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Unread postPosted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 9:24 pm 
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Question: "What is regeneration according to the Bible?"

Answer: Another word for regeneration is rebirth, from which we get the phrase “born again.” To be born again is opposed to, and distinguished from, our first birth, when we were conceived in sin. The new birth is a spiritual, holy, and heavenly birth signified by a being made alive in a spiritual sense. Our first birth, on the other hand, was one of spiritual death because of inherited sin. Man in his natural state is “dead in trespasses and sins” until we are “made alive” (regenerated) by Christ when we place our faith in Him (Ephesians 2:1). After regeneration, we begin to see, and hear, and seek after divine things, and to live a life of faith and holiness. Now Christ is formed in the hearts; we are now partakers of the divine nature, having been made new creatures. God, not man, is the source of this (Ephesians 2:1, 8). It is not by men's works, but by God’s own good will and pleasure. His great love and free gift, His rich grace and abundant mercy, are the cause of it and these attributes of God are displayed in the regeneration and conversion of sinners.

Regeneration is part of the "salvation package," if you will, along with sealing (Ephesians 1:14), adoption (Galatians 4:5), reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20), and many other salvation concepts. Being born again or born from above is parallel to regeneration (John 3:6-7; Ephesians 2:1; 1 Peter 1:23; John 1:13; 1 John 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18). Simply put, regeneration is God making a person spiritually alive, a new creation, as a result of faith in Jesus Christ. The reason regeneration is necessary is that prior to salvation we are not God's children (John 1:12-13); rather, we are children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3; Romans 5:18-20). Before salvation, we are degenerate. After salvation we are regenerated. The result of regeneration is peace with God (Romans 5:1), new life (Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:17), and eternal sonship (John 1:12-13; Galatians 3:26). This regeneration is eternal and begins the process of sanctification wherein we become the people God intended for us to be (Romans 8:28-30).

The Bible is clear that the only means of regeneration is by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. No amount of good works or keeping of the law can regenerate the heart which from birth is “deceitful and wicked above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). This concept of the new birth is unique to Christianity. No other religion offers a cure for the total depravity of the human heart, preferring instead to outline an often massive body of works and deeds that must be done to gain favor with God. God has told us, though, that “by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:20). Total regeneration of the heart is necessary for salvation. Paul explains this concept perfectly in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This is true regeneration.


Ok Right off the bat i'm gonna start with an explanation: Mando and I have been talking about some key concepts in the Christian faith and I have been exploring with great interest his knowledge of the Christian realms. I am not without experience in this particular religion nor in this religion singularly. I hope to continue in my discussions with Mando on winmx and mean no disrespect to the intelligence of religious communities but would rather show logic and reason to be the effective tools we so often praise them for.

I began with a simple question shown at the top and mando gave me this rather short reply you can view in its original text here: http://www.gotquestions.org/regeneration-Bible.html

Regeneration and rebirth are two different words seemed to be used interchangably here. It always worries me when this happens unless they already mean relativly the same thing. Immediately this article asks more than it answers bringing in the idea of "conceived in sin" to question. How is a human being conceived in sin and what is sin that we can be conceived in it? It's certainly not physical else we'd be aware of it and have a science laid out in pursuit of it's facts but sin doesn't seem to have a physical root yet is always referred to in the religious community as a birth defect in all humans in every culture and circumstance everywhere. What officiates this new birth? Why Be born again? isn't the idea of regeneration to be fixed rather than rebuilt? The writer goes on to claim that our first birth, without any real evidence of the claim, was one of spirtual death. What exactly does a spiritual death mean, Mando? Why go through all this symbolism. We are born once and we die once what is the point to this rif-raff of births and deaths and the multiplicity of sins? What kind of observable evidence do we have that all this is necessary? I haven't seen head nor tail. Nor body nor scent or foot/paw/hoof/saskqatch prints. Reason likes to keep things simple out of efficiency and logic only allows the building of complexity on the back of simplicity.

Here is the meat of this article, what i am really trying to get at: What is changed when you are regenerated and what does God have to do with and most importantly how is that achieved?

The rest of this is mostly religious psychobabble and would only make me write two more paragraphs of questions. I personally think I have enough for any apologist at the moment.


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Unread postPosted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 7:06 am 
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Since the answers too all religious questions seem to be in the bible, the real question is, can any christian provide a factual answer to any question? In my experience if you ask Mando a question, he simply spews out quotes from the bible, this is NOT fact, but just babble from the big chrisitian book of myth. Until the bible is proven as fact it is all but pointless asking people like Mando anything.


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