To me, the idea of reincarnation stems largely from the environment that the religion grew up in... In Asia and Europe, while many of the world religions were forming, there were very few deserts. In the Middle East, where Christianity gets its roots, there was very little other than desert. This is also where the split between monotheism and polytheism happened. Typically, religions started by attributing the sun to their primary god, and the 'lesser' gods controlled the other aspects of life. In a lush environment, the presence or absence of the sun would certainly be notable, but it did not change people's daily lives, as there were plenty of other ways for a man to die. In the desert, however, if one did not respect the sun, it meant certain death... The god/sun of Abraham was a most cruel god/sun indeed.
Back to reincarnation... in lush regions, if something died, it would soon be replaced the next season. Cows had calves. Plants regrew. All sorts of life went in very neat, predictable cycles. In the desert, however, if something died, there was never a guarantee that it would be replaced... Death was all too often a very final event, and not just for a single person.
In the Abrahamic religions, though, water was often the key to rebirth, as well as a symbol of the afterlife... I think only the Martians hold water in higher regard.
(For the confused, read Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein.) Baptism, being fully immersed in the afterlife (water) and coming back whole, was a deeply spiritual event for these people... It deserves its own study and praise until fullness of knowledge is attained.
The Abrahamic idea of only one chance at life reflects perfectly the hard nature of these people's environment... Whether that is a flaw or not is purely subjective, owing only to the circumstances which a person finds themselves in.
The very Christian idea of forgiveness, though, is also unique in the Abrahamic branch. Buddha taught a person to not accept insults... After all, if a man gives you a gift, and you do not accept it, to whom does that gift belong? Jesus taught his followers to turn the other cheek; to accept the 'gift,' but then to lay it down, so that nobody owns it. Even Neo-Paganism, the youngest and oldest of religions, does not have forgiveness to the extent that the Christians have, because of the view of the earth as a closed system. Again, whether that is a flaw or not is purely subjective.
If we take the sacrifice of Jesus as literally taking on sins, then forgiveness becomes the key to Christian reincarnation. More figuratively, Jesus' sacrifice is the epitome of forgiveness, even for those who killed him, and that led him to reincarnation in the form of a religious icon.