Chris' Christian Blog

January 25, 2022

Prompt: "Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again. Nicodemus obviously did not understand this at first. What does it mean to you to be born again? This story can be found in John 3:1-21."

A lot of people do not understand the concept of being "born again." It refers to a regeneration of the soul that occurs when one is saved. Prior to salvation one's soul is separated from God due to sin. Augustine postulated that this was "original sin" which is the sin of Adam, passed down from father to child. Jesus escaped this because Jesus had no earthly Father. Therefore Jesus was not born guilty of sin. Those of us with earthly biological father's are guilty of original sin and death is the cost of that sin. The soul is born dead due to that sin. The body and spirit live on and we do not realize that our soul is dead until the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. At that point we make a conscious decision to either accept Christ or reject Him. If we accept Him, the Holy Spirit regenerates or raises our soul from the dead. This is the second birth.

Paul discusses the second birth in Romans 6:1-10. In verses 4-6 he describes baptism and says that baptism puts us in the grave with Jesus. Then when we come out of the water we are born again or resurrected to walk in a new life. I guess it really depends on your interpretation of these passages. I personally believe we are saved the moment we trust Jesus as Savior and all the rest is activity in the supernatural realm. Some believe that Romans 6:4-6 literally mean that baptism represents burial in the tomb of Christ and being taken from the water is literally the second birth.



I was traveling Delta quadrant with Jane Way and found a star. ridinghhood-p.boutilier writes

STATIC

Love found me  (E) praying to the Black Madonnas #2195861 by ridinghhood-p.boutilier

. Talk about this in your blog.

I think love eventually finds all of us. I have been married twice, and looking back, I wonder if I was truly in love with either of them. I have matured a lot in the past 20 years and understand more about love. I now know that love is an action word that we loosely throw around. We think it is a feeling and when that feeling wears off, we're ready to throw in the towel. My first wife was a product of divorced parents so she devalued love. When she no longer felt "in love" she filed for divorce. I complied because I wanted her to be happy. My parents were together for 56 years. My dad was the only man my mother ever had. She stayed with him through numerous affairs and you name it. I learned from my mother that love is not a feeling. It is a decision and an action. You decide you are going to commit and take action to do so. It may mean sacrificing everything you believe in but you stay with your partner no matter what.