What does it mean to be "born again"?
The phrase “born again” is, at best, an overused and meaningless cliche. At worst, it’s dirty word that represents a kind of Christianity that beats it’s message on the heads of those who don’t believe in it. The phrase comes from an encounter that Jesus had with a religious leader of his day. Jesus always spoke somewhat cryptically and he is surprisingly straightforward in his conversation with Nicodemus. My guess is that this was because Nicodemus knew the old testament backwards and forwards and Jesus wanted to point out that, despite his knowledge of the scriptures, he really knew nothing of what it meant. Jesus spoke on a few different topics and it’s here that we find the two most referenced phrases in Christianity: “born again” and John 3:16. Because “born again” is such a loaded term, I like to use the phrase “born all over again”. It’s really a very strange thing to say: “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Nicodemus, who was used to applying scripture very literally, replied “How can this be? How can someone enter the womb a second time?” Jesus then explained that there are two kinds of births that need to happen: one of water, and the other of the spirit. Jesus then moves on and references an event in Jewish history recounted in the Jewish scriptures. God was extremely upset with their disobedience and struck them with a plague. He asked Moses to put a snake on top of a pole. He said that everyone who looked up at the pole would be saved (incidentally, this is where the medical symbol with the snake on the pole comes from). Jesus uses it to introduce John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would have eternal life.” Salvation, Jesus explained, is simply “looking up” at Jesus for salvation. Nicodemus doesn’t show signs of understanding what Jesus was talking about during that conversation and it really frustrated Jesus since he was supposed to be a religious teacher. I imagine, though, that he went away and was plagued by these words. “What does it mean to be ‘born of the spirit’ and how do I do it?” “What does it mean to ‘look up; at Jesus?” I’ll bet he scoured references in the scriptures to these concepts. He would have found plenty of references to Jesus, himself, in the writings of the prophet, Isaiah. He would have found an important reference to “the spirit” in the writings of the prophet, Joel, when he says that a time would come when people wouldn’t worship God in Jerusalem, but in “spirit”. I wonder the same things myself. What the heck does it all really mean? “Born again” has been used to simply describe people who go to church or who call themselves “Christian”. The true message, though, is quite profound and incredulous. God would actually give you some piece of himself in the form of his spirit. Somehow Jesus made this possible. In my experience it’s such a crazy idea that you could only believe it by experiencing it. You have to throw off preconceived notions or bad experiences with the church and take Jesus at his word. I wish I had a better understanding of all of this.

