How do you explain people that remember vividly past lives?

Asked by chelle21689 (7907) September 15th, 2013 from iPhone

So my bf and his family were listening to his dad tell stories about what he went through with the Khmer Rouge (when the people turned on their own and killed millions of their own). Very interesting and sad…

Then he started to tell them how he remembers exactly how he died, remembers he had 3 kids, his wife and all their names. That he was reincarnated as his son’s son to stay near his family. He said he also met his past family and they knew they were his past dad when he was only three at the time.

He also had someone discreetly come to him crying that he remembered in a past life what the Khmer Rouge did to him with all the torturing and no one believed him.

My bf and his siblings ate up the story and was so fascinated. I on the other hand had to leave the room because I hate the idea of reincarnation although I am agnostic. It just gives me a bad feeling inside.

Well anyways…I’m very skeptical. First of all, out of everything he just happened to be same gender, same nationality, same family, and a Buddhist?? Buddhists believe in rebirth but you’re not supposed to remember right? and it just so happens that majority of Christians and Muslims don’t have these crazy reincarnation stories but a few Buddhists do?

My bf and his siblings aren’t religious by the way. Never really exposed much to it.

Any scientific or even spiritual explanation as to why would someone be so strongly convinced of this? Or even the other guy who was so traumatized with tortured memories?