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?