Why are Christians referred to as "born-agains" in the New York metro area?

Question

I grew up in Indiana and visited different states but really not much east or north of Pennsylvania(i.e., Northeast).
My parents would visit different churches when we were on vacation.
I moved to Long Island 7 years ago and right away my girlfriend's family referred to me as a "born-again" and equated me the same way as my parents referred to Jehovah's Witnesses.
My ultimate question is because I have never heard Christians referred to as "born-agains" anywhere until I moved here.
Can anyone explain why this is like this? Nowhere else have I heard this label.

Born-agains here(in NY) are viewed in a much harsher light than people who term themselves "just" Christians or Catholics.

Answer 1

I live in Illinois and hear it all the time.....

Answer 2

At the heart of the Christian message are some verses in John's Gospel Chapter 3 where Jesus says in verse 3 "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God."....What do you mean? exclaimed Nicodemus (a Jewish leader), 'How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" Jesus replied "The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. Being a Christian means to be a follower of Jesus. By his sacrificial death on the cross for your sin and mine, He made it possible for us to have a relationship with Himself. If we ask Jesus to forgive us our sin, and come into our life, He will - we then have a relationship with Him. This is what is meant by being 'born again'.

For me in a simple prayer, I asked Jesus to forgive, save and control my life. I became under new management. God works in the heart of a really 'born again' person. He changes us through daily Bible reading and personal prayer, which is very exciting. He guides our lives, for another verse in the Bible says, 'I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Genuine Christian conversion produces a changed heart. Cleansed from sin and renewed, that heart begins to beat for God. Anyone turning from sin to Jesus Christ is 'a new creation'. The Bible adds that 'old things have passed away' and 'all things have become new'. Billions have found it so!

Answer 3

A born-again Christian is basically this when a person realizes that they are a sinner and they pray the lords prayer they become born-again. Not in the physical sense but when you give your life to the lord you start a brand-new life witnessing and living for god. [ so in a sense you have been reborn with a new life] Its just a term christians use for someone who has accepeted christ as their savior.

Answer 4

Maybe because Jesus told Nicodemus in the gospel of John, 3rd chapter, that he had to be born again which means born from above.

Answer 5

Born again is a term used primarily in the Fundamentalist, Evangelical, and Pentecostal branches of Protestant Christianity, where it is associated with salvation, conversion and spiritual rebirth. Outside of these circles, the term is often applied by extension to other phenomena, including a transcending personal experience — or the experience of being spiritually reborn as a "new" human being.

To be born again in Christianity is synonymous with spiritual rebirth and, in many denominational traditions, salvation. The term is used somewhat differently in different Christian traditions.

The Christian use of the term is derived from the third chapter of the Gospel of John, where Nicodemus visits Jesus:

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God."
Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit."
-John 3:1-5 (New Revised Standard Version)
(Note that some translators consider "born from above" to be a better translation than "born again".)
Most Christian denominations hold that a person must be born again in some sense in order to be a Christian, and thus that all who are true Christians are in fact born again, whether they describe themselves as such or not. The Roman Catholic church, for example, considers that "Baptism is ... the sacrament by which we are born again of water and the Holy Ghost." [1], though the term is not frequently used by Catholics. This is also the belief held by Eastern Christianity, Anglicanism, and Lutheranism, among other Christian traditions. However, the term itself is most frequently used by Fundamentalist, Pentecostal, and Evangelical Protestants, where it is often associated with an intense conversion experience and an encounter of the individual with the power of God. Many Christians who are "born again" in this sense deny that those without such an experience are true Christians.

The idea of being born again carries with it the theological idea that a Christian is a new creation, given a fresh start by the action of God, freed from a sinful past life and able to begin a new life in relationship with Christ via the Holy Spirit. John Wesley and Christians associated with early Methodism referred to the born again experience as "the New Birth".

In recent history, born again is a term that has been associated with evangelical renewal since the late 1960s, first in the United States and then later around the world. Associated perhaps initially with Jesus People and the Christian counterculture, born again came to refer to an intense conversion experience, and was increasingly used as a term to identify devout believers. By the mid 1970s, born again Christians were increasingly referred to in the mainstream media as part of the Born Again Movement. A 1976 book of that title by Watergate conspirator Charles Colson, describing his path to faith in conjunction with his criminal imprisonment, played a significant role in solidifying Born Again identity as a cultural construct in the U.S. The term was sufficiently prevalent that, during that year's Presidential campaign, Jimmy Carter described himself as born again, notably in the first Playboy magazine interview of a U.S. Presidential candidate.

Answer 6

If "Born-agains" do not like the nickname, they themselves should propagate a more preferable one. Others who attempt to follow the teachings of Christ are unlikely to decide that the biblical title no longer describes their worship.

Answer 7

Maybe all true Christians are born again. Jesus said you must be born again to enter the Kingdom.

Answer 8

Born-again is nothing makes sense with chruches or with yehovah witness... it near to heart with a purified soul... that u are not going back to ur old sins.... it should be with u and the observer... thats why they call 'born-again'.. so ''born-again in Christ'' is with soul and with ur observer..

Answer 9

Just another term to use to try to break free from the bad image the word "Christian" has come to have. A few people here in my area call themselves that and that's basically the reason they gave for it. (Northern KY here)