Author: Piling » Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:08 pm
It was also a belief among Jewish population and then some parts of New Testament insert these allusions concerning reincarnation : when Jews ask to John the Baptist if he is Elijah. Or when Peter said to Jesus that people believe he might be John the Baptist (though he died during Jesus' activity, showing that what Jews call 'reincarnation' might be a transfer from a dead soul to a living soul, as Elijah did to Elisha).
But people were not definitively pro-reincarnation and it was not a systematic event as in hinduism or buddhism. Greeks debated also about that (Socrates and Plato) and as Jews and Christians were deeply hellenized, so that explains it was also a Jewish-Christian debate.
And no, Christianity did not invent Hell. Jews did
Hell is in fact a logical answer to the logical objection of divine justice : if the good man suffers on Earth (as Job) while the bad one is wealthy and unpunished, what is the value of Moses' Law ?
Answer : if YWH did not punish immediately, He will do in another world.
Religions which believe in Reincarnation believe also in a 'punishment' : the good one has a nice reincarnation (or do not reborn as in Hinduism and Buddhism) while the bad people will pay their current sins in their next life.
So I don't think that a religion (even paganism) can exist without fear. That is a psychological weapon : God or Gods' revenge happens, soon or late.