Do human beings live only once, or are we granted the opportunity to return after death and experience many different lives? The question of reincarnation has been examined for thousands of years and has been embraced in various degrees by numerous religions. Scientists speculate that even the people who lived during the New Stone Age (10,000B.C.E - 5,000B.C.E.) believed that once a person died, their journey had not yet concluded. Because ideas about a society that lived so long ago are frequently not concrete and can be difficult for present day culture to grasp, many scholars point towards Hinduism as being one of the earliest religions to offer explanations of reincarnation. Hinduism, originating sometime during the fourth millennium BCE is the most ancient of the surviving great religions. The adoption of the belief of rebirth can be found in Hindu scriptures dating around 600 BCE As time progressed, suggestions of reincarnation began to be found in Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, and Christianity. While this is certainly not a complete list, or a statement that each of these religions embraces and in turn teaches the theory of rebirth, it does shed light to the fact that among very diverse beliefs and lifestyles there is a great desire to know what happens after death. In addition to the search about what transpires posthumously, many people see reincarnation as an explanation for many of the great questions about life. Such as, why is there suffering in the world? is there a meaning to life? How can child prodigies be explained? and are memories about past lives valid? Following is a discussion of how the theory of rebirth can answer some of life's most difficult questions and provide supportive evidence collected throughout the years for Western minds who find the idea of multiple lives difficult to grasp. Religion in the Western region of the world is predominately Christian. Among the people practicing Christianity, the idea tha...
