I don't believe so. My feeling is that it is a matter of waking up to who you are in a spiritual sense, rather than identifying with a body you use for a very short time.

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Well answers would probably vary by who you ask. Some say it's speaking of reincarnation, while I'm sure if you asked a "born again christian" they would say something completely different. So, I guess I don't know the answer, but I look forward to the answers that come along.
Gretchen

Even if a person believes in reincarnation this doesn't mean that they are going to believe that reincarnation has anything to do with what the statement means.

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It has nothing to do with reincarnation.  It is about allowing the Christ within yourself to come forth.  Very much a spiritual rebirth.

However, it is important to understand what Jesus was trying to say about the Kingdom of Heaven.  He gave so many metaphors about this one topic alone.

It is not a place that you go to.  Death is not a requirement to enter.  The Kingdom of Heaven is right where you are.  It only requires a change in perception.

Some good replies to the question given. I myself am not religious, but contend to myself a spiritual acceptance.

Jesus' words convey to me nothing of 're'-incarnation, but of incarnation. He is not speaking of subsequence, but of consequence. This of course, leads one to ponder upon from whence we came, or what was our prior condition to incarnating? It intimates a disconnection and potential re-connection (with God?), and this physical life experience is the thread between the two.

Something of the dynamics of the physical life experience may lead incrementally, slowly, to that re-connection, but first, we must need to recognise the dynamics, and how they affect us.

We are told where we can get to, and by Jesus' life and example, how to get there, but alas, it is not a group endeavour, nor a group failure or success, but a individual and unitised concern. It is a personal and deeply private sojourn, where we are all travellers, journeying towards the same destination, silently contemplating the changing vista in our perceptions, but gathering not the same meanings and understandings. The varied answers given to the one question prove this.

I think Jesus spoke of a reconcilliation of self with Self. and only through the physical life experience can this be gained. Yet it must occur altruistically and empathically - sychophants need not apply! Having oneself immersed fully into water - symbollical of death and re-birth, of burial and resurrection - is merely apeing a connection with Jesus, a vain demonstration of hope in piety. Know that by your very existence you have already been baptized onto the path of re-connection, you have incarnated into matter. Another dip merely gets one temporarily wet. Yet, if that floats your boat, who am I to denigrate it? Certainly not Noah!

Regards

Hi Augoeideian,

Thankyou. It carries a slight response to the main question in the 'From Darkness Into Light' thread. I suspect you saw this, you clever person, you!

Regards