How do I know if I'm born again?

[misslollipops]

Proverbs 18:2 NIV

“A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions”

Maybe you should open your bible, Misslollipops. Or better yet, go online and read the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

I have a cathechism and Canon law sitting right in front of me. Along with my sword of course!
You can’t really be in a conversation like this without a bible in front of you and expect to be taken seriously. Can you?

 

[Mt_28_19_20]

You asked about the difference between a person’s carnal life and spiritual life. That’s the question I answered. The assumption which is leading you astray is that being born again produces immediate tangible fruits, and that once born again those tangible fruits persist continuously for the rest of one’s life.

As to what cannot happen as an infant, I guess you’re ignoring the case of John the Baptist.

Good point about expecting immediate tangible fruits, especially for infants
Though, I’m sure you and others might cite verses pertaining to what is expected of those past the age of reason:
Mt 3:8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;”
Mt 7:16 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?”
Mt 7:19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Perhaps some may see Jn 15:2 as pertinent to infant baptism and what to expect as a sign of truly being born again once the child has reached the age of reason:
Jn 15:2 ""Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
Do Catholic parents know which children will fall away after infant baptism? Unless they have a similar experience as Zacharias, with an angle telling him Lk 1:14-16 “You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.”

While Catholics and Protestants may disagree on certain points of baptism and being born of the spirit, the question in the OP is still very pertinent to any soul. Those who respond defensively or aggressively might not yet understand the importance and relevance of the question. I was baptised as a Catholic, and was uncomfortable when asked if I knew I was born again and if my words and actions in everyday life bore witness to the fruit of God’s grace and my cooperation and response to His grace and mercy.

Michael
Phil 4:4-9

 

[misslollipops]

His blood made me sinless.

.

His blood offers forgiveness not sinlessness.

 

[Mt_28_19_20]

Every person in a state of grace is holy. At this particular moment, I am in a state of grace. That means I am holy. Not free of temptation, not perfect (just ask my wife), but holy. I didn’t make myself holy. Jesus’ shed blood did that when I went received the sacrament of reconciliation last Saturday. He forgave my sins and removed them from me. My sins are gone. His blood made me sinless.

If I again fall into mortal sin, I won’t be holy anymore. If I then return to grace, I will again be holy. Not perfect. Just holy.

Excellent post! Thank you.

Mt 5:46-48 "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The first verse is important as well in regards to how we respond to those who disagree with us.

Michael
Phil 4:4-9

 

[Gamera]

His blood offers forgiveness not sinlessness.

No, that’s another error from the Reformation.

“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God,” 1 Cor. 6:11.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool,” Isaiah 1:18.

 

[ChrisWRIT]

I tend to lean on 2tim3:16-17

If that were true, I don’t see how she can persist in ignoring all of the scripture that has been handed to her & disagrees with her position.


Chris

 

[Mt_28_19_20]

His blood offers forgiveness not sinlessness.

Let’s be careful not to say something that implies diminishing the effect of Jesus’ passion, death, and rising from the dead, and the effect of baptism, confession, and the forgiveness of our merciful Father.

Acts 22:16 "‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

Michael
Phil 4:4-9

 

[heisenburg]

I thought we were cleansed with the blood of Christ?

Cleansed means cleaned, removal of grim and grit…

What is the grime and grit in scripture? Sin

Therefore, his blood makes our souls sinless…

that is of course until we muck it up and sin again.

We are not just covered piles of dung as one Prominent protestant once said… we are completely cleansed…

In Christ

 

[misslollipops]

I thought we were cleansed with the blood of Christ?

Cleansed means cleaned, removal of grim and grit…

What is the grime and grit in scripture? Sin

Therefore, his blood makes our souls sinless…

that is of course until we muck it up and sin again.

We are not just covered piles of dung as one Prominent protestant once said… we are completely cleansed…

In Christ

When we repent all our past sins including original and personal are washed away. But it doesn’t mean we will not sin in the future.
From the point of Salvation we are clean but our flesh will cause us to sin in the future. Rom7

 

[Teflon93]

I have a cathechism and Canon law sitting right in front of me. Along with my sword of course!
You can’t really be in a conversation like this without a bible in front of you and expect to be taken seriously. Can you?

No, you can’t.

It also helps to argue Scripture in context, which is why I’ve developed the habit of quoting whole chapters rather than individual verses.

You have a copy of canon law? I have it electronically, but I have to admit occasion doesn’t arise very often to refer to it, even here.

I would recommend reading the Catechism extensively on the sacraments and salvation, as I think you’d find it useful and helpful.

 

[Teflon93]

When we repent all our past sins including original and personal are washed away. But it doesn’t mean we will not sin in the future.
From the point of Salvation we are clean but our flesh will cause us to sin in the future. Rom7

Original sin, since it is not a choice but a birthright, is not washed away by repentance. One cannot wish away a birth defect. Baptism washes it away.

Personal sin does require repentance.

It is not the flesh which causes sin (that’s a Gnostic heresy), but the will. Christ was made flesh, and still did not sin.

 

[misslollipops]

Those declared Saints in heaven are holy. All will be holy when they reach heaven, for no sin can enter there.

You may not use the word that way, but that is not the common definition. So, if you use it that way without explanation, you will not be communicating effectively with us.

In the OT, God called the people of Israel to be holy or set apart or separate from the people of the world.
This was one of the reasons He gave them such strict dietary laws. So the could be set apart or holy. 2cor6:17

 

[Mt_28_19_20]

So far you have said to me three times that you and your wife read a chapter a night. I don’t mean to be rude. But that is not a heck of a lot of bible time.

Actually, a chapter a night can be a significant amount of Scripture time, especially when prayerfully and reflectively reading. Doing so consistently is admirable, and what any good Bible Christian should be doing, so not sure why that should not be looked at favorably. Someone who reads three chapters a night doesn’t necessarily get more insight or understanding if they race through it, than someone who reads one chapter a night with their spouse. Imagine if all married Catholics and Protestants would follow this example, especially if they do so with their children!

Michael
Phil 4:4-9

 

[Teflon93]

In the OT, God called the people of Israel to be holy or set apart or separate from the people of the world.
This was one of the reasons He gave them such strict dietary laws. So the could be set apart or holy. 2cor6:17

So are all the world’s children set apart or holy today?

 

[misslollipops]

Personal sin does require repentance.

It is not the flesh which causes sin (that’s a Gnostic heresy), but the will. Christ was made flesh, and still did not sin.

What book are you reading?
I never heard such things.
Rom7:5
Rom8:3
Rom 8:5
Rom8:7
Rom8:8

If you don’t think your personal sin needs repentanceyou are headed for serious judgement 2cor5:9-11 among others

 

[misslollipops]

No, you can’t.

It also helps to argue Scripture in context, which is why I’ve developed the habit of quoting whole chapters rather than individual verses.

You have a copy of canon law? I have it electronically, but I have to admit occasion doesn’t arise very often to refer to it, even here.

I would recommend reading the Catechism extensively on the sacraments and salvation, as I think you’d find it useful and helpful.

I have used canon law on this site when refering to the pope on another thread

 

[maurin]

What book are you reading?
I never heard such things.
Rom7:5
Rom8:3
Rom 8:5
Rom8:7
Rom8:8

If you don’t think your personal sin needs repentanceyou are headed for serious judgement 2cor5:9-11 among others

actually, which post were you reading? He said the exact opposite of what you are responding to.

 

[misslollipops]

So are all the world’s children set apart or holy today?

I don’t know.Bible says children of a believing spouse are holy. Don’t know about the rest.

 

[Jaypeeto4]

One reason that you can’t be born again as an infant is you have no idea of the sin nature when you are an infant.

There are even protestant denominations which would disagree with what you have said here. You can be born again at any age, infancy, young childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age.

If babies are not “able” to be born again,
then every baby who dies dies UNregenerate and is
therefore damned to eternal hell, including the dead babies
of YOUR fundamentalist brothers and sisters.

Born again means being re-generated by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is normally accomplished at baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity. God, however, is bound TO his sacraments, but not bound BY them, that is why some people are born again without the formal sacrament of baptism (baptism of desire, etc).

You can know that you are re-generate, or born again,
if you
a) believe Jesus Christ is God the Son of God and
that God raised him from the dead.
b) love Christ with all your heart and have repented
of Sin.
c) have an active spiritual life in Christ.
d) practice the virtues or “fruitage” of the Holy Spirit.
e) delight in spiritual things, especially prayer, scripture, the sacraments.
f) experience the help of the Spirit when studying
deep doctrinal matters (for example, studying
a good book on Holy Communion such as
WORTHY IS THE LAMB by Thomas Nash,
and understanding the spiritual truth of what you read).
(( This is so, because the unregenerate “natural” man does
not receive the deep things of God, for they are considered
foolish by the unregenerate man, for they are SPIRITUALLY
discerned. ))

In all of these and other ways, you can discern that you have been re-born by the Holy Spirit. And the greatest of the virtues
is that you
a) Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and
b) Genuinely love your neighbor just as you love yourself.

Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+

 

[Mt_28_19_20]

Catholics believe what you have written here - we believe that by the Sacrament of Baptism we are born again…just as it states in the Bible when Jesus was explaining this to Nicodemus. The Sacrament of Baptism removes the stain of original sin, a wound we inherited from the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve.

Salvation is something all Christians hope to achieve. It is never guaranteed. For as Christ stated, not all who say 'Lord Lord" will enter into eternal glory. And as St. Paul stated so eloquently, we must perservere to the end, ‘run the race’ so to speak. It is important to remember that even he spoke of his sinful nature when he described his frustration with what he wants to do and what he does.

Catholics recognize that because of our fallen nature, or concupiscence, we will sin again during our lifetimes. That is why Christ, in establishing His Church, gave the power to ‘bind and loose’ to the Apostles, a power that is passed down to our priests through the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

One very important aspect of achieving eternal life is to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ. Anyone who fails to do so runs the risk of not achieving eternal salvation.

All this is stated quite clearly in Holy Scripture.

Excellent post! Thank you.