For all who write about the Doctrine of Reincarnation, under the Spiritist perspective, it is very common to confront dogmatic religious, arguing that Jesus did not preach it in His sublime teachings. They expose, despite the large number of evidence in favor of the reincarnationist principle, the resurrection thesis, the return of the Spirit to the physical arena, in the same already disintegrated body, in conflict with science that demonstrates the impossibility of bringing to life the being who has already suffered decomposition, its elements being reabsorbed in Nature, contributing to the formation of other bodies, forming part of its molecular or atomic groups.

The opinion that “there is nothing impossible to God and whoever made the heavens, the earth and everything in them can resurrect anyone who so desires” escapes common sense and reason. Unfortunately, this appreciation mirrors unreasoned faith, the cult of “credo quia absurdum” (I believe, even if absurd).

The Spiritist Doctrine, as a belief based on logical reasoning, claims that God is the author of all things and is the exalted artisan of natural laws, encompassing the precepts that govern matter and the laws of the soul (OLE, 617). “[...] God's laws are perfect. The harmony that regulates the material universe and the moral universe is based on the laws that God established for all eternity” (OLE, 616). Therefore, God would not revoke His sublime legislation, giving life to the dead. At the same time, the divine law, governing Nature, allows a decomposing body to reveal an exuberant and voracious cadaveric ecosystem, with the presence of microbes and insects, causing, in a period of 20 to 50 days, the meat to be all devoured and the body dry out. After all this, what will be left of the body for the Spirit to resurrect? Regarding the waiver of the divine legislature, Leon Denis, known as the philosopher of Spiritism, emphasizes that “the miracle is a postponement of the eternal laws established by God, works that are of His will, and it would be unworthy of the Supreme Power to exceed its nature itself and vary in its decrees” (Christianity and Spiritism, Ch. 5).

In early Christianity, the doctrine of successive existences was splendid, since the exalted Jesus taught it explicitly. Compelling the Gospel of Matthew, precisely in Chapter 17, verses 12 and 13, it appears that the Master alludes to the reincarnation of the prophet Elijah, returning to the physical environment, quickening the personality of John the Baptist, saying: “But I say to you that Elijah he has already come, but they have not known him; rather, they did what they wanted with him. In the same way they will make the Son of Man suffer. The disciples then understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist”. This emphatic affirmation of Christ leaves no doubt about the return of Elijah as John the Baptist, unmistakable, despite the denial of dogmatists, defending the thesis that the prophet Elijah had not returned to Earth.

The disciples, of course, fully accepted palingenesis or reincarnation, so much that there was no question on their part before the revelation made by the Master regarding Elijah's return to the physical places. It is noteworthy that the “born again” of the prophet had already been predicted, in the Old Testament, by the prophet Malachi, who claimed to be this rebirth covered with an exalted mission, that of preparing the way of Christ, being his predecessor (Ml. 3:1).

Like Matthew, the evangelist Marcos, likewise, brings up the Spiritual explanation for the teratological lesions verified at birth and not understood in dogmatism: “Woe to the world because of the scandals! They are inevitable, but woe to the man who causes them! Therefore, if your hand or your foot make you stumble, cut them off and throw them away from you: it is better for you to enter life lame or limp than, having two feet and two hands, to be cast into eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you: it is better for you to enter life, blind in one eye, than with your two eyes, and be thrown into hellfire” (Matthew 18:7-9).

These verses indisputably demonstrate reincarnation. The statement that "scandals are inevitable" corroborates the Spiritist teaching that the Earth is a world of trials and atonements, where the creature gains acquisitions and experiences and redeems its debts ("entering life", reincarnating, "lame or blind”).

The Gospel of John addresses, for example, in Chapter nine, verse three, with great propriety, one of the functions of suffering, that of developing Spiritual vitality: “Neither he (the man born blind) sinned, nor his parents; but it was for the works of God to manifest in him”. Very striking, in this case, that the blindness was not due to some ancestor, an anathema against original sin; as well as emphasizes that this congenital visual impairment is not the result of an expiation, that is, the rescue of an error made in the past (“you will not leave prison until you pay the last penny”). Here it is a test, of a painful event, serving as a test for the instruction of the Spirit, requested by itself in Spirituality.

Reading the rest of the evangelical texts, one can see the evidence that the former blind man achieved greater Spiritual learning, as he gallantly faced the Pharisees, giving a courageous testimony of Jesus. At the same time, I could not fail to mention, in a more comprehensive way, the other usefulness of pain: to rescue past faults, through “being born again” or reincarnation. The law of action and reaction announces, in a magisterial and exuberant way, divine justice: What man creates, good or bad, affects his own Spiritual clothing, creasing the perispirit with harmony or maladjustment. In case of misuse of free will, the marked damage in extraphysical clothing will predispose the appearance of a certain illness in the physical structure: "What a man sows in the flesh, he will reap corruption from the flesh" (Galatians 6:8).

With eternity in front of him, being the bearer of immortality, the Spiritual being will be able to rectify his own mistakes of yesterday and prepare to take the great flights of tomorrow, leaving aside the exuberant suffering, allegorically described as "hell of fire”, which, when experienced in the extraphysical dimension, has the appearance of consuming the being forever and ever and will never cease.

In another evangelical episode, the Master says to the former paralytic: “Look, you are already healed; err no more, lest anything worse happen to you” (John 5:14). The assertion that man did not suffer due to mistakes made by a very remote antecedent like Adam is quite logical. Without the explanation given by the reincarnationist doctrine, everything is confused, without logic and coherence. Reincarnation reveals the sublime presence of divine fatherhood, extremely loving, providing, through His just laws, the due and gradual improvement of creatures.

Jesus, likewise, emphasized the existence of the doctrine of reincarnation, in the dialogue with the Jewish scholar, member of the supreme court of Judea (Sinhedrin) named Nicodemus, who sought the Christ, in the dead of night, and promptly considered him a master, coming from God. The gentle Nazarene, in front of a sage, took the opportunity to talk to him about a doctrine that offers arguments in accordance with reason: "In truth, I say to you that he who is not born again cannot see the Kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he reenter his mother's womb and be born?” (John 3:3-4). It is quite clear that Nicodemus understood that Jesus spoke of a rebirth in the flesh, but he was completely unaware of how this emergence takes place, even though he was a scholar in Israel. Then, the Christ replied, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he that is not born of water and the Spirit, cannot enter into the Kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

According to Professor Pastorino, in the Greek original, there is no article before the words water and Spirit, the translation being correct as: “born of water” (born in water) and “born of Spirit” (by the reincarnation of the Spirit). The text would be correct, then: "Verily, verily I say to you: whoever is not born in water and in Spirit cannot enter the Kingdom of God." The Master, in fact, as a being of excellence, taught Nicodemus what today would be a Biology class. The embryonic cell is 95% water, formed by the meeting of the sperm with the ovum. Both are almost 100% water. At the same time, the little being develops in the so-called water bag, the amniotic fluid. Water represents the great generating element of physical life, being also the essential constituent of all living creatures. The formation of a physical body is then the result of another physical body, that is, flesh begetting flesh: “What is born of flesh is flesh…” (John 3:6).

However, the exalted Master goes further, going even deeper, revealing a transcendental fact which is the presence of the preexisting Spiritual being, endowed with immortality, joining the somatic garment, needing a denser vibration for its evolutionary ascent. The Spirit, an improved and individualized divine spark, needs the physical arena, with its own resistance, to awaken and externalize its potentials ("The Kingdom of God within itself"): "What is born of the Spirit is Spirit" (John 3 :6).

Those who do not accept the reincarnation process, in these verses, preach the occurrence of a moral rebirth, saying that Jesus would be talking about a new life ("born again"), which the creature can experience when accepting Him as savior. Unfortunately, the history of religions reveals that such Spiritual renewal is not accompanied by a profound change in moral attitudes and behavior. What good is it for a being to enter and leave places of religious worship, considering himself saved, without a radical and intense transformation within him? It is not enough just to have the faith and understand the Master as the Savior of Humanity; what matters is the inner modification, which is not forced, nor exerted with much difficulty and anguish; however, it flows normally and is externalized through works and spontaneous attitudes towards the good.

At the end of the memorable encounter with Nicodemus, Jesus sent His message to Humanity, exhorting it, using the verb in the second person plural. Emphatically, He reveals a great truth: “(…) You must be born again” (John 3: 7). Indeed, the Spiritist Doctrine asserts that human incarnation is primordial, teaching that "the union of Spirit and matter is necessary" (OLE, 25) and that "Spirits have to suffer all the vicissitudes of bodily existence" (OLE, 132), as equally “simple and ignorant servants are instructed in the struggles and tribulations of bodily life” (OLE, 133). The good Spirits, according to Kardec's Codification, are those who achieved “predominance over matter” (OLE, 107).

Dogmatic religious, to the detriment of many verses of the Scripture, where the reincarnationist truth is unquestionable, childishly quote a passage in the book of Hebrews, where it is written: "It is commanded for men to die once and, after that, judgment". The text is referring to the personality, the body that gives opportunity for evolutionary growth to individuality, the immortal Spirit. The physical body is composed of water and minerals and naturally has a limited existence. Man, earthly personality, is destined for death; however, the present Spiritual entity never dies and will reincarnate as many times as necessary. After the disappearing of the somatic garment (death), the Spiritual individuality takes the flight of liberation; subject, however, to the judgment that takes place in the most intimate reflections of his being, often embittered by the remorse that seems to consume him entirely like the burning flames of a furnace.

The doctrine of reincarnation explains, sensibly and logically, the adversities of the path and the blows of destiny. Just as the Master Jesus questioned Nicodemus, so would the opposing exegetes and deniers of being "born again": You are Israel's teachers, and don't you know it? (John 3:10).