Reincarnation – an original Christian doctrine

11 not simply desist from creating certain people, if he presaged the sinfulness of these people, in order to save them from their terrible fate? What is the sense in doing good deeds and all endeavours to reach one’s ethical perfection, if predestination is a valid fact? They are superfluous for good people and in vain for evil people. The situation becomes even more confusing through the fact that people are in addition also “led into temptation” throughout their life (see the pertinent plea in the Christian Church’s Lord’s Prayer), temptations that continuously approach people from the side of evil. This brings us to the next question, namely the question about the devil being the “Ruler of this World” ( John 12, 31; 14, 30 ) and his position within creation. 4. The revelation doctrine of good and evil angels The IV Lateran Council (1215) raised the doctrine of angels to a dogma: “…at the beginning of time, he (ergo God) created both orders of creation with his almighty power from nothing in the same way, the spiritual and the physical, that is to say, the world of angels and then the world of man that in a fashion includes both, because it consists of spirit and body. The devil and the other evil spirits were in their nature however create positive, but they turned evil of their own accord. People however sin because of the influence of the devil…” (DS 800) The dogma commentary said the following about the separation of the world of angels into good and evil: “The good angels, those that passed the test, entered the beatitude of heaven as their reward, whilst the evil angels, those that didn’t pass the test, fell into eternal damnation.” (Ludwig Ott S. 144) The Fall from Grace of some of the angels, ergo from heaven into hell, the so-called angelic fall is derived from: 2 Peter 2, 4: “God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell, where they are kept chained in darkness, waiting for the Day of Judgement.” Jude 6: “Remember the angels who did not stay within their proper authority, but abandoned their own dwelling place; they are bound with eternal chains in the darkness below, where God is keeping them for the great day on which they will be condemned.” The gospel of John (8, 44) clearly substantiates that the fall of the sinning angels away from God, that is to say, down to hell must have taken place before the beginning of cosmic time. But whether their time in hell is eternal, ergo never ends, can however not be verified with the cited passages, because their safekeeping only lasts until Judgment Day. The devil does indeed possess a certain amount of power over people until that day, because he is the “Ruler of this World” ( John 12, 31 ) and because he marches around ”like a roaring lion looking for somebody to devour” ( I Peter 5,8 ). The statements presented by the Church so far establish that God created pure spirit beings called angels, which he tested and that some of them did not pass the test. Under the guidance of the devil and their own free-will decisions they fell away from God and they were cast into hell as either devils or demons. The angels that remained pure continue to enjoy God’s beatific vision.