. You might say he was reincarnated.

The best news, however, is that, because Jesus, who was totally blameless, took upon himself the misdeeds of all of mankind, he suffered the consequential death on behalf of us all. Our debts are completely absolved. And, furthermore, we are promised that the death of our mortal body does not end the life of our soul, but it will be re-embodied into an immortal form, just as Jesus was. That is to say, we will also be reincarnated and thus able to live with God for eternity.

So yes, I believe in that kind of reincarnation, and I am eternally grateful for the promise of it.