Are Catholics “Born Again?”

Our parish has a Q&A feature in which staff members tackle the queries left in a comment box or e-mailed to the parish. I volunteered to reply to the question titled above:

The root of this principle is in John 3:3-5, and it reads:

Jesus said to (Nicodemus), “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?”
Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

Scripture scholars note that the Greek word ἄνωθεν (anothen) means both “from above” and “again.” Jesus seems to be referring to the first meaning, and Nicodemus seems to misinterpret the Lord, taking the second meaning.

Misunderstandings aside, the notion of being reborn in baptism, in “water and Spirit,” tells of the great significance of the sacrament, and of the commitment to the Christian life it implies. Jesus certainly preaches that those who wish to see and participate in the kingdom of God will experience such a momentous change in their lives, that the notion of a second birth is not an exaggeration.

Many Christians speak of being “born again,” as a graced event in which people, usually adults, experience the Lord in such a significant way that it’s like a whole new life for them. And ideally, this is what all Christians should experience when they commit themselves to Jesus Christ. The question might be raised: does it happen only once? Or is it possible, through a continuing conversion, to go progressively deeper into a Christian commitment to God? The witness of the saints might suggest that this continuing experience is the mark of a godly life.

In baptism, and even as infants, Catholics are “born again,” in the sense Jesus means: “being born of water and Spirit.” It’s no accident that the baptismal font at our parish was designed to suggest a tomb, and that in baptism we participate in death and rebirth, as Saint Paul describes, “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)

As a child grows, an openness to God’s grace is necessary. The same is true for adults. Baptism is not a magical event, and neither is the evangelical or charismatic experience of being “born again.” Each of these experiences is an opportunity for God’s grace to work in us. But we always have the freedom to choose: we can close ourselves off from divine grace, or we can cooperate with God’s will and live out a Christian life after being “born from above.”

Image Credit: painter Edward Tanner (1899), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.

The only problem with Christianity is sects/churches/cults. Why should any non-Christian consider converting to Christianity when Christians can’t agree on much? Why do we need Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists, and on and on? There should only be one Christian entity.

What percentage of Christian churches are fronts for moneygrubbing frauds? How does one tell the real from the frauds?

I’ve been born again. I don’t need a church to control my life, which seems to be the main goal as opposed to “saving” me. Christ lives in me every day, I don’t need a church to tell me how to live.

Until about 8 years ago, I experienced a physical healing from liver cancer, which lead to a rapid spiritual maturity over a period of 5 or so months. It was more profound then my physical healing was. I understand something that's so simple, yet took me over 25 years to finally get. God is good ALL the time!!! He loves us more than we can ever comprehend.

Thank you for the personal post and ping! Life is a journey during which we come to that realization. Our Lord told us to enter through the narrow gate. It is stories such as yours that remind me of what St. Faustina experienced:

One day, I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end without realising it. And at the end of the roads there was a horrible precipice; that is the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their number was so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings. (153)

"...all he had to do was be crucified for his crimes, just like my Savior, who died precisely to spare us the wages of our sins. Personally, I'd rather do the faithful worship route. "

There is the heart of the error of Rome. If you think that somehow you are "faithful" enough to warrant heaven, you think wrongly, my FRiend. According to Paul, there is no one who seeks God, no one who is adequately "faithful", no one who will take the other way out. Paul notes that unless God rescues you by His decision, you will remain dead in your trespasses and sins...irrespective of the great life you may think you live.

So then, it does not depend on man who runs (lives faithfully) or the man who wills (chooses God), but upon God. And He will have mercy upon whom He desires and He will harden whom He desires.

May want to read the letter to the Romans all the way through sometime...if Rome allows.

The good thief did not just have faith; he had Actions. He roused himself, rebuked the mocking bad thief, and publicly stated his faith in Christ and asked for mercy.

He had faith with works. This is what Catholics believe saves us. We must live faith out daily through our actions or we are like the fig tree that bears no fruit. Every time we resist temptation and turn away from sin we are “born again” in Christ. In baptism, we become children of God. In Confirmation, we become adult believers who affirm, as adults, that we belong to Christ alone. Confirmation is the completion of baptism.

One can also be baptized through desire, as the thief was, if there is no other way for a baptism with water. Nothing is impossible with God. If we knock at the door, He will answer.

Catholics do not believe one achieves salvation at one moment in time, but throughout a lifetime of choices. What happens to people who are born again, but then backslide? What if that backslider lives a life of complete evil right up to death? Is he fit for Heaven and unity with the purity of God? No. His choices are what he will be held accountable for at his moment of judgment. His life showed he was not saved. We send ourselves to Hell.

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