(John 3:2) The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
(John 3:3) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
(John 3:4) Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
(John 3:5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of 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.
(John 3:7) Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
2007-08-05 08:13:12 · 11 answers · asked by reverendrichie 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I tried to be born again when I was 8, but I couldn't fit back in the vagina.
2007-08-05 08:16:38 · answer #1 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
Rebirth is a process by which you make changes to your inner being, your personality, your soul and spirit. It starts by an official baptism, which clears you of all your past sins. This can only be delivered to you by an authorized agent of God. This baptism serves as an appeal to God for a clean conscience. It is the beginning of a man's desire to serve God through sacrifice, fasting, prayer, reading and studying the Word of God, and avoiding all of the passions of the world. It is also a way of life, which was known in Jesus' time as "The Way."
Rebirth is a process that takes time, because it does take some time to get rid of all the corrupt bad habits and other sinful ways that we all pick up over the course of our lives.
And if Jesus told us that we must be reborn before we can enter the Kingdom of God, and that is your goal, and that is why you have posed this question to the masses, then bear in mind, that rebirth is much more than just uttering a few words and claiming you are reborn. It is ultimately a demonstration to God that you want to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, you want to live forever, and that you are willing to give up many of the things you do now for that opportunity.
How else can you prove to God that you are serious about your choice? It is certainly not with words.
It has been said - Actions speak louder than words."
and as it is written, "Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth."
Proverbs 1:22 How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge
2007-08-05 09:04:31 · answer #2 · answered by timesrchanging 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Even if Jesus had said "ye must be reborn spiritually", Nicodemus still would have asked what that meant, and Jesus still would have replied in the same way - that it means being reborn in the spirit through the waters of baptism. So it really doesn't matter which word Jesus used in the initial statement.
2016-05-19 07:37:28 · answer #3 · answered by kaila 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Born again symbolically meant to be dipped in the flowing waters of a river completely from head to foot and symbolically have all your sins washed away. In the Jewish tradition the mikvah or tub of a certain size is used for symbolic cleansing of your body and spirit. As human beings are physical, the spiritual dimension is played out in the physical World by letting water, the great cleaning agent in physical life be the cleanser of sins, symbolically, just as it cleans dirt and grime from your body.
Spiritually you would make a determination never to sin again. A combination of the two made you born again. This is an old Jewish tradition and has little to do with Jesus bringing it as a new concept. Thus Jesus himself was dipped in the water to symbolically cleanse his sins by John the Baptist.
It is interesting how misunderstandings of great men take lives of their own and are inculcated to the masses as the truth, but it is really lack of knowledge or misinterpretation of the context and circumstances of ordinary human beings.
2007-08-05 08:26:33 · answer #4 · answered by NQV 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Each person has a physical body and a spiritual body. Through making Jesus your personal savior and King, you are spiritually reborn as a believer and will be allowed into the kingdom of God.
2007-08-05 08:18:42 · answer #5 · answered by Gwen Z 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Man is essentially a spirit being. This is the highest and most noble part of a person and the part of us through which we can know and experience God.
The Bible clearly teaches every man has become spiritually dead, alienated and estranged from the Life of God through sin.
When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He died as the representative of the whole race of Adam. This is why He is referred to as the "last Adam" (I Corinthians 15:45). As the God appointed representative of the race, when Jesus died, He bore the entire evil inheritance due to Mankind upon Himself, and with His death, it died, and was buried. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He raised not only Jesus, but spiritually He raised everyone who would ever come into a relationship with God by faith in the operation of God through the resurrection of Jesus.
When we are willing to accept the testimony of God through the preaching of the Gospel, that we are sinners worthy of death, but that God Himself has in the person of Jesus Christ interposed to die in our place, then we become candidates for the grace of God. When we by faith call upon God to save us through the merits of Christ, the Holy Spirit performs a transforming work within us which is the second birth, or being born of the Spirit. This radically transforms the nature and changes one from being an enemy of God to a child of God; from being a hater of God to a lover of God; from being a rebel against God to a willing servant of God. It changes one from being a "son of Satan" to a child of God.
That is why it says:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
II Corinthians 5:17-21
I know these things to be true, because over 36 years ago, that is what happened to me.
2007-08-05 08:50:27 · answer #6 · answered by wefmeister 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He means "you must be baptised before you die if you are to be allowed into heaven", which is a bit of a final kick in the teeth to babies who are stillborn or die soon after they are born. What a caring, loving god his dad is eh?
2007-08-05 08:26:07 · answer #7 · answered by Jen . 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
He means ask forgiveness and change your ways.like a new born baby all fresh and new.
2007-08-05 08:27:15 · answer #8 · answered by dcrc93 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it means you have to accept jesus christ as ure personal savior if u don't u won't be able to go to heaven so think about it
2007-08-05 08:21:20 · answer #9 · answered by → ♥ ← 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
THis is correct it is as simple as it is put u must be purified some how
2007-08-07 04:45:59 · answer #10 · answered by lovesweetgirl! 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋