Anyone Ever Asked You Are You Born Again ?

Baptism Of Jesus

  

Has anyone ever asked you are you Born Again ? My journey so far has taken many turns. When I met my wife I was catholic, just not a practicing catholic. I was young in my early twenties and not thinking too much about anything religious. Don't get me wrong I have always believed in God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and everything in the Catholic Church. I always remember when I look back and remember the 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 verse 11 "¹¹ When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and see things as a child does, and think like a child; but now that I have become an adult, I have finished with all childish ways."


 OK now back to the subject at hand. When I met my wife she was going to a pentecostal church. I had never been in a pentecostal church or knew anything about their church. It was a nice church and the people were very friendly. One of the first things someone asked me was are you Born Again. The next thing I was asked was what church were you in. When I told the person the catholic church they said oh you are not born again, because they don't believe in Jesus. I did think to myself what are they talking about I have always believed in Jesus. As time went on I was going to their church and reading the bible.
  They did tell me that I had to except Jesus as my personal savior. When I did all my sins would be forgiven once and for all. If I sinned at any time he would forgive me. Well I started thinking I have always believed in Jesus and that had never changed. One Sunday at church they had a calling to come down and accept Jesus as your personal savior. I knew that I had always believed in Jesus, but I felt I wanted to go down to show that my belief in Jesus was even stronger. This all changed one day when someone said to oh your Mother is catholic, she is not saved because she does not believe in Jesus and will not go to Heaven.
  This was the turning point in my time at the pentecostal church. It made me take a step back and look at where I was and what I was believing. I thought about my mother and thought she has always believed in Jesus. I thought about myself and realized I have also always believed in Jesus. I have always had a close personal relationship with Jesus. I knew at this point that I could no longer go to the pentecostal church. I spoke with my wife and we both decided to look for a different church that we were both comfortable in.
  We went to many different churches to see what they were like. We went to a Baptist Church when a friend asked us to come. It was nice, but it was not where we were supposed to be. We went to a Methodist Church and the first question was where do you work and how much do you earn. This turned me away right away. After a lot of praying and asking the Holy Spirit to guide us we found the Lutheran Church. It was very nice and the people were very nice. No one asked about money or where you came from or what you believed in. This church seemed to combine some Protestant and Catholic beliefs. We spent at least seven years in that church. My three children were all born while we were in that church.
                  
  Although we were happy something just was not right. I could never put my finger on it. One day the Pastor was talking about communion and he was explaining that it was just a symbol. I thought about that more and more until one day I decided this was wrong. I started doing some studying on religions and history. I came across EWTN and the Journey Home Show. I was amazed that the show was on the very subject I was pondering about. That was when I decided after much praying it was time to go back to the Catholic Church.
  Now I also was looking into the being born again subject. I read about the Early Church Fathers and what they were doing. I found many different books on the subject of being Born Again and Catholic Apologetic's. I read in the Bible that being born again had to do with water and spirit, which was Baptism. If fact in John Chapter 3 Verse 1 to 16 "  

¹ There was one of the 

14; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;">Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews,

² who came to Jesus by night and said, 'Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.'

³ Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.

⁴ Nicodemus said, 'How can anyone who is already old be born? Is it possible to go back into the womb again and be born?'

⁵ Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit;

⁶ what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above.

⁸ The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

⁹ 'How is that possible?' asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰ Jesus replied, 'You are the Teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things!

¹¹ 'In all truth I tell you, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence.

¹² If you do not believe me when I speak to you about earthly things, how will you believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things?

¹³ No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man;

¹⁴ as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up

¹⁵ so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

¹⁶ For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." I am sorry it was a little long, I just love the whole text.

  I believe that what is happening in the whole faith community and by that I mean all churches is that there is a big misunderstanding of what one does. We seem to see with our eyes and not with our hearts. We tend to judge others by what we see and not by the truth. I think we somehow miss the point that Jesus said we are to love one another. That is why my favorite verse is Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged.

  Thank You for reading and God Bless Everyone.