"What has a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Ha! Just the verse I was thinkin' of, Northern Christian! Mark8:36
TEH, the question of "BORN AGAIN" exists outside of ourselves. Wrapped in that one thing are several threads: "Is there a God?" "Is the Bible the inspired word of that God?" "Is the Bible an accurate recount of Jesus' words?" "Is Jesus Who He said He was?"
Truth exists outside of us; either Jesus was, as He Himself said, "the only way to God", or He was not. If not --- then either a liar, or a lunatic; there's really no other choice.
What did he give up to receive God? Perhaps he DID truly love his girlfriend --- but it was incomplete love; true fulfilling love is only that which is
RETURNED. And this is the essence of Christianity --- we claim that GOD has such a love for us; a full, complete, unconditional love;
that returns to us a hundred fold when we love God!
Picture Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemene; sweating literal blood, so intense were His emotions; fully knowing that there would be a CROSS on the 'morrow. A cross, nails,
the worst physical death in the world. "Take this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours." He absolutely could have rejected the Cross, He could have called a legion of angels FROM the Cross to rescue Him --- they certainly were stomping in frustration
at being restrained from helping Him...
And yet He did not; hanging there, torn on his brow, torn on his back, torn on his wrists and feet --- bleeding from seemingly every place, darkness covering His Spirit --- the darkness of OUR CRIMES; as our evil evaporated from us and condensed on HIM; darkness that the Father could not abide!
"FATHER! Why hast Thou FORSAKEN ME?!?!"
We cannot imagine the fire of pain that assaulted Him from his wounds; from the whip tied with bits of metal and bone, SHREDDING his back; from the thorns that pierced right down to His skull; and from the nails POUNDED RIGHT THROUGH HIS LIMBS!
Never has the Universe known such love; for you, for me.
If ANY of you was the LAST person in the UNIVERSE, and He had to die to save ONLY YOU, there would He hang ---
just for you.
"TETELESTAI!"
That was His last word; not "IT IS FINISHED", but "TETELESTAI";
your debt is paid; your sins caused the debt of death, I PAID INSTEAD OF YOU!
How can I willfully sin, KNOWING that He was hanging there, FOR ME? How can I refuse such love? I cannot understand that kind of love; I can only cherish it...
...and love Him back, as best I can...
If this one truth really exists as you say, then what is it? Is it a truth like 2+2=4? Where all reasonably minded people, regardless of their religious affiliation, can agree on? Or is it one of those truths that changes depending on your spiritual faith?
Havoc, in the first paragraph of this post, I asserted a progression of truths --- "the essence of the Universe". Let's say God is REAL,
ONE God. Let's say Jesus is as He said, PART of that One God. A real person, sentient --- laughing, crying, reasoning, thinking Being.
GOD --- infinite omniscient omnipotent omnipresent CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE; author of Love, embodiment of love.
Can "lost and fallible man" ever FIND such a God?
Here is a promise bold and clear; a promise based on the reality of that God:
"For I know the plans I have for you, plans for prosperity and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope; then you will SEEK Me and you will FIND Me, when you search with all your heart. I WILL BE FOUND BY YOU!!!" Jeremiah 19:11-14
There is the promise. Real, sentient God; if you SEEK Him, you will FIND Him; and He will receive you.
That's it --- if you doubt, then ASK Him; if you MEAN it, you will find Him. This is the reality of the Universe...