Campus Ministries: Catholic Ministries

HAVE YOU BEEN "BORN AGAIN"?

Catholics are sometimes approached by zealous Protestants asking them whether they have been "born again." This question can be confusing, especially if you don’t know what being "born again" means.

Born-again Christians use this expression to describe an intense experience of being "saved" by Jesus, and of turning one’s whole life over to Him as one’s personal Savior. These Christians will be happy to witness to you precisely when and how this momentous life-altering experience took place in their lives, whether it was at a church gathering or quite unexpectedly in a quiet moment of prayer.

Born-again Christians focus great attention on whether or not one has been "born again." They believe that such a dramatic conversion experience is necessary for salvation and the sure sign that one is going to heaven. But for most Protestants, and for all Orthodox Christians, the notion of being "born again" is as foreign as it is for Catholics.

Although being "born again" is so central for born-again Bible-loving Christians, these words are found only once or twice in all the Bible. At the beginning of John 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, that, "No one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above. Nicodemus asks, "How can a grown man be born again?" Jesus then goes on to explain the need to be born spiritually of water and Spirit, that is, to be baptized into a new life, into a new relationship with God. Jesus is speaking about the need to be baptized. But born-again Christians believe that this text teaches the absolute necessity of having a conversion experience.

All Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians agree that in order to be saved we need to turn our lives over to God. But only born-again Christians believe that this must involve a once-in-a-lifetime saving event. The overwhelming majority of Christians do not believe that a born-again experience is necessary for salvation. Instead we believe that God works differently in different lives. God does indeed call some people quite dramatically, the way Saint Paul was converted so spectacularly on the road to Damascus (Act 9:1-19). But many people grow up knowing and loving God, and this relationship continues to mature, without any singular watershed event, during the course of their lives.

Most of us experience a number of significant conversions and reconversions. God keeps calling us, again and again, away from sin and to a deeper union with God. Our Christian lives are a continual, day by day, journey of conversion.

An old monk was asked what they did all day in the monastery. He replied: "We fall down and we get up, we fall down and we get up."

"Have you been born again?"

"Yes, the day I was baptized in water and the Holy Spirit. That was the day I first set out with Jesus on the journey to my Father’s house."

Ronald Stanley, O.P.

For additional articles related to this topic see:

IS ORIGINAL SIN ORIGINAL GUILT?

A GOOD LIFE DOES NOT EARN HEAVEN

THE BIBLE ALONE?

FUNDAMENTALISM

DO CATHOLICS PRAY TO SAINTS?

QUESTIONING YOUR FAITH

I AM A CATHOLIC BECAUSE...

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

AREN'T WE THE TRUE CHURCH?

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