How many times do you plan on going around this carousel??? John 3:3 uses the Greek word "ἄνωθεν (anÅthen)" for "born again/from above". we already know that. HOWEVER, to insist someone is "wrong" because they do not agree to your strict use of "from above" for that Greek word only proves your OWN error. How many times in the New Testament IS that Greek word used? I'll tell you - 13 times. In some of those verses "from above" would certainly fit, but in others it would be stupid to insist it ALWAYS meant that. For example,
Luke 1:3 - It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first (anothen) to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus
And, - Acts 26:5, Which knew me from the beginning (anothen) if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
And, - Galatians 4:9, But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again (anothen) to be in bondage?
The point is STILL that what Jesus told Nicodemas was that a new birth had to happen in order for a man to be saved. Even Peter used a term that meant "born again" (see I Pet. 1:3 and I Pet. 1:23).
Nope, that is not what Jesus said. He said one could not see the kingdom unless one was born again. The whole point of Jesus ministry was to teach us how to live here and now. Unfortunately, many pass over that, focusing instead on where they will end up when they die. Salvation is not the finish line. It is the starting line. It is all about process and relationship here and now. It is about dying to self, renewing the mind, and becoming a new creation in right-standing with the Father. It is about the restoration of what God originally established in the Garden.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 3:17
Jesus came to save the world that God originally created, giving dominion to us. God is not a micro-manager. He does not go back on His word. Man forfeited dominion over to satan in the Garden. Christ came so that we could get it back.
If you are correct then please answer this question which none of your fellow protestants has been able to answer nor even attempted to answer: If Jesus really meant to say born "again" why would he use the ambiguous word Anothon, instead of the word "Palon" which actually unambiguously means again?