L
lou11
Guest
Many Christians, and even non-Christians, claim to be born again. But what does this really mean? As a person that believes to be born again, I can relate my experience with this phenomenon and how it has affected me. I started out as a thoroughgoing skeptic, thinking that anyone that believed the Bible to be literally true was either an idiot or in some way mentally deranged. I rested in the assurance that the scientific community had validated evolution as the best explanation for how we got here and subsequently developed into what we are. At the wise old age of thirteen or fourteen I rejected the Christianity my mother taught me. I concluded at that time that, since there were so many variants of the faith, they must all be wrong. I continued in this mindset through college and as an engineer to the age of forty-two when I was challenged by some individuals regarding the validity of evolution as a theory of beginnings. I spent a year or more reading and studying the case against evolution and was forced to conclude that it fell far short of explaining anything. I realized that the incredibly complex world we live in could never have come about accidentally. It was designed by a designer whose qualifications could only be met by the kind of person the Bible speaks of as God.
That put me back to ground zero, back where I was when I rejected the God concept. I thought, could I have been wrong all these years? I didn’t want to be wrong; no one wants to divest himself from the kind of investment in error I had made and built on for two decades. But what could I do? I looked at the world around me, I looked at my own being, and I could not find any explanation other than that the Bible was true. I spent much time thinking about why this conclusion was so obvious to me and yet did not convince my friends and work associates. The answer to that question did not gel until several years later when Christ’s words to Nicodemus finally registered. He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.†What it took me so long to realize was that this didn’t just mean this man couldn’t enter into the kingdom of God but that he also literally couldn’t see it. The entire spiritual realm is invisible to anyone that hasn’t been born again, or as Christ said “born of the Spirit.†He cannot bring himself to consider even the possibility of a spiritual existence. His mind won’t go there. It is only after one has been born of the Spirit, when the Spirit of God indwells the person, that he can rationally consider God as an actual living person. My friends and associates really tried to see my point of view but it never made any sense to them. They were much more comfortable with the idea that, even though they couldn’t explain the physical reality around them, one day it would be explained and they were certain that that explanation would not include God or any sort of spiritual beings. This, even though with any depth of thought it is obvious that this world and everything in it could not only not have come into being accidentally but must have originated from outside of itself. Machines cannot create themselves, nor could the physical reality have arisen out of itself. Something like a spiritual realm must exist for the existence of the physical to make any kind of sense. But as Christ said, we cannot see into that realm until we’ve been born again.
How then does one become born again? The generally accepted view is that it happens after the person accepts Christ and invites him into his heart. But how can he accept Christ if he can’t even see or begin to allow the existence of the God of the Bible? He cannot do so rationally and honestly. He must first be born again and then, having seen the truth of God’s kingdom, he can respond with love, gratitude and submission to Christ as his Lord and Master. This is what the Bible teaches: Christ chooses us; we do not choose Him. We love Him because He first loved us. Unfortunately, this does not sit well with too many professing Christians. They don’t like the idea of salvation being totally of grace. They want to believe either with ancient Pelagius that man can save himself or with Arminius’ compromise position that, while man may not be able to save himself, neither can God save him without his permission. But Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that we are saved by grace through faith and that even that faith is not of ourselves but is the gift of God. That gift comes in the form of God Himself, God the Holy Spirit coming to live within each of His chosen men and women. The free offer of the Gospel, as proclaimed in John 3:16, declares that everyone that believes has eternal life. But the only ones that truly believe are those that God has chosen and caused to be born again.
In the Garden after the Fall we saw the reverse process, that of spiritual death, take place. As Eve told the Serpent, God said that the day they eat of the forbidden fruit they would surely die. Well they did eat but continued to live and have children for many years afterward. Did God speak falsely as the Serpent claimed? No, of course not, they did die that day but they died spiritually, not physically. And ever since then, every baby born, almost without exception, is born without the Holy Spirit and, as Christ said, is unable to see the kingdom of God. But because of Christ’s intercessory atonement, millions have been and are being born again today. We are told that the final number will be myriads upon myriads and, we are not told so, but even Adam and Eve may have also been born again.
Do you believe, believe in your heart of hearts, that the Bible is true, that God sent His Son to die in your place. If so, you have been born again. God has blessed you with the greatest gift anyone could ever receive. Thank Him for giving you the gift of faith. If you don’t believe, don’t despair; Christ has promised that he will never turn away anyone that comes to him in sincerity and in truth. He tells us that if you seek him with all your heart, you will surely find him. But then, you wouldn’t have even begun to seek him unless you had already been born again. That may seem somewhat convoluted but it really isn’t when you accept the fact that God is always in total control of everything.
That put me back to ground zero, back where I was when I rejected the God concept. I thought, could I have been wrong all these years? I didn’t want to be wrong; no one wants to divest himself from the kind of investment in error I had made and built on for two decades. But what could I do? I looked at the world around me, I looked at my own being, and I could not find any explanation other than that the Bible was true. I spent much time thinking about why this conclusion was so obvious to me and yet did not convince my friends and work associates. The answer to that question did not gel until several years later when Christ’s words to Nicodemus finally registered. He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.†What it took me so long to realize was that this didn’t just mean this man couldn’t enter into the kingdom of God but that he also literally couldn’t see it. The entire spiritual realm is invisible to anyone that hasn’t been born again, or as Christ said “born of the Spirit.†He cannot bring himself to consider even the possibility of a spiritual existence. His mind won’t go there. It is only after one has been born of the Spirit, when the Spirit of God indwells the person, that he can rationally consider God as an actual living person. My friends and associates really tried to see my point of view but it never made any sense to them. They were much more comfortable with the idea that, even though they couldn’t explain the physical reality around them, one day it would be explained and they were certain that that explanation would not include God or any sort of spiritual beings. This, even though with any depth of thought it is obvious that this world and everything in it could not only not have come into being accidentally but must have originated from outside of itself. Machines cannot create themselves, nor could the physical reality have arisen out of itself. Something like a spiritual realm must exist for the existence of the physical to make any kind of sense. But as Christ said, we cannot see into that realm until we’ve been born again.
How then does one become born again? The generally accepted view is that it happens after the person accepts Christ and invites him into his heart. But how can he accept Christ if he can’t even see or begin to allow the existence of the God of the Bible? He cannot do so rationally and honestly. He must first be born again and then, having seen the truth of God’s kingdom, he can respond with love, gratitude and submission to Christ as his Lord and Master. This is what the Bible teaches: Christ chooses us; we do not choose Him. We love Him because He first loved us. Unfortunately, this does not sit well with too many professing Christians. They don’t like the idea of salvation being totally of grace. They want to believe either with ancient Pelagius that man can save himself or with Arminius’ compromise position that, while man may not be able to save himself, neither can God save him without his permission. But Paul tells us in Ephesians 2 that we are saved by grace through faith and that even that faith is not of ourselves but is the gift of God. That gift comes in the form of God Himself, God the Holy Spirit coming to live within each of His chosen men and women. The free offer of the Gospel, as proclaimed in John 3:16, declares that everyone that believes has eternal life. But the only ones that truly believe are those that God has chosen and caused to be born again.
In the Garden after the Fall we saw the reverse process, that of spiritual death, take place. As Eve told the Serpent, God said that the day they eat of the forbidden fruit they would surely die. Well they did eat but continued to live and have children for many years afterward. Did God speak falsely as the Serpent claimed? No, of course not, they did die that day but they died spiritually, not physically. And ever since then, every baby born, almost without exception, is born without the Holy Spirit and, as Christ said, is unable to see the kingdom of God. But because of Christ’s intercessory atonement, millions have been and are being born again today. We are told that the final number will be myriads upon myriads and, we are not told so, but even Adam and Eve may have also been born again.
Do you believe, believe in your heart of hearts, that the Bible is true, that God sent His Son to die in your place. If so, you have been born again. God has blessed you with the greatest gift anyone could ever receive. Thank Him for giving you the gift of faith. If you don’t believe, don’t despair; Christ has promised that he will never turn away anyone that comes to him in sincerity and in truth. He tells us that if you seek him with all your heart, you will surely find him. But then, you wouldn’t have even begun to seek him unless you had already been born again. That may seem somewhat convoluted but it really isn’t when you accept the fact that God is always in total control of everything.
