Maybe "Being Born Again" Isn't What You Think
What Does It Mean to be "Born Again"?, Part 1
June 29th, 1969.
Dr Robert Basler held a baby up and declared…
“It's a boy!!
Yes, that baby was me. And apparently, I was quite loud.
This month I will celebrate that day for the 55th time. As I reflect on my life, it's amazing how much things have changed for me over the years.
So many memories…
Learning to ride a bicycle for the first time
Learning to drive a car
First job
First date
First academic award
First-time human guardian for a cat
First-time homeowner
First-time human guardian for a dog
Starting my first business
Each of those memories represents a milestone that expanded my horizon in previously unimaginable ways. And, with each one I grew as a human being.
From “It's a boy” to “It's an adolescent” to “It's a man”.
How many birthdays do you need?
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
–John 3.3 (NRSVUE)
When I hear Christians talk about being “born again”, they are usually evangelicals or fundamentalists. Generally speaking, what they mean by “born again” is “coming to faith”. They believe it’s the Holy Spirit that empowers one to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, and once they have been born again, they become saved and inherit eternal life.
More charismatic evangelicals might even go farther and say that being born again happens when one manifests the power of the Holy Spirit specifically by praying in tongues. Until one prays in tongues, one has not been born again, and thus one is not saved. But that’s a more extreme interpretation.
For both evangelicals and fundamentalists, baptism is a symbol of this rebirth. This is why evangelicals typically say that baptism should not happen until a young person is around the age 13, which is the presumed age at which they finally have the capacity to make such lifelong decisions. Having manifested the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives through a declaration of faith, this baptism by water ritualizes that spiritual rebirth.
For what it's worth, I don't buy it.
I don't believe this is ultimately what “being born again” is all about. I don’t doubt that some people have intense conversion experiences to Christianity, or that these conversions can become foundational events in their lives. What I doubt is the significance of these conversion experiences as being the singular born-again event.
I think this idea of being born again is better understood as a spiritual maturation process.
I emphasize process rather than event. For those who have profound conversion experiences, I see those events as one (albeit significant) milestone in their lives among many, and each of those opens a new spiritual horizon for them.
Changing the question
The moment you start to think of being born again as a process rather than an event, it’s the moment that you shift from the question “Are you born again?” to ”To what extent are you born again?”
This new question changes the criteria for measurement. Before the shift, measuring whether one has been born again depended upon a singular, observable sign of a conversion event (such as a profession of faith or speaking in tongues). Now, however, it’s about the quality of your character. In other words, it ceases to be about who you say you are and more about who you are becoming as a person.
This is where the fruit of the spirit comes in. The evidence of continually being born again is found in the identifiable personal transformation of your character.
When someone grows spiritually—and I mean truly grows—that causes a noticeable wake that affects the lives of those around them. This month I will explore ways that we see this fruitful transformation unfold and how that changes the way we relate to the world around us. I hope you will join me for the journey.
Peace, Bo
www.evolvingchristianfaith.net
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Being born into a new life through the Spirit is real; but I do not, and will not believe in the Southern Baptist mantra "once saved, always saved." That was just a nice little refrain for the 18th and 19th slaveholders to do terrible things to their slaves and claim they were still Jesus' little pure lambs.
Yes, I consider it incredibly problematic because it rejects any sense of accountability for harmful behavior. It doesn't matter how bad you are to others, you still get the greatest blessing of all: heaven! Meanwhile, you can know that all those other people who are not a real Christians (tm) who are trying to establish boundaries on your behavior to protect others from you are going to burn in hell. Indeed, an ncredibly problematic theology.