When speaking of the christian faith, "what does the bible REALLY teach about being "born again?"

Question

Many passages in the bible have truly been 'misinterpreted', and several in the 3rd chapter of the Gospel of John, (concerning 'being born again'), certainly have been. -

Answer 1

"In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man."

John 3:3-13

That being born again was the normal spiritual experience of first century Christians is clear from the writings of apostles:

"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior"
Titus 3:4-6

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead"

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
I Peter 1: 3,23

"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.

I John 3:9-10; 5:1,4,18

Being born again is normal New Testament Christianity.
Anything less is just dead religion.

Answer 2

Sorry, I know I don't particularly fit into any of your categories... 1) I'm not against the Mormon faith. 2) I couldn't possibly say for certain whether you "really" believed or not. Only you and God can determine that. 3) Ok, well, I probably do fit this one.... I agree with you- the Born-Again ideology has a "fatal flaw"... Either you really believed or you didn't. Either you were saved or you weren't. The thing is, like I said, the only two people in the entire universe who can determine whether you really believed all those years ago are yourself and God Himself. Since He's not exactly available to ask, we (the rest of the world), must rely on your own words- so, you truly believed. Ok, either they're wrong- you were, are, and never really were saved, or they're wrong- you really are saved, didn't need to join up with the Mormons.... Yeah, their logic has a fatal flaw.

Answer 3

I don't see how anyone can be confused. It clearly states:
in John 3:3 "I say to you, unless one is born again he can not seek the kingdom of God" John 3:5 " I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In Ephesians 4:5 it clearly states there is only One baptism "one Lord, one faith, one baptism. In Matthew 3:16 and Mark 1:10 it states how " Jesus came UP immediately from the water or immediately coming UP out of the water" this means totally immersed.

Answer 4

The Bible does say clearly that you must be born again in John 3:7.
Romans 3:23
Romans 6:23
John3:3
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:15

You need to acknowledge that you are a sinner.
Ask God to forgive you of your sins.
Trust in Christ and surrender your life to Him.
Invite Jesus to come and live in your heart.

Good luck and God bless!!!

Answer 5

Being born again is simply being baptized by water, religion has misinterpreted the whole concept of being born again, they have exaggerated and misled the vary teachings of Christ, as a catholic I have found the bible to be a simple message, but religion has taken it totally out of context and has interpreted it for personal wealth and power.

Answer 6

To be born again is not some trivial change in beliefs, like many Christians profess. To be born again means to die to the life that you once had, to be changed in such a way that even people who have known you all your life only recognize you physically. What Jesus referred to as born again was the experience that he had in the desert. He was suddenly and profoundly changed, and from that moment on his life took a new direction. His pronouncements about being born again are meant to distinguish between following religious teaching that only gives lip service to god and actually experiencing god the way Jesus did. We are all god's children, and none are barred from the kingdom of heaven, no matter what beliefs one may hold, but our beliefs may prevent us from experiencing god. That is the importance of being born again, letting go of what you believe in order to find the truth. It has nothing to do with belief in Jesus as the only son of god, as a matter of fact, that belief hides the true face of god.

Answer 7

It means born again through baptism and not some secret little prayer. If you believe-- you will do what he says--like Abraham believed and then cooperated --- you must become baptized. When the Apostles, on Pentecost, spoke out bravely on the veranda of the upper room several people heard and they were cut to the heart and asked "What must we do?" The Apostles said "REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED" they did not say ok say this little prayer and everything will be ok.

Answer 8

Being "Born Again" means accepting Jesus as your personal savior and dieing to yourself and hence being born again a new person who is a christian with a different outlook on life.

Answer 9

Acts 2: 38 born again is repenting then being Baptized in Jesus Name, then filled with the Holy Ghost!

Answer 10

Taken a few hermeneutics classes? Greek perhaps?

What makes you believe that the passages in John 3 have been misinterpreted?

Here's John 3:3 in the Greek: "απεκριθη ιησους και ειπεν αυτω αμην αμην λεγω σοι εαν μη τις γεννηθη ανωθεν ου δυναται ιδειν την βασιλειαν του θεου."

In the Literal Bible (in English laguage, but Greek sentence structure) it reads like this (including Strong's numbers for cross reference):

|0611| answered
|2424| Jesus
|2532| and
|2036| said
|0846| to him,
|0281| Truly,
|0281| truly,
|3004| I say
|4671| to you,
|3362| Except
|5100| one
|1080| receive birth
|0509| from above,
|3756| not
|1410| he is able
|1492| to see
|3588| the
|0932| kingdom
|3588| of
|2316| God!

Notice that the term "from above" is the Greek word "anothen" (Pronounced an'-o-then). It is Strong's Reference # 509, and is derived from GSN0507, meaning "from above;" by analogy, from the first; by implication, anew.

It seems fairly self-explanatory to me. Jesus even continued in John 3:5, that you must be born of the Spirit. Rather conclusive, I'd say.