What Buddhists believe
Karma and rebirth
Intentional deeds bear fruit in this life and the next, through a round of rebirth with no known beginning. What the texts say, and why the Bible says once, then grace.
What the texts say
Kamma is intention expressed in action. Its results shape this life and the next, in realms from the heavens to the hells. The round of rebirth (samsara) has no known beginning, and the goal is to escape it.
It is intention that I call deeds. For after making a choice one acts by way of body, speech, and mind.
Anguttara Nikaya 6.63:33.3-33.5, Penetrative (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
“Mendicants, this transmigration has no known beginning. No first point is found of sentient beings roaming and transmigrating, shrouded by ignorance and fettered by craving.
Samyutta Nikaya 15.1:1.7-1.8, Grass and Sticks (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
Transmigrating through countless rebirths, I’ve journeyed without reward, searching for the house-builder; painful is birth again and again.
Dhammapada 153, 11. Old Age (tr. Bhikkhu Sujato) · context
The Bible's answer
The Bible teaches that we reap what we sow, so it agrees deeds matter. But it says each person lives once, then faces God, and that God offers what no law of deeds can: forgiveness, paid for by Jesus. See reasons 5, 6 and 8.
7Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
Galatians 6:7 (WEB) · context
27Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
Hebrews 9:27 (WEB) · context
23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 (WEB) · context
Reason 5: Karma keeps the books. It can never forgive. Reason 8: Rebirth again and again? The Bible says once, then judgment and grace.
Sources
- Earliest source Anguttara Nikaya 6.63; Samyutta Nikaya 15.1; Dhammapada 153-154. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0), SuttaCentral.