All Christians are ipso facto "born from above."

It isn't helpful to the Body of Christ to make distinctions between Christians based on personal experiences.

Jul 1, 2010 -- 8:12PM, tawonda wrote:

All Christians are ipso facto "born from above."

It isn't helpful to the Body of Christ to make distinctions between Christians based on personal experiences.

I agree that we should not base the quality of our faith on emotions (although emotions are a good and important part of being human and certainly can positive play a role in faith). However saying that all Christians are "ipso facto born from above" seems clearly go against the point of John 3. If we were all already ipso facto born again, Jesus would not have said "unless... you will never"

The context is clarified by Jesus when he speaks of being "born of the Spirit" as opposed to being born of "flesh" (natural birth). This has to do with having a living connection with the Spirit of God. It is about entering into a living relationship with God and not simply a one time occurrence. That is why is it incorrect for Evangelicals (like myself) to speak of being born again as if it is a one-time occurrence--a "get out of jail free card," and it is equally wrong of mainline liberal Christians (bless their hearts) to speak of baptism (which is directly correlated historically to new birth) as a  one time occurrence where one is thereafter ipso facto a Christian. Being a Christian is like being married. Being married is not just about the wedding, it is about a life together. In the same way being a Christian entails living out our "yes" to God in our lives.