Replies

By the way, where in the Bible does it define "being born again" as "accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal savior"? /Evangelical catch phrase> I've begun to realize that a lot of what the Protestants teach (despite the *claims* of sola scriptura is merely the teaching of men, without even holding a Council of Nicea or of Ephesus.

Seriously? As we so often need to remind folks, read the context and the whole passage:

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.” 3Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?” 5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. 7Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. 10“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life. 16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.” 22After this, Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them and baptized. 23Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because the water was plentiful there, and people kept coming to be baptized. 24(For John had not yet been thrown into prison.) 25A dispute arose between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the issue of ceremonial washing. 26So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about—He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.” 27John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’ 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must increase; I must decrease. 31The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all. 32He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. 33Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful. 34For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands. 36Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3)

Some further passages:

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (I Peter 1:23)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (I Peter 1:3)

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. (James 1:18)

And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory. (Eph. 1:13,14)

Now do you see why we teach and believe that?

How about John 1:12, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. The problem is, 1st Corinthians 2:14 gets in the way. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned“ Those who are spiritually dead, can’t grasp spiritual truth. That’s just a sad fact of life. Before we received Him, and became born again in Christ, we had that same blindness. My previous spiritual blindness, was something that mystified me the most. Now, I have assurance of salvation, even if some might call it the sin of presumption. 😁👍 It’s a beautiful thing, everyone should try it. I just hope I am found worthy to be called someone’s ilk. To me, it’s a badge of honor. 👍👍👍👍

Just. Stop.

The phrase "accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Personal Savior" does not appear ANYWHERE in Scripture.

I wanted to establish that fact first.

Second.

I don't see any mention of that catchphrase anywhere, until the Born Again movement in the US, following the publication of Richard Nixon's former hatchet man, Chuck Colson's book Born Again, in 1976.

I conclude that the phrase is a recent man-made invention.

Recent enough, that it post-dates the Bible.

So much for Protestants following sola scriptura as they define it.

It is BECAUSE I knew the phrase didn't exist in the Bible I called you out on it by asking the question.

Incidentally, I was born again in 1976 and I've been reading the Bible daily since 1978 or 1979.

But you never bothered to ask that; you just assumed something about me which is factually untrue (that I'm a Catholic, led by fear to rote repetition of dead works, in the hopes of EARNING salvation. Nope.) The issue with Protestants, on those occasions that they go wrong, is that they quote a verse, but the doctrine they define from it, is based on not actually reading the verse; but on what their teacher or Bible Scholar tells them to think about the verse; often thumbtacking or scotch taping or piggybacking some doctrine ONTO the verse, when the doctrine is only analogous to, or roughly parallel, to the verse, rather than being contained in it.

"Accepting Jesus as your Lord and Personal Savior" (i.e., "the sinner's prayer" and "the four spiritual laws") are among them.

And they neglect other verses, too.

Like women praying with their heads covered; or not adorning themselves with fine clothes, but with good works.

1 Peter 3:4-5.

And don't even get me started on "dispensationalism."

(I've seen far, far more competition over how well women are dressed, almost as a matter of course, in Protestant churches as compared to Catholic ones.)

I think Christians of ALL denominations should pray for one another (Romans 14, read the whole thing.)

Well done.