Why Being “Born Again” is a Bad Idea
Would you call yourself “Born Again”? Why do you do that when the phrase is only found once in the entire Bible? Is there more harm than benefit to calling yourself “Born Again”? For some reason, I have not used the term to describe myself or my faith for a number of years now. I just didn’t feel comfortable using the term to describe myself, but I didn’t have any particular reason. But now I do! And it all thanks to Brian Walsh.
Brian Walsh is a former professor of mine at Wycliffe College and one of the people in my life responsible for messing me up. He wrote two blog posts at Empire Remixed about the term “Born Again” and I have linked to them before but I can tell by looking at my blog stats that not many of my readers clicked through to his original post. So here it is again.
When asked by a student if he was born again, Brian responded,
“If by being ‘born again’ you mean, ‘do I root my life in a relationship with Jesus Christ?’ then the answer is clearly yes. But if you mean, do I find myself comfortable in a certain subculture of modern Christianity, then the answer is no.
But if the question means, ‘can I trust you?’” (at which the student quickly nodded his head), “then the answer is decidedly no. If all that it takes to get you to trust me is for me to say that I am born again, then definitely no. I am not born again, and you should not grant me any trust too quickly.”
There is so much more in his post and I would love for you to go read it. Click here.
In a follow-up post, Brian compares the term “born again” to a shibboleth:
So what’s wrong with being “born again”? In my last blog I suggested that the term “born again” is a ‘shibboleth.’ You remember where this word ‘shibboleth’ comes from, right? In Judges chapter 12 the Gileadites engage in genocide against the Ephraimites. But how do you know who an Ephraimite is and who is not an Ephraimite?
Well, when the men of Gilead met someone who they suspected of being an Ephraimite they asked him to say ‘shibboleth’ and if they replied ‘sibboleth’ then their accent and their inability to make the ‘sh’ sound in this word was proof that they were Ephraimites and they were then killed.
Nice stuff.
So when I say that being ‘born again’ is a shibboleth I am saying that this term functions as a foundational boundary marker of who is in and who is out, and that such boundary markers are a matter of death to those who are out.
Wait a minute, you say. Is Walsh saying that born again Christians want to kill anyone who is not one of them? Umm, well … yes, that is what I am saying.
Think about if for a minute. If you are not born again, then what are you? Well, you are not a Christian. And in ‘born again’ theology what happens to those who are not born again? They go to hell! So yes, I am saying that this particular shibboleth functions as all shibboleths function, to justify death – eternal death and damnation – to any who cannot or will not use this particular language.
There really is much more to his post and so I encourage you to look at this post by clicking here.
Several years ago when someone at work found out I was a Christian, they followed immediately with, “But are you one of those Born Again Christians?” There was a look of disgust in his face as he said the words, “born again”. I didn’t know what to say at first because, yes I AM born again, but no I am NOT “one of those born again Christians” that he was referring to. When I think of the “born againers”, I think of narrow minded, self-righteous, religious people. Why do I have that image? (I also think of the parallel universe/American sub-culture that has spawned a $7 billion industry with novels about the rapture, Bibleman, Ultimate Christian Wrestling, Bible amusement parks and Testamints! HT: Rapture Ready!)
So, as Brian concludes in his post . . .
(by the way, have you clicked on the link to his post yet? 
)
. . . maybe this is a term that does more harm than good and one that we can do without.
What do you think? Are you “born again”, or do you prefer to use a different metaphor?
Comments
I need to brush up on my old testament stories! I had not remembered that “shibboleth” ordeal.
I too stopped using the term born again because it had lost its original meaning. I call myself a Christ-Follower.It is short and to the point.
I did click on the link and scanned the article but it is not an arto\icle to scan…so I will return to it later tonight when the house gets quiet!
Thanks for this!
I like the Shibboleth comparison, I think it works very well.
My problem is that all terms when used enough gain baggage.
So now we have “Religious”, “born-again”, Evangelical as all being negative terms, Paul Young even noted in his recent interview posted here that even “Christian” has baggage associated with it. Instead we replace it with “red letter Christian” or “Christ Follower”.
Do we have to keep redefining these terms to show that we are not like other Christ followers?
Mike, I love the Shibboleth comparison as well (it’s not mine, of course – but I still want to use it!)
Yes, what do we do with terms that are usually misunderstood. When we were in Japan as missionaries, we didn’t tell our neighbours etc. that we were missionaries because of the baggage that came with that term.
For example, as soon as Christians found out we were missionaries, we were put up on a pedestal and could almost get them to jump off a cliff by merely suggesting the idea. Of course, putting ANYONE on a pedestal is just not good for church growth (to say the least) so we avoided the term.
When non-church people hear the word missionary, they assume that we are English teachers who teach English for free at church.
So, we used different words to describe what we were doing in Japan because the term “missionary” was (at least, in our minds) beyond redemption.
Now, what do we do with words that carry baggage – do we redeem them or use different terminology? I don’t know. I guess sometimes we decide to redeem and others we decide to let die. I would really love to have a discussion about this with you someday.
Joel
Thanks for clicking through to the original. You may find other very insightful posts at their blog as well! I know I do!
BTW, how do you get your photo to appear beside you name in these comments?
Take a look at 1 Peter 1:23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides forever”. If a person is not “born again”, they are not a “christian”, the terms are synonymous. How can someone be a follower of Jesus if they never receive a second birth by his spirit? the term “born again” has been twisted and warped by the enemy by using people that are not “born again” to commit evil acts and label themselves born again. what we need to do is A. live up to what the term means by our conduct and coversation and B. explain to the lost what it means to be “born again”
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Thanks!
the term ‘Born Again’ is a beautiful summary of what it means to be redeemed and reconciled to God. Everything about being a Christian starts and depends on the idea of being ‘born again’. To say the term only appears once in the bible is semantics of language. Basically everytime baptism is mentioned, it’s referring to the theme of being ‘Born Again’.
I believe the concept of being born again is the most important thing to understand in all of Christianity. Domenic explains it well in such a brief comment.
The issue of calling yourself ‘born again’ and the way it is interpreted is simply a matter of language. Maybe using that term will communicate the wrong thing to certain people, but that’s only because the meaning has been misinterpreted. We have to use good judgement in our communication, and this applies to thousands of phrases and terms.
People need to know we’re born again, and they need to hear about how to be born again (it’s so simple!), but using the words ‘born again’ may not always be the best way to communicate that anymore.
Hi Domenic,
That is another good verse about being born again. Thanks for adding it here. I hope you understand that I have no problem with being born again (I, myself am born again) but only with how that term is (mis)understood among normal people.
this was rather helpful for me. thank you.
Hi im catholic, my fiance is a born again christian, and he wants me to convert. I just dont like the thought that they are making it seem that catholics are not as “spiritual” as they are and that what we(catholics) do are sins. i.e. praying to mary for guidance. I dont see anything wrong with this. I know the Jesus is the Savior, but asking for guidance from mary or saints. is not bad in my opinion.
I love the catholic community.. I also respect the born again followers. But I dont know how we will be able to resolve this. Who should give in?
3 times, it is mentioned 3 times, and not just “mentioned”, but stated emphatically. you MUST be born again… you CANNOT see the kingdom of god. being born again is very much like a proposal of marriage, an intimate time and place when you pledged yourself to him. he asked, you said yes, he said “this way?” you said “I’ll try” baptism is very much like the marriage ceremony, when we go before our friends and loved ones and vow the vow, make the committment. how you choose to live your married life after that is different for everyone. ive been married 38 yrs. and married to my jesus for 45. its called a commitment.