Help with John chapter 3

[stephen4488]

I always here you have to be “born again” And honestly some “born agains” are to shove down your throat type.

What did Jesus mean? I read it a few times but how do you get born again? I was raised Catholic and am still catholic, I believe everything we are taught about Christ. So am I “born again”?

I’m confused. help

 

[soonfathermauro]

Well you must remember something. The Protestents take a lot of catholic ideas and twist and bend it so it looks like their idea being born again all that means is that you become baptized into the faith and recieve a new spirit without oringinal sin ergo “born again” sprirtualy anyway so if you are baptized everything is cool
peace and blessings
Mauro

 

[BaRt_SVD]

What did Jesus mean? I read it a few times but how do you get born again? I was raised Catholic and am still catholic, I believe everything we are taught about Christ. So am I “born again”?

I’m confused. help

At first we should always keep the context. In the John’s Gospel Jesus said it to Nicodemus. That was meat he must believe that Jesus is the Messiah (does mean Christ=Saviour).

And from this context. We always need believe deeply. That means for you and me: we must chose Jesus every day as a Saviour to fulfil our faith.

In my own language (polish) we have beautiful poem about faith. Here I have put just some piece of this poem:

I know this, and no more revelations
Neither eyes nor my ears are demanding;
Having once made a choice for ever,
I must choose anew every moment.

Bless!

 

[Nita]

I always here you have to be “born again” And honestly some “born agains” are to shove down your throat type.

What did Jesus mean?

Jesus means that in addition to being physically born, we need to be supernaturally born; our souls need to receive the supernatural life of God.
The word often translated “again”, is also translated “from above” and “anew”.

I read it a few times but how do you get born again?

The ordinary way to receive this supernatural life (sanctifying grace) is in Baptism. In Baptism, the Holy Spirit indwells us and infuses our souls with the life of grace and we are born from above - just as John 3 says; “…born of water and the Spirit…”

I was raised Catholic and am still catholic, I believe everything we are taught about Christ. So am I “born again”?

I’m confused. help

Yes, you were born again when you were baptized - the supernatural life of grace was infused into your soul. But we can lose the supernatural life of grace if we commit serious/mortal sin. To be restored to the life of grace, we must repent of the sin and confess it to a priest in Confession.

This is what our Church teaches. However, it is usually not what is believed by those who tend to ask “Have you been /born again/saved?” Most of those faiths have no concept of sanctifying grace in their theology. Also, they are more likely to consider that being born again happens when one “accepts Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior”. Hence there is no being “born again” by infants. Baptism is more likely to be viewed as only a symbol that one does later - after being saved through their accepting of Jesus as their personal savior.

Nita

 

[ricko]

Hi Stephen, you got all great answers. I might add that all Catholics are born again. Nita gave some good points about what the Protestants think. Soonfather was right on when he said everything is cool.
If you want to learn more about your faith these forums are a good start but also go to Catholic Answers home and read some of their material which is very good and explains much. If you looking for a topic and can’t find it just use the search in the upper L/H. Any questions? We’re always here. God Bless

 

[MaHeRsHaLaL]

There is no ambiguity in Jesus words in this scripture. All mankind must be born of water and of the spirit.
This makes sense since all have sinned and fallen short.
It also makes sense since Christ himself was baptized “…to fulfill all righteousness.”
Also note all the scriptures that tell us “repent and be baptized” They are everywhere in the new testament.