Hebrews 9:27-28 "And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that..."

"And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him" (Hebrews 9:27-28).

Question:

This is the verse most frequently referenced by fundamental Christians to support the view that reincarnation is a false notion; we die only once, therefore there is only one life in which to receive salvation. What say you? Does Unity support the concept of reincarnation?

Comment:

So far as I know, Unity has no “official” position on reincarnation. But we would not agree that anything in the Bible—including this passage—denies the possibility that we may return, as spiritual beings, into many life experiences in order to accomplish our spiritual purpose.   Since we are spiritual beings, “death” has no true validity. We may seem to “die” from the perspective of one life experience, but in truth we continue onward as eternal, expressive, creative spiritual beings. The only sense in which we could be said to die spiritually occurs when we embrace the truth of the Christ Presence that is our true identity—the truth that Jesus taught and demonstrated through his own life, and by moving through the illusion of death to express his eternal Spirit.   We die to mortal illusion and mortal limitation when we embrace spiritual truth and set about expressing our own true Christ nature. That is, in fact, the “second coming of the Christ.” The Christ first appeared to us through the teachings and example of Jesus Christ. It appears a second time when we follow those teachings, release old ideas of limitation, and embrace our spiritual identity. And we will find that all of God—all of the infinite universe of Good—is eagerly waiting for us to remember and express the Christ we truly are. How many human experiences—how many “Hero's Journeys”—it may take us to reach that point of Christ expression is entirely up to us.   Blessings!

Rev. Ed