I learn by examples best, so I think the best way to explain what being born-again means is through an example: Let us say you are a cat, and you want to live as a human. So you start your day by trying to wash your face but the sink is too big for you and the faucet was not designed to be turned on by paws. Then you try to make the bed but the bed is so big–because it is a human bed–that there is no way you can do it. Then you try to put on a shirt but shirts were designed for humans so they will not fit you and you cannot button up the shirt with your paws anyway.
Even if you succeeded in doing those tasks the fact of the matter is that you are still a cat. You can try to pretend to be a human for a while but eventually you will be exhausted, you will feel miserable, and you will definitely fail at some tasks; for example, how can a cat drive to work and work as an accountant?!
The only way for you, a cat, to be able to live as a human is that if you were changed by becoming a human. Otherwise, all attempts are futile. Now, once you become a human then you will not go back to live as a cat: you will not go back to sleeping in a basket, or licking your noise, or playing with a yarn ball. Now, you sleep in a bed, you scratch your nose, and you play sports.
In this example being a cat is equivalent to being lost—having a sinful nature. The human tasks are equivalent to the commandments of God. And being a human is equivalent to being born-again—having a holy nature. You cannot be both a cat and a human at the same time. And if you are a cat then you will live like a cat and if you are a human then you will live like a human. Now, both the cat and the human have physical bodies that get hungry, tired and have desires, but the cat is not a human and the human is not a cat. They are two different creatures! The cat has not been cleaned, groomed, trained, taught, or discipled! No, the cat has been transformed!
(Summer 2011; Toronto, ON.) by Fadi
The Bible puts it this way,“Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.†(2 Corinthians 5:17) This verse is saying once you are born-again then you cannot go back to your old way of life, because you have been transformed. And it is also saying the old has passed way (your sinful nature), and you have become a new spiritual creature (your new holy nature); you do not have both natures at the same time.
“It is said that St. Augustine was accosted one day on the street by a former mistress some time after he had become a Christian. When he saw her he turned and walked the other way. Surprised, the woman called out, ‘Augustine, it is I’. Augustine as he kept going the other way, answered her, ‘Yes, but it is not I.’â€
Here are few more examples of what it means to be born-again:
All religions treat sin as an act and therefore they combat it with righteous acts. In Christianity, sin is a state of being and therefore sin is combated by a changed being. To explain this as an example: let us say your leg is broken and therefore it is swollen. All religions would be dealing with the swelling and how to bring the swelling down. But Christianity deals with the broken bone—once the bone is mended then the swelling will come down naturally.
To explain the concept better, all religions’ approach to righteousness is as this: because you do surgeries then you are a doctor; and because you can draw then you are an artist; and because you can fly an airplane then you are a pilot. Christianity’s approach is as this: you can do surgeries because you are a doctor; and you can draw because you are an artist; and you can fly an airplane because you are a pilot. In other words, the being has to change first then his actions will follow (remember the cat and the human analogy?)
All religions approach sin like this: let us say someone has cancer but that person is very health conscious: exercises, has a healthy weight, eats healthy, does not smoke or abuse any substance—but the fact of the matter is that this person has cancer no matter how healthy he lives. Christianity deals with the cancer.
Christianity can deal with the root of the problem because of the Holy Spirit: a Christian does not fight Satan, his fleshly desires, and the world on His own. No, a Christian simply lets the Holy Spirit lives through Him (remember the story of the submarines vs the fish?)
The problem lies in the fact so few people know who the Holy Spirit is. To the non-Christian, the Holy Spirit is such a vague concept after all they are used to laws and regulations and suddenly here is God who wants to live in you and through you! Even those who grew up in the “church†have no idea who the Holy Spirit is! I know for a fact if I ask all my many cousins who the Holy Spirit is, collectively they will not be able to write a sentence about Him.
