34. Are you born again?

John 3:3 – 8 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”

I was asked about my blog this week.  It is not an unusual occurrence.  Friends and acquaintances have been reading and asking questions.  Am I planning a revolt from within?  Why do I use some many scripture references?  Do I mean to sound so Christian in my writing?

This week the question was, “Are you born again?”

Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

I stumbled.  The question of course, or maybe it is just me, is a reference to the Evangelical Christian Right, equally known as Fundamentalists.  I didn’t know how to answer.  The question was also “Are you one of those Whack Jobs?”  The answer is an unequivocal yes, but we need to define Whack Job.

Buying some time I asked her what she meant by Born Again.  It was not just a dodge; the term has some misconceptions to it so getting clarification is always a good idea.  I assured her that I was not going to get her to stop so I could baptize her in the ditch.  Her question was what I would have expected, am I one of those born again Christians, who will push religion on her?

Romans 10:9-10 Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

I also surmise that behind that question is a sense of guilt and shame.  It is unpopular to believe that we as a collective whole and individually have messed up.  With the belief that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, comes a shadow of us Christians judging and condemning others.  Most of which was done to create a diversion from our own particular form of depravity.

But when we take a stand for righteousness, no matter how unimposing, we take a stand that all of us are in error.  In this culture, with our permission to satisfy any and every appetite, desire and lust, such a message is truly unwelcome. 

I answered the question as best I could, giving my Christian history, and my own struggles, and the fact that I am still rather eccentric to say the least.  That given my penchant for making life more complicated than I need to, and refuse to colour inside the lines, that I could use as much help as I could.  That I think the Grace of God should suffice. 

But her question got me to thinking.  Am I born again?  I don’t feel it.  After all I did become a new creation in Christ, but I had the same struggles as always.  My addiction and my depression, both of which are unwanted, have remained with me in one form of another for my entire life.  There are times when I am truly inspired and emotionally uplifted in the presence of God.  But my day to day life, while not a drudgery, seems less than uplifted.

I know the multilevel marketing pitch of Christianity.  The push to create as many people as possible in your down-line.  It is the consumer approach to spirituality.  I come to Christ and I am made shiny and new, my teeth become whiter, I lose fat, I gain few inches in height, those who pay me for my services pay me more than before I converted.  That has not been my experience of being born again.

Philippians 3:7 – 9 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

It seems to me that faith is something more profound than finding the Creator of the Universe and being given all that I ask.  I believe that my birth of spirit, that awakening of that part of me that was dead, has led me to more deeply understand the world around me; to more fully experience compassion in my life.  I am called to live in right relationship with God.

For myself my faith is more of an inner journey.  I do talk with others about what I believe, and about my faith in Christ.  When I talk to those people who will listen I talk as one questing soul to another.  I hope that I am able to help them find the way for it is narrow, just as they help me find the way.  More often than not I find the soul that is struggling to find its way is another sibling in Christ.

So yes I am Born Again.