Question for Catholics?

Question

Not judging not questioning right or wrong and not trying to convert you into a different denomination outside of Catholicism.

John 3 Jesus speaks of being born again. What is your definition of being born again and by what process do you a Catholic believe a person becomes born again?

No links please...just your opinion

Answer 1

Catholics are spiritually born again (and again and again) through:
+ Belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior
+ Living the Gospel to the best of our ability
+ Daily rededicating ourselves to Jesus Christ
+ Receiving new life in Baptism
+ The forgiveness of sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation
+ The infusion of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands in Confirmation
+ Taking the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ into our bodies through the Eucharist (Holy Communion)
+ Even during the penitential season of Lent

These are a few ways that Catholics are spiritually born again. We usually just don't use those words.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Jesus answered that question pretty clearly. When He told Nicodemus "you must be born again", Nicodemus was confused because he thought Jesus was speaking about natural or biological birth. He therefore asked Jesus to clarify, and Jesus then told him that being born again does not mean natural birth, but means being born of WATER and the SPIRIT, an obvious reference to the holy sacrament of baptism. Baptism, properly understood, as it was understood by all Christians for 1,500 years after Christ, is spiritual rebirth. All the above replies, which are obviously not by Catholics, demonstrate the loss of this proper understanding in manmade denominational religion, where being "born again" no longer has anything to do with water, as Jesus described it, but has become a sort of mental exercise where you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior (a concept not found anywhere in Scripture). And baptism has become a mere human gesture, not a mighty work of God that transforms people and bestows grace.
.

Answer 3

In Catholic soteriology salvation is a process not a one time event. It starts with initial salvation when one drawn by the Holy Spirit surrenders to the law. Baptism and other sacraments bestow grace needed to endure in faith and complete the journey of sanctification. One must be born in water and Spirit according to St. John to be "born again". To the Catholic the state of the soul at death is more important because it has endured and run the race to final salvation.

In Christ
Fr. Joseph

Answer 4

"Being born again" ia sort of a metaphor-- if you take the Bible litterally, the meaning gets altered.

When you are born again, you will be born spiritually into the Kingdom of God. That's the simplest way I can think of putting it. I could go on forever and make this "rant of the year", but I'd rather keep it simple.

Answer 5

same as yous really. i am a born again catholic (i guess you could say).

being born again simply means accepting christ into your life an heart, and it can happen any time God allows, be it 4 years old after you had you first sunday school class, or 95 years old on your death bed.. it is a death to the worldly spirit, and birth to your eternal heavenly spirit

we really are not all that different than you buddy (contrary to what you may hear)...

Answer 6

We all become born again through baptism, these Evangelists are so out of touch with reality regarding the bible, I have listened to many of them on tv and radio, and they use this born again theory of theirs as a fear factor to pull people into their church all for the almighty dollar, we catholics do not buy their load of religious insane sh-it they dump on people, it truly is a bloody crime what they get away with.

Answer 7

Being born again means acquiring a new mindset where your thoughts and actions are consistent with the teachings of Jesus, that is, love your neighbour and forgive your enemies not out of fear but out of genuine love of humanity and God.

Answer 8

in my opinion, Confirmation is the way to "be Born Again." .. because you yourself, and no one else, can tell you to be Confirmed or not.

Baptism is usually done at birth.. there is no choice. but Confirmation.. there is. and in a sense, it's like being Born Again.

Answer 9

I am born again every time I receive the body and blood of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. There are many other times when I consider myself born again or renewed and regenerated but here is a more extensive explanation of what being "born again" really means.

One key Scripture reference to being "born again" or "regenerated" is John 3:5, where Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

This verse is so important that those who say baptism is just a symbol must deny that Jesus here refers to baptism. "Born again" Christians claim the "water" is the preached word of God.

But the early Christians uniformly identified this verse with baptism. Water baptism is the way, they said, that we are born again and receive new life—a fact that is supported elsewhere in Scripture (Rom. 6:3–4; Col. 2:12–13; Titus 3:5).

No Church Father referred to John 3:5 as anything other than water baptism.

Justin Martyr

"As many as are persuaded and believe that what we [Christians] teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, and instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father . . . and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit [Matt. 28:19], they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:3]" (First Apology 61 [A.D. 151]).

Irenaeus

"‘And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan’ [2 Kgs. 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’" (Fragment 34 [A.D. 190]).

Tertullian

"[N]o one can attain salvation without baptism, especially in view of the declaration of the Lord, who says, ‘Unless a man shall be born of water, he shall not have life’" (Baptism 12:1 [A.D. 203]).

Hippolytus

"The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and he, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the Spirit of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the laver he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism" (Discourse on the Holy Theophany 8 [A.D. 217]).
Peace and every blessing!