Faith - Born Again

Faith.


I often write about faith as part of my blogging.  That's because my faith is such an integral part of who I am.  Most people who know me well know that my faith is very important to me.


Last Fall, I was with a group of girls (all of whom are Southern gals!) and we began discussing matters of faith.  When one of the girls asked me what church I went to, I was as surprised by her reaction as she was to my answer!


You see...  I am a Christian.


I believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became man to dwell on Earth so that he could die on a cross to save us from our sins.  In doing so, He opened up the gates of Heaven so that all who believe might have eternal life.


I am a Christian.


And I am a Catholic.


When I told my sweet friend this, she was visibly surprised.  Maybe even shocked!


When I inquired about her reaction, she simply said...


"You are the first Catholic I have ever met that knows anything about scripture."


Sadly, this is an impression far too many people have about Christians who worship in the Catholic Church. 


So I've decided to begin writing a bit more about my faith.  The purpose in doing so is, first and foremost, to record our family events and "scrapbook" about my role as a mother and wife (as is the purpose with all of my posts!).  Perhaps a secondary purpose would be to explain more about the Catholic faith because I believe it is so often misunderstood.

Born Again.

I remember the first time I was asked if I was "Born Again".  I really didn't know how to respond.  I attended 13 years of Catholic school so naturally, all of my friends were Catholic, my parents friends were Catholic, pretty much everyone I knew was Catholic!  So, this question about being "Born Again" was unfamiliar to me.


After marrying a born and raised Southern Baptist and living in the "Bible Belt" for 5 years, I was asked many, many questions about the Catholic faith... many, if not most, of which I was not able to adequately answer.  The "Born Again" question was one such question!  Those inquiries led me to re-examine the faith I had grown up with.  This time, my head and my heart wanted to fully understand the faith I proclaimed to practice.


The result?  I fell more deeply in love with my faith.


I can now confidently say that I was "Born Again" on the day I was baptized.


What does that mean?


That phrase, "Born Again", comes from the book of John.... precisely John 3:1-5.  


Let me set the stage for these verses...


A man named Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night.  He is not one of Jesus' followers.  In fact, he is a Pharisee... one of Jesus' persecutors.  He has seen the things that Jesus has been doing and he is curious.  So he goes to visit Jesus in the night, when no one will see him.  He simply says to Jesus..


"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."


And in verse 3, Jesus says responds by telling Nicodemus...


"Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."


Some translations of this verse read "no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again."  


But you can't stop there!


Perhaps the more important verses would be John 3:4-5 - the next ones!


Nicodemus is confused by Jesus' statement (I would've been to!) and he asks him to clarify by asking in verse 4...


"How can a person once grown old be born again?  Surely he cannot reenter his mother's womb and be born again, can he?"


Good Question!  Jesus clarifies in verse 5 by saying the exact same thing as He did in verse 3, but he adds something to it.  He says...


"Amen, Amen I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit."


The Catholic church teaches that in this narrative with Nicodemus, Jesus is telling us that to be "Born Again" of WATER and SPIRIT is be be baptized.  Therefore, Catholics believe that it is through Baptism that we are "Born Again". 

How do you get to that conclusion, you might ask.


You see, in order to understand scripture, it has to be read within its context.  What is the context in which Jesus has this narrative with Nicodemus?  


This "Born Again" narrative is sandwiched within a Baptismal framework.  It's kind of like an Oreo cookie... the yummy, middle part is the narrative with Nicodemus.  But that yummy narrative is sandwiched in between 2 other Baptismal "cookies".  


What in the world am I talking about?


A few verses before this conversation takes place, what happens?


Jesus himself is BAPTIZED by John the Baptist!   The top cookie!


John 1:32-33 says...


"I saw the SPIRIT come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him.  I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit."


It is only a few chapters later that Jesus himself refers again to this water and spirit!


And what happens immediately after Jesus has this conversation with Nicodemus?


Jesus himself goes out BAPTIZING others!  The bottom cookie!


John 3:22 says...


"After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing."


So, when you read John 3:3-5 within it's context, it becomes more clear that the WATER & SPIRIT Jesus is referring to is the baptismal water that gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The "born again" narrative is sandwiched between Jesus getting baptized and him going out baptizing others - a complete Oreo :)


One thing that I learned (and became fascinated by) as I re-examined my faith through its scriptural roots was that it is very difficult to understand the New Testament without a thorough understanding of the Old Testament.


Why?


Remember that ALL of Jesus' followers were Jews.  Jesus himself was a practicing Jew.  The people to whom Jesus preached were very well-steeped in the contents of the Old Testament scriptures.  That was their "context" for being a part of God's family.


So when Jesus teaches, he uses images and terms that are familiar to them from their Old Testament background.  He talks in a way that they would have understood.


So the idea of being saved through water is something that his followers would have been very familiar with... many times in the Old Testament, sin was washed away through water and God's people were saved through water.


Take Noah for example.  The entire world had fallen into sin.  One family - Noah's family - was saved through water while the rest of the sinful world was washed away in those flood waters.  The story of Noah prefigured Baptism, just as it says in 1 Peter 3:31...


"...God waited patiently in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water.  This prefigured baptism, which saves you now."


And what about Moses and the Israelites?  


When Moses was leading "God's people" out of slavery in Egypt, they were being chased and followed by Pharoah's men (they represent sin).  When they got to the Red Sea, Moses held up his arm and the waters literally parted.  Moses and the Israelites walked through on dry land - they were saved through water.  After they crossed through, the waters reunited and Pharoah's men were washed away in those waters.  Once again, sin was washed away through water.


Finally, remember what happened before the Israelites were FINALLY able to cross over into the Promised Land?


Yep!  They had to cross through water - the Jordan River.  Not coincidentally, this is the same River where John the Baptist baptized Jesus!


The Promised Land is representative of Heaven.  So in order to get to "Heaven", they had to "go through the water"!


There are many other OT prefigurements, but suffice it to say that Jesus' audience would have been very familiar with the concept of being saved through water.  All of these Old Testament happenings were prefigurements for the Baptism that Jesus would introduce when He walked the earth.


So, the next question might be...

Why do Catholics baptize babies?

Not all Christian faiths baptize babies.  Some do, others don't.  The reason some don't is that those faiths believe Baptism only to be an outward sign of a profession of faith.  They do not believe that anything supernatural takes place during Baptism... it is merely a public witness to their "born again" decision.  It follows then, that since babies can't make that decision for themselves, there is no need to baptize them.  Baptism is reserved for a time, later in life, when a child is of an age and can make that "born again" decision.


The first and most important reason that Catholics baptize babies is that we do not believe that Baptism is merely symbolic of our belief in Christ as our savior.  Rather, we believe that Baptism is regenerational.  We believe that something supernatural happens during Baptism... namely that the person who is baptized is saved through the baptismal waters, sin is washed away, and the person is made a new creation.  The baptized person becomes a child of God who is an heir to the Kingdom of Heaven.  

What sin could a baby have to be washed away, you might ask?


Adam & Eve's sin in the garden separated mankind from God.  We, too, inherited the sin of our first parents.  We call it "original sin".  Babies, too, inherit this sin.


During Baptism, real spiritual work takes place...


Sin, both personal sin (if applicable) and original sin, is washed away!  Just as the bible tells us it does in Acts 22:16 when Ananias tells St. Paul immediately following his conversion...


"Now, why delay?  Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name."


Secondly, the baptized person receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and is infused with sanctifying grace - the grace that Adam lost by his sin in the Garden.


Put simply, the Catholic faith baptizes babies because the "spiritual work" that Baptism accomplishes is not dependent on whether or not the person who is being baptized understands it!  There is no need to reach an "age of reason" in order to have original sin removed and receive the special graces of Baptism.  It "works", so to speak, whether or not the person receiving it understands it.


Again, remember Jesus' audience.  They are all Jews.


If you take off your shoes and put on your Jewish sandals (i.e. read scripture through the lens of what a Jewish person would have understood), you will begin to see that Jesus' followers had a deep understanding of the covenant relationships God established throughout history with his people.


In the time of Moses, God established a covenant with his people and he gave them a sign of that covenant.  Each person who wanted to be included in God's covenant family was first circumcised.  Even Jesus himself was circumcised according to the law of the old covenant.  And guess when people were circumcised?  On the 8th day of life... as a baby!


So circumcision was the sign of the Old Covenant and babies were included.


When Jesus came, he ushered in a New Covenant, one that replaced the Old Covenant.  This covenant was bigger and better - it was for everyone - not just the Jews!  And the sign of the New Covenant is Baptism.  If babies were included in the Old Covenant, why would they be excluded from this bigger and better covenant?


We believe that they are not.


On the day of Pentecost, when Peter preaches what can be called the first Gospel message, those who are in the room listening believe that Jesus was, in fact, the savior.  They want to be included as a follower of Christ and so they ask Peter in Acts 3:38...


"What are we to do?..."


Peter responds by saying in Acts 3:38-39...


"Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off."


So, in a nutshell, that is why Catholics baptize babies!

But what about a relationship with Jesus?


Contrary to what some think, Catholics absolutely believe that a personal relationship with Jesus is essential.  The saving grace received at Baptism can easily be lost if a person is not engaged in an ongoing personal relationship with Jesus.  Of course, if lost, it can be restored through repentance!


When we baptize infants, we baptize them on the faith of their parents.  The parents make a promise to do all that they can to give the baby a Christian upbringing.  At some point in time, that baptized child has to stand on their own two feet though.  They can choose to maintain their baptismal grace through conscience contact with God or they can choose to reject the grace of Baptism through sin, rebellion, complacency, or disbelief.  


So, YES!  Catholics absolutely teach, profess and believe in having a close, personal, real relationship with Jesus!  That is why we were created... to know, love, and serve God!


As a matter of fact, Pope Benedict just recently wrote...


"...life in its totality is a relationship with Him who is the source of life."  

What about an unbaptized believer?


Given that we believe that Baptism saves us, you might question what happens to an unbaptized believer, or to babies/children who are not baptized, or to people who have never heard the Gospel message...


While the church teaches that Baptism is the ordinary way to be saved, it does not mean that there are not other ways to be saved.  We believe that Jesus gave us the sacrament of Baptism as the ordinary means of salvation, but as the author of the sacrament itself, Jesus is certainly not bound by his sacraments!  Salvation belongs to God alone... it is His to give out and He can do that in any way in which He chooses. 


So, once again, YES!  Unbaptized people can be and ARE saved!


I could write more as I have such a desire for the Catholic church to be understood, but I never intended to write this much in the first place!


I sat down to post some pictures of sweet Molly on her special day and weeks later, this is what it turned into!


If you made it through my novel and are desiring more information, please read this article:  http://www.davidmacd.com/catholic/born_again_catholics.htm


It is much more concise than anything I could write and answers most any and every question you could have about whether or not Catholics are "Born Again"!   


So there you have it!  I am a Catholic-Chrisitan wife and mom who was "Born Again" on the day I was baptized.  I believe that Jesus Christ is my savior... one who I know and who I strive to know more personally every day of my life!  As my "About Me" says... I am simply a "child of God who is running the race" and trying to teach my children to do the same!

Molly Clare

Born Again & Baptized in Christ

 April 11, 2010

Emily Kate

Born Again & Baptized in Christ

February 3, 2008

Noah Robert

Born Again & Baptized in Christ

May 8, 2005