Are Catholics Born Again?

[De_Maria]

The Catholic Answers tract which this person addresses seems to be in error. To say that the term born again “may” not be in the Bible is to question the authority of the Magisterium which has defined it just that way in the Council of Trent.

Have any of you, when looking for the position of the Catholic Church on the matter of being born again, read the article “Are Catholics Born Again?” at catholic.com/library/are_catholics_born_again.asp?

If you have, as you noted the comment, “The term ‘born again’ may not appear in the Bible”, did it bother you that the term not only does appear in the Bible but is found in 1 Peter 1:3 and 23?

The author of the article may not be aware that the Catholic Church has defined that the Bible says born again.>>>Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5)
(See the Council of Trent, Session VI,
ewtn.com/library/councils/trent6.htm

What the author should have said is that the term has two meanings. Many words in the Bible have dual or even triple meanings and senses. That is Catholic Teaching:
scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s1c2a3.htm#115

Anyway, it is true that the word anothen means both “again” and “from above”.

To quote the article:

the term “born again” may not appear in the Bible. The Greek phrase often translated “born again” (gennatha anothen) occurs twice in the Bible—John 3:3 and 3:7—and there is a question of how it should be translated. The Greek word anothen sometimes can be translated “again,” but in the New Testament, it most often means “from above.” In the King James Version, the only two times it is translated “again” are in John 3:3 and 3:7; every other time it is given a different rendering. <<<

Here is the definition of anothen from the Blue Letter Bible

anothen {an’-o-then}
TDNT ReferenceRoot Word TDNT - 1:378,63 from 507 Part of Speech adv Outline of Biblical Usage 1) from above, from a higher place
a) of things which come from heaven or God
2) from the first, from the beginning, from the very first
3) anew, over again

In other words, the term gennatha anothen may be translated either “born again” or “born from above”.<<<<<

I’ve wondered whether this author can be taken seriously, you see. The article was provided with a nihil obstat and an imprimatur so the writer seems to be toeing the official line. How could he not know what the first Pope said on the subject?

If we discount that one slip. The rest seems to be correct

More especially though, the main point of the article is that it is through baptism that we are born again, not through, eg. responding to an invitation at an evangelistic meeting. If “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13) might I not also know the experience of rebirth by calling on him to me merciful to me, a sinner, just as the dying thief did and was with Jesus that day in paradise?

We consider our feelings fallible. We are fallen men after all. Sometimes we feel and experience of rebirth after having had too much to drink, or partaking in drugs or any other stimulating substance on the market.

But God comes to us in a breeze. Sometimes we are not aware of His Presence, but we must step in faith. We must believe in our hearts that which we can’t see with our eyes or feel with our senses.<<<

Hope it’s okay to ask this on my first day here.

I don’t see why not?

This question was asked and answered on the Coming Home Network.

chnetwork.org/forums/view_topic.php?id=416&forum_id=15&jump_to=2151#p2151

My point is, if the Catholic Answer tract is in error please correct it. If not, please explain it.<<<

Sincerely,

De Maria

 

[thistle]

What is wrong with the Catholics Answers article?
We are born twice. Once naturally from our mother and then born again in Christ when we are baptised.

 

[Orionthehunter]

In addition to Baptism, the Church has two sacraments of healing. Confession and Annointing of the Sick. And this healing renews us such we are “born again.” From the Catechism

1421 The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

Sacrament of Penance

1422 "Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion."4

1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus’ call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father5 from whom one has strayed by sin.

It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner’s personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

1427 Jesus calls to conversion. This call is an essential part of the proclamation of the kingdom: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” In the Church’s preaching this call is addressed first to those who do not yet know Christ and his Gospel. Also, Baptism is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion. It is by faith in the Gospel and by Baptism that one renounces evil and gains salvation, that is, the forgiveness of all sins and the gift of new life.

1428 Christ’s call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, “clasping sinners to her bosom, [is] at once holy and always in need of purification, [and] follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.” This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a “contrite heart,” drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.

1429 St. Peter’s conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus’ look of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord’s resurrection, a threefold affirmation of love for him. The second conversion also has a communitarian dimension, as is clear in the Lord’s call to a whole Church: “Repent!”

St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that, in the Church, “there are water and tears: the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance.”

Annointing of the Sick

1499 “By the sacred anointing of the sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ.”

Additionally, partaking of the Eucharist also contains an element of making us born again as it cleanses us from our venial sins.

1393 Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is “given up for us,” and the blood we drink “shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins.” For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time **cleansing us from past sins **and preserving us from future sins:

For as often as we eat this bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord. If we proclaim the Lord’s death, we proclaim the forgiveness of sins. If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.