Born Again? Enlighten me!

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Fieryjades

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As a Catholic, I’ve heard the phrase “born again” (cf. John 3 and 1 Peter 1:23) tossed around by Protestants/Evangelicals, but what does it mean? Discuss and enlighten me!
 
To be “born again” is the term that Evangelical Protestants use to describe the act of salvation. It’s what Catholics understand happens during baptism.

BTW, I don’t know if you were intentionally making a pun, but early Christians referred to being baptised as being “enlightened.”

Peace.
 
Born again is used to clarify the term Christian, because some people use ‘Christian’ as a social (as opposed to religious)term that does not imply any faith on the part of the individual. Just what you might put on a survey:as, check one: Christian, Jewish, or Moslem.
Born again means that you have *personally *decided to trust in & follow Jesus Christ instead of trying to be a 'respectable but nonreligious person.(Or a ‘religious’ but unbelieveing person, for that matter…) It means that at some point, you realize that your parents, your grandparents, being believers is not enough. You take a stand for yourself.
I would say it is less like (infant)baptism than like confirmation. You become a believer in your own right. Some people have a big dramatic moment of conversion (like the apostle Paul). Others grow into it…
You probably know lots of people that are born again & don’t call it that! Some call it making a decision to follow Christ. St Teresa talks about her “2nd conversion”; John Wesley said his “heart was strangely warmed…and I knew I did trust Christ”…
 
I’ve been posting on another forum and thought I’d ask it here. Naturally, the discussion lead to baptism (cf. John 3:5) and these Protestants (not sure what denomination, maybe non-denominational) believe that the Bible tells us that baptism is not required for salvation but optional encouraged practice.

What do you think of this? Enlighten me!
 
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Fieryjades:
I’ve been posting on another forum and thought I’d ask it here. Naturally, the discussion lead to baptism (cf. John 3:5) and these Protestants (not sure what denomination, maybe non-denominational) believe that the Bible tells us that baptism is not required for salvation but optional encouraged practice.

What do you think of this? Enlighten me!
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Well, the *effect *of being born again is what I mentioned earlier.
With that said, Evangelical Protestants pack additional meaning into the term. They would say:
  1. It has nothing to do with baptism. If you want to research their error on this, see some of Karl Keatings tracts under the “Library” section of catholic.com. Look under Sacraments and Salvation
    catholic.com/library/sacraments.asp
    catholic.com/library/salvation.asp
    The first tract under salvation is called “Are Catholics Born Again” (Hint: yes).
  2. It requires a conscious decision (no way for an infant to be born again).
  3. Usually they will say then that salvation cannot be lost once one is born again.
 
Hi,

I don’t know how a Christian would get around
Matt.28:19 It is a literal command on the
part of Jesus.

Just a thought.

reen12
 
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Fieryjades:
I’ve been posting on another forum and thought I’d ask it here. Naturally, the discussion lead to baptism (cf. John 3:5) and these Protestants (not sure what denomination, maybe non-denominational) believe that the Bible tells us that baptism is not required for salvation but optional encouraged practice. What do you think of this? Enlighten me!
Click to expand...
Jesus tells Nicodemus that unless one is “born again” of water AND the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Seems to me that water baptism is pretty important and is normally necessary in addition to chosing under the influence of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus. In infant Baptism our parents make that choice for us just as they do for a lot of other choices until we are old enough to make our own choices. To hold that a choice made for us by a parent is invalid is nothing but pig headed foolishness. They do it all the time.
 
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