“Born Again” Experiences

I research a lot of Jewish apologetics so I usually watch whatever Jews for Judaism puts out.  A man who does videos for them recently put out a video of his conversion testimony which you can see above.  In the above video at 7:40 he talks about going from Catholic to Evangelical and having a “born again” experience.  He essentially describes it as an indescribable feeling.

I’ve never had this kind of “born again” experience in my life so I wouldn’t know what it feels like.  In my reading of the lives of the Saints, this “born again” experience seems to be lacking as well.  The terminology “born again” is certainly Biblical.  It’s mentioned in a couple places but described in detail in John 3.  Verses 3 and 7 use the phrase.

Verse 5 tells us how one is born again.  It reads:

Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

I was discussing this verse with an Evangelical yesterday.  A few hours after that, I read it over multiple times and I was just confused.  There are actually quite a lot of variables in this section of the Biblical text.  What does water signify?  Christian tradition is uniform that this refers to baptism.  This is testified as early as St. Justin Martyr in the 2nd century in chapter 61 of his First Apology.  Since I consider tradition and Church authority as sources of faith, I submit myself to this interpretation.

However, even if you take an opinion other than baptism, I don’t believe that this passage fits in with a typical “born again” experience of what Daniel Ventresca describes.  On top of all of this, we all have have a faith journey.  I’ve been a Catholic all of my life and have had ups and downs in my faith journey.  I’ve had experiences where God has felt very near.  Perhaps these people who have “born again” experiences might classify that as “born again” but I don’t.  Many people have religious experiences and I believe this is what we should call them.

As Christians we need to swap the label “born again” experience for religious experience.  This is a way that is to the point and faithful to the tradition of the Church but at the same time doesn’t subtract from the experience that this person had.

There is a bigger point to all this that goes beyond mere terminology.  Christianity is a walk with God.  It’s not about a “born again” experience.  Daniel Ventresca left Jesus Christ for Rabbinic Judaism so his “born again” experience didn’t really help him that much.  Bart Ehrman has also talked about his “born again” experience before so this is no guarantee of faith.  We need to pray every day and walk with God every day.  If God decides to give us a religious experience we should be thankful and consider it an act of mercy.  What we shouldn’t do is call it a “born again” experience.