Karma is generally known as cause and effect, but this is only part of the meaning.
What is Karma?
Karma
is a theological concept found in the Buddhist and Hindu religions. It
is the idea that how you live your life will determine the quality of
life you will have after reincarnation. If you are unselfish, kind, and
holy during this lifetime, you will be rewarded by being reincarnated
(reborn into a new earthly body) into a pleasant life. However, if you
live a life of selfishness and evil, you will be reincarnated into a
less-than-pleasant lifestyle. In other words, you reap in the next life
what you sow in this one. Karma is based on the theological belief in
reincarnation.
The Bible rejects the idea of reincarnation; therefore, it does not support the idea of karma.
In
contrast to karma, Christian monotheism roots its ethics in the person
of God and the natural law. The natural law is the law that every person
knows by instinct from birth. It is planted by the Creator in our
heart, and everyone – even pagans who have never heard about God or the
true Christian religion – receive this gift from God.
Hebrews 9:27
states, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face
judgment…” This Bible verse makes clear two important points which, for
Christians, negate the possibility of reincarnation and karma. First, it
states that we are “destined to die once,” meaning that humans are only
born once and only die once. There is no endless cycle of life and
death and rebirth, an idea inherent in the reincarnation theory. Second,
it states that after death we face judgment, meaning that there is no
second chance, like there is in reincarnation and karma, to live a
better life. You get one shot at life and living it according to God’s
plan, and that is it.
The Bible talks a lot about reaping and sowing. Job 4:8 says, “As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.” Psalm 126:5 says, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” Luke 12:24
says, “Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no
storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you
are than birds!” In each of these instances, as well as all the
other references to reaping and sowing, the act of receiving the rewards
of your actions takes place in this life, not in some future life.
It is a present-day activity, and the references make it clear that the
fruit you reap will be commensurate with the actions you have
performed. In addition, the sowing you perform in this life will affect
your reward or punishment in the afterlife.
This afterlife is not a rebirth or a reincarnation into another body here on earth. It is either eternal suffering in hell (Matthew 25:46) or eternal life in heaven with Jesus, who died so that we might live eternally with Him. This should be the focus of our life on earth. The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 6:8-9,
“The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will
reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit
will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at
the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Finally,
we must always remember that it was Jesus whose death on the cross
resulted in the reaping of eternal life for us, and that it is faith in
Jesus that gives us this eternal life. Ephesians 2:8-9
tells us, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no
one can boast.”
Therefore, we see that
the concept of reincarnation and karma is incompatible with what the
Bible teaches about life, death, and the sowing and reaping of eternal
life.
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