Currently, the alternatives to the Buddhist teaching of karma and rebirth boil down to one of two views, the materialistic or the theistic. In the materialistic view, there is no necessary connection between the moral intentionality of actions and the way the lives of beings unfold. Furthermore, nothing of the psyche carries over past brain death since mind is only the epiphenomenon of the brain. The theistic view insists that everything that happens does so according to God’s plan, or because he wills it to happen, or at the very least allows it to happen. … [E]ither of these views denies the law of karma whereby one’s intentional actions (which is what “karma” means) is a determining or even decisive factor in how the lives of beings will unfold over time and over lifetimes. The Buddha claimed to have verified through his experience of recalling his own past lives as well as an extrasensory perception of the karmic unfolding of the lives of other beings that rebirth and the law of karma are realities and on that basis he refuted the materialists and theists of his day. He also repudiated those views by pointing out that the denial or misrepresentation of the law of karma undermines the motivation for morality and spiritual cultivation.

Materialists and theists counter that there is no proof that there is such a thing as rebirth or the law of karma. The testimony of the Buddha given in the sūtras that beings are reborn and that the quality of their lives is determined by the nature of their own actions is only valid if one accepts that testimony or if one is also able to verify it by experiencing past-life recall. On the other hand, the metaphysical views that there is nothing more than material interactions or that there is a God who created everything and is ultimately responsible for all that happens are also claims that cannot be proven or disproven, at least at this time. So, in terms of which belief is the most credible or makes the most sense – the materialistic, theistic, or karmic – that will have to be determined by each person for him or herself.