Re: Hinduism...
I had the same discussion years ago with a girl in my class, and she gave me a similar reply. She said God has embedded a little of His own divinity in each person, and those who are attuned to this divinity and cultivate it become enlightened and escape reincarnation. The rest are born again and again (endlessly??) until they escape the cycle of birth and death. She also made the point that while humans are manifestations of the Divine, they are separate from God, she gave the analogy of "sparks to a conflagration".
Questions I wanted to ask her but never got to, I hope you or someone can answer me-
Does reincarnation apply only to humans or to all creatures? Since only humans have the faculties to distinguish right from wrong, how does someone who is reincarnated as an animal or some other creature get liberated from that existence? I read what you said about not retaining memory of a previous life, but the soul remains the same? It's not a new soul like someone suggested below?
I guess Hinduism means different things to different people, I could swear she told me there was a heaven and hell. But then I keep getting conflicting pieces of information from different folks, it gets confusing.