“unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
Yep agree 100%. Thats why baptism is so important.
Nope, if Jesus meant baptism, He would have used the word and not couched it in some means that needs to be *interpreted* for us by a religion.
They had a word for baptism and knew how to use it.
In this passage, Jesus is comparing and contrasting physical birth (water) and spiritual birth, which happens by the Holy Spirit, not by physical means.
Going through the motions of physical activity does not cause spiritual events to happen.
Getting dunked or sprinkled cannot make the Holy Spirit give a person new life.
Of course understanding the scriptures properly removes the empowerment scheme of the Roman religion because the Priestly 'sacrament' is no longer a requirement for Justification.
“unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
It is the “cleansing” LIKE water and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which together - the cleansing like as if by water and the anointing of the Holy Spirit - is what Yehua referred to as “born again”. The entire thing occurs spiritually and is not dependent on any ceremony, as ceremonies are only symbolic acts of something we celebrate, not the acts themselves. Their is no magic in ceremonies.