My original point is that in Christianity there is no distinction between 'man' and 'soul.' (This can no longer be argued. Hebrew and Greek scholars are agreed that in a Scriptural context the word 'soul' comes from the Greek, but the definition should rightly be Hebrew. The opposition of body and soul in Scripture is a calling to man to rise above his base nature, not to abandon his body.)
I do not challenge your right to think as you do - I am simply saying that reincarnation is not part of Christian doctrine.
Can I put it this way:
A 'soul' signifies the presence of a 'being' (albeit a mode of being, but nevertheless a being-aware-of-itself) separate and distinct from other beings. A soul finds itself in a world of souls. A self in a world full of selves.
(The nature of this separation is originally a gift, temporally tragic, but nevertheless a reality and ultimately triumphant.)
This 'being as distinct,' this 'me' not 'you' which is unique, we identify as 'person.'
[To follow your argument, If 'I' had innumerable lives before 'me' (this instance of 'I'), and inumerable lives ahead of 'me', then 'I' would be 'everybody,' but nobody would be 'me'.)
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The form that a soul takes is its mode of being, which determines its nature.
If a being is to exist as a reality, it must manifest a presence of itself, even if only a mode of itself, else its manifestation is essentially a lie.
If a being is to exist in a physical world as a reality, it must manifest a physical presence of itself as a real mode of itself, else its manifestation is essentially a lie.
The appearance of humans tells us two things:
In essence we are the same;
In reality - in presence - in person - we are different.
The fact that we are told the soul stands (in judgement) before God, tells us that at the level of God:
In essence we are the same;
In presence - in person - we are different.
(Each personal soul will be judged according to itself, not in comparison to another)
This difference in presence identifies the 'person'.
In Christianity, it is the person who stands before God.
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If a being exists in the world, it must be by means of the world.
(Christ took on a physical body - he did not appear as a physical body - this is the meaning of Incarnation - he was here in person.)
This corporeal presence in the physical world must be as 'real' to itself as its incorporeal presence in the spiritual world, the body is the soul's own means of being present in the world. Without a body there is no place nor presence of a soul.
Without a body it cannot act, nor be acted upon.
There would be no point in creation if the soul was not 'really' there, and there would be no point of the soul being present in the world if it could not interact with the world in a real and worldly way.
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That we have become separate from our own true being is self evident.
We perceive ourselves more immediately as body, not as soul.
We view ourselves as a bundle of components that have little or no relation, no reality, with regard to each other. As shards of a broken mirror that no longer fit together.
Each part has become 'abstract' to the other.
We view our souls as other than ourselves.
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The body, this mortal coil, is the soul fulfilling the requirements of being present in this corporeal world. This body is a containment of a presence in the same way that this soul is a containment of an essence.
Christ made whole and transfigured this human nature, this body and soul, on Mount Tabor, when not just his flesh but even the clothes upon his back (every aspect of the physical world) became white (pure), then transparent, and finally shone forth with the blinding light of the Divine Source of all things.
We are called to transfiguration, not reincarnation.
We are called to change the world, not repeat it.
This is the Doctrine of Theosis,
the transfiguration of Creation.
Thomas
