Am I Born Again?

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Chris V++

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I have not been baptized by water.

Stop being a wus and get yourself baptized already. My wife passed on an opportunity once at some summer retreat because she wasn't wearing a bra and was wearing a white T- shirt. She regrets it to this day and it's something we need to get sorted out for her. Get it done.
 
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Monk Brendan

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I look at it more in the line of cooperating with Jesus. I was born again back in 1977, but it began with ME affirming to Jesus that I would cooperate with Him, not the other way around.
 
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MyLordYeshuaTheMessiah

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Stop being a wus and get yourself baptized already. My wife passed on an opportunity once at some summer retreat because she wasn't wearing a bra and was wearing a white T- shirt. She regrets it to this day and it's something we need to get sorted out for her. Get it done.
I'm looking for someone to baptize me. But the closest church is an hour away. Most churches don't baptize unless you become a member, and take classes. I want to be baptized now. A lot of churches around here have false doctrines, are new age and don't immerse.
I don't have a car.

I see your point your wife should've got baptized. But if literally all she had was a white shirt, and couldn't cover herself at all. And her breasts would be exposed, it's no different to not having a shirt at all. I wouldn't want my wife's breasts exposed for everyone to see.
Like a gold ring in a pigs snout, is a beautiful woman with no discretion : Proverbs 11:22
You should be very happy to have a wife that has discretion.
If getting baptized causes her to sin, partial nudity in public. I don't think Jesus would want that.
Paul says, if eating meat causes my brother to stumble, I won't eat meat. That's the extent we need to go, to avoid sin.
 
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Wordkeeper

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I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, that only by faith through grace I'm saved.
I've confessed my faith in Christianity, to 1 or 2 people (in person), many more online.
I've repented from all sins.
I read the scriptures daily and pray without ceasing.

I have not been baptized by water.

Am I born again?
The full understanding of baptism was probably lost very soon after the apostles died.

You need to confess that serving the interests of the world (including yourself) for gains that perish is futile and agree to serving the interests of God for treasure that lasts, confirmed by the Resurrection.

You need to be baptized into Christ, not into the Old Covenant, through agreeing that entering into the new humanity in Christ is how you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve the interests of God. This is how the New Covenant will come into effect in your life.

God will reveal His ability to take you into that new humanity. He will test you so don't be surprised if trials come upon you. He will take you into the new humanity if you do not murmur, do not disbelieve like Israel of whom it was said God swore they would never enter Rest.

Judas murmured, wanted to return to Egypt .

Peter did not complain at leaving all interest in earthly gains.

He was born again. He saw the Kingdom of God.

But he didn't know that interest in earthly gains also included interest in preserving his life. He needed a little tweaking, footwashing.

He was bathed, clean, born again. He didn't need another bath. Just a little touching up.

Being born again is having a new mindset, meta noia, change of mind, repenting.

Do you have a new mindset?
 
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Karola

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I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, that only by faith through grace I'm saved.
I've confessed my faith in Christianity, to 1 or 2 people (in person), many more online.
I've repented from all sins.
I read the scriptures daily and pray without ceasing.

I have not been baptized by water.

Am I born again?
Do you have heartfelt conviction of your sin before God? If you do, this can only be because God has written the law in your mind and placed it on your heart he wants you to follow(Heb10:16&17)
Through the law God desires you to follow you become conscious of sin(rom3:20) So if you have heartfelt conviction of sin/your shortcomings before God, you have been born again, for only those born again have the law in their hearts
 
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Chris V++

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I'm looking for someone to baptize me. But the closest church is an hour away. Most churches don't baptize unless you become a member, and take classes. I want to be baptized now. A lot of churches around here have false doctrines, are new age and don't immerse.
I don't have a car.

The churches here also require the membership courses, even the large non denominational church. It also videotapes and publishes the member testimonies. Maybe you can find a pastor willing to do in off the books? You can still have witnesses present. That is how mine went since I was in the process of moving away. You're right about my wife although knowing her she was probably too self conscious. She regrets not doing it when the opportunity presented itself. This was before we met so I don't know for sure. I shouldn't tease her about it and should respect the modesty.
 
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MMDave3

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I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, that only by faith through grace I'm saved.
I've confessed my faith in Christianity, to 1 or 2 people (in person), many more online.
I've repented from all sins.
I read the scriptures daily and pray without ceasing.

I have not been baptized by water.

Am I born again?
I don't believe that being born again is accomplished by acts so much as by faith. Sounds like you've got it figured out. Get baptized by water, it will be a great feeling. In the meantime, enjoy life and your faith.
 
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aiki

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I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, that only by faith through grace I'm saved.

What kind of faith? A saving faith? Or merely an intellectual one? A saving faith anticipates a changed life. It expects to live differently as a consequence of that in which it is trusting. See James 2:19-20.

I've repented from all sins.

You are to confess your sins (1 John 1:9) as a result of repentance. Repentance is the changing of your mind, the changing of your thinking. The result of that change of mind is a change in how you live. From what have you repented and to what are you turning as a result of your change in mind?

I read the scriptures daily and pray without ceasing.

Why? There is only one motive for such behaviour that God accepts from us. Read Matthew 22:36-38 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

I have not been baptized by water.

Don't wait on this step of obedience. Be baptized as soon as you can. Understand, though, that being baptized does not save you. It is not what you do that saves you but in whom you put your trust.

Am I born again?

That remains to be seen. Give yourself a couple of months and if you can see the work of the Holy Spirit in your life, you can be confident that you have been born-again. What is the work of the Spirit? Conviction (John 16:8), illumination (Luke 12:12; John 14:26; 16:13), strengthening (Acts 4:7, 8; Romans 8:13; 15:13, 19; Philippians 2:13), comfort (John 14:16), guidance, and the giving of the desire for a holy, Christ-like life that manifests the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23).
 
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1watchman

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I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, that only by faith through grace I'm saved.
I've confessed my faith in Christianity, to 1 or 2 people (in person), many more online.
I've repented from all sins.
I read the scriptures daily and pray without ceasing.

I have not been baptized by water.

Am I born again?

It may very will be so. Only God knows who has received His "...beloved Son" ---Jesus, the Christ of God; however, the true "born again" believers (as John 3 and John 14) will expect to see evidence of a professor as being devoted to the Lord Jesus, speaking of their walk and trust daily with Him, etc. ---and not just as to an intellectual experience or academic allowance toward God. For God says: "by their works ye shall know them" (Mt. 7:16-20). One should then be baptized unto God in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the Christ. This all will thus determine whether he/she would be received into a Bible-only Christian assembly. Keep looking up and "hold fast" God's Word! Write me personally if you wish.
 
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Paul of Eugene OR

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I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, that only by faith through grace I'm saved.
I've confessed my faith in Christianity, to 1 or 2 people (in person), many more online.
I've repented from all sins.
I read the scriptures daily and pray without ceasing.

I have not been baptized by water.

Am I born again?
There are Christian traditions that avoid baptism. The Salvation Army here in the United States doesn't baptize believers.

However, if you DO get baptized, you have the satisfaction of obeying the command of Christ. Most of us think that matters. But baptism itself is only an outward sign . . . it is the repentance and faith in the Cross of Christ that saves. The response of the heart to the Spirit of God.

The question you should ask yourself . . . did you accept Jesus as Savior and Lord due to the prompting of the spirit, or just as a rote set of words? Let the Spirit tell you.
 
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frater_domus

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Sorry. Nope.

Our thoughts, our feelings, our philosophies, have nothing to do with whether or not we are in the Kingdom.

Since you identify as a "Messianic," I will pose this question to you:

If a man was born into a Jewish family in the Old Covenant and first his parents didn't circumcise him, then he himself, upon reaching the "age of accountability" also refused to submit to circumcision, was he then a part of Israel? Was the uncircumcised man in any relationship at all with God?

Hence, if you have not be entered into the New Covenant by the means which replaces circumcision, you are disobedient to the instructions of the Church and the Apostles and are not "born again."

Now whether or not God will have mercy on you is not for me to judge. I am simply saying that the Bible manner of "cutting covenant" in the New Covenant is baptism, which has replaced circumcision (Col. 2: 11-3)
That's the Heidelberg Catechism. Personally, I disagree with it on the point of baptism. The reason there is ambiguity when it comes to baptism by water is because the bible deals with first generation Christian. There are literally no children being born into Christian families during that time to see whether it replaced circumcision. Thus we have no example of it. We won't get any wiser by assuming. If it isn't in the bible, then God did not deem it as pertinent info for our salvation.
Besides, it has been said that we are baptized by the Holy Spirit and our hearts are circumcized. So what role does baptism by water play? Same as the ring during marriage. The ring does not create the marriage, it is a symbol thereof, a consequence of the decision to marry. But it does not cause the marriage. Same here. Baptism by water symbolized your "marriage" to Christ and underlines your believe and thus your salvation. It does not cause it. To assume that some aquatic ceremony is required for salvation is legalism and devalues Jesus' sacrifice at the cross.

@MyLordYeshuaTheMessiah - If you put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and saviour, then you set of on the right path. Now give it time, for the seed of faith requires time to grow and you will have to learn how to listen to God's voice and the urgings of the Spirit.
 
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Johnny4ChristJesus

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I've accepted Jesus as my Savior and Lord, that only by faith through grace I'm saved.
I've confessed my faith in Christianity, to 1 or 2 people (in person), many more online.
I've repented from all sins.
I read the scriptures daily and pray without ceasing.

I have not been baptized by water.

Am I born again?

Why are you asking us?

When God first woke me up, I was looking for some confirmation from someone. And, I went to the pastor of the nominal church I had been going to. I described what happened to me: I had this deep inner peace that nothing that happened outside me could rock. I had a joy that I felt would transcend anything I was going through. And, I had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and Truth--I could not get enough of the Bible. I suddenly knew that God was real in a way that nobody could ever unconvinced me of. Because I had always been brainwashed against people claiming to be born again, and I didn't go up to an altar and say a four-step prayer, I just said: "God woke me up." But, when I asked that mainline pastor what happened to me, he didn't know. God instantaneously became my number one priority and all my other priorities lined up the way they always should have, but didn't. Everything in my life became about God. Naturally, I wanted to spend a lot of time with God, not just listening to Scripture, but also praying. Oh, and my being born again happened outside of and largely in spite of the church I was attending. God actually did it while I was away on a business trip and staying in a hotel. My hearing of the Gospel came through the hearing of The Word read to me through an NIV New Testament CD. Over 15 years later, I still listen to Scripture as often as possible. My God-given family listens to Scripture while we sleep at night as well. My life revolves around Him. Though I have suffered significant losses in my life, there has never been a time that I wanted to walk away from God. I just can't even fathom the thought, no matter what I have to go through!

Then, I think of Christians overseas who are given a choice to reject Jesus or watch their family killed in front of them. And, they won't reject Jesus. I feel a strong bond to that type of Christian.

In contrast, I would offer the example of my x-wife. For over 10 years of marriage (before God woke me up), we looked no different. We went to church when it was convenient. We usually only opened one of the many Bibles in our house when the church we were going to, at the time, asked us to read the following Sunday and we didn't want to look stupid. We barely prayed except once we had a daughter, I would offer up a popcorn prayer of sorts asking God to watch over her like I had been taught to as a kid by my parents (who only went to church on Christmas eve and easter). I can't say I ever heard my x-wife pray or talk about God in any meaningful way. Our priorities weren't the same, but God was low on both our lists, so if she didn't feel like getting up, we didn't feel any desire to go to church even once a week and certainly not more than that. I think she was more concerned about what her mother would think if she wasn't a regular church goer and I was more concerned about what the people in the church would think if we didn't go regularly. It would have been hard for anyone to tell we were genuine Christians, let alone that one of us claimed to be born again. There was hardly any outward evidence, other than a few decorations in our house. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, my x-wife claimed to be a born again Christian--born again before we ever met. She claimed to be a born again Christian. She claimed she gave her life to Jesus when her mom did--which was when she was a teenager in high school. She went up to the altar on the same day as her mom. I wasn't her first sexual partner. I met her during our senior year in college (we went to different schools) in a nightclub. After God woke me up, she threatened divorce and then threatened taking away our kids if I didn't turn away from God--because she said she was afraid I was going to become a pastor and couldn't be married to a pastor. She eventually chose to divorce me, because I wouldn't. In marriage counseling when asked by a pastor what changed for her after she was born again, she said: "Nothing really. I was very pretty and had a lot of boys interested in me, so nothing really changed."

Do you know that you know that you know God is real and you are His? Do you feel the faith described in Hebrews 11:6? Scripture says the Holy Spirit will testify to your spirit that you are a child of God (Rom 8:16), so if you are, my confirmation or denial shouldn't affect you. If someone were to tell me that I wasn't born again, it wouldn't affect me in the slightest. It didn't affect me when that pastor didn't know what happened to me. I know Who I know. I know that He chose to wake me up. I know that I certainly didn't deserve it.

Contrast those two detailed "born again" experiences. Have your life and priorities genuinely changed with God being an uncontested #1 priority? Are you diligently seeking God? Do you feel Him nudging you to do things that are quite opposite to what you would have naturally done in situations past? Consider what you would do, if everything you care about would be taken away, if you didn't reject Jesus and which choice you would make. Hopefully that will help you know where you really are. Are you afraid to die, or has death lost its power over you, because you know with certainly where you are going?

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on His Name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)

May God bless you to know that you know that you know beyond question, in Jesus' Name and for His glory!
 
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Yeshua HaDerekh

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Yes, really. I'm also in His Kingdom, led by the Holy Spirit (wind), taken out of the world spiritually but not physically. Just like Jesus was not of this world, but here doing the work of His Father.

Also see John 14:16-17, 1 John 4:5-6, John 15:19, John 17:14, Romans 8:14, Ephesians 2:6

But I'm interested in knowing what your point is.

The problem is that certain theology has co-opted the term "born again" to mean something it does not. Read the passage fully with no pre-conceived notions and think about what is really being said.
 
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Emli

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No one here has understood it correctly.
I would definitely argue that some here has, at least enough for it to count as being genuinely born-again by the Spirit in God's eyes.

ButI would still like to know, what would be your definition?
 
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Karola

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I would definitely argue that some here has, at least enough for it to count as being genuinely born-again by the Spirit in God's eyes.

ButI would still like to know, what would be your definition?
May I give an opinion?

The Holy Spirit enters your life at the point of conversion. He writes the law in your mind and places it on your heart God desires you to follow. Meaning, in your mind you know how God wants you to live, and in your heart you want to live according to the law placed there. You no longer seek to live a life in accordance with how you would naturally want to live it, but how God wants you to live it. In this respect you have been born again of the Spirit.

You now have heartfelt conviction of your sin before God for the first time in your life, for: Through the law we become conscious of sin. You cannot hide from it, or be in ignorance of it, for you cannot hide from what is in your most inward parts. Your life has been supernaturally changed. That's what I found anyway
 
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Emli

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May I give an opinion?

The Holy Spirit enters your life at the point of conversion. He writes the law in your mind and places it on your heart God desires you to follow. Meaning, in your mind you know how God wants you to live, and in your heart you want to live according to the law placed there. You no longer seek to live a life in accordance with how you would naturally want to live it, but how God wants you to live it. In this respect you have been born again of the Spirit.

You now have heartfelt conviction of your sin before God for the first time in your life, for: Through the law we become conscious of sin. You cannot hide from it, or be in ignorance of it, for you cannot hide from what is in your most inward parts. Your life has been supernaturally changed. That's what I found anyway
I agree, that is a big part of what it means to be born-again. When we receive the new creation in Christ, that is when we are born-again by the Spirit. We become like new-borns, in Him.
 
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