Caine: What does 'born again' truly mean?

The phrase "born again" in popular Christian usage generally describes a conversion experience in which an individual accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and is thereby saved from hell for eternal life with God in heaven. The individual makes a decision, comes to belief, turns from sin and follows Jesus.

Some people can point to an exact time and place where such an event occurred. And indeed, for certain elements of the Christian family, unless a person can identify such an experience with some degree of specificity, the legitimacy of his or her religious conviction might be called into question.

The phrase "born again" is found in the Gospel of John. Jesus tells Nicodemus, a man of complete certainty and a great deal of knowledge and expertise in matters of faith, that "no one can see the kingdom of God without having been born again." The Greek word that John uses is "anothen," which has additional meanings of "anew" and "from above." Nicodemus doesn't understand what Jesus is saying, and dismisses such a notion as impossible, since no one can enter his mother's womb a second time to be born.

But Jesus has something else in mind than another physical birth. And I wonder if he meant by it something more than a conversion event with a place, date and time attached to it. Many are just as assured as Nicodemus of what we know. Knowledge is a good thing; living in a college town, we all know that! But if there is a warning for us in the character of Nicodemus it is the assumption that what we know is all there is to know. And especially for any faith community, it is the assumption that faith is based on knowing certain creeds, certain doctrines, particular rules and regulations, and that what we know about them is all that is worth knowing.

These assumptions lead to arrogance and a false sense of self-assurance that keeps us from hearing another point of view or considering the possibility of alternate truths. Because we already know and have all the answers, we are always right, and therefore don't have to listen to the other per

Comment on "Caine: What does 'born again' truly mean?"