Beliefnet has published it's 2008 Exit Poll Results. It is kind of interesting ... especially the part on whether or not a person considers themselves evangelical or born again. I was surprised to find so many "Christians" who do not consider themselves to be born again. How can you be a Christian and not be born again?
Answer: You cannot.
I don't consider myself either evangelical or born again. I am Catholic. Does that mean I am not Christian? Perhaps it is how you define born again? Seriously curious here...
I think there are some Christians who may not consider themselves to be evangelical or born again ... but still are. They just don't understand what it means to be born again and Jesus said we must be born again.
I have always considered Catholics to be Christians. But ... here is a link that explains it better than I probably would.
It is nice to see you are still out there! :)
Still out here - actually thinking of starting up the blog again, as soon as my son gives me more than 30 seconds to sit down!
I thought the issue could by the way you defined "born again". You are talking about the more traditional & biblical sense of "born again", not the more commonly used (although technically incorrect) meaning of someone belonging to the more fundamentalist/evangelical branch of Protestantism. In that case, yes I am Catholic and I am born again.
I know how that is! Our baby is 7 months old now and she is a handful!
Well, I consider myself evangelical as well, but I did not know there was a different definition for being born again! That would be an interesting discussion since evangelicals are "evangelical" because they are supposed to believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and the Bible gives us the meaning of being born again. So I can't help but wonder how they would explain that. :)
The issue is whether "born again" means restoral to spiritual health once, or once and for all. The traditional view, shared by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and by Lutherans and Anglicans once upon a time (but not much anymore), is that such is a one-time event -- hence the "one baptism for the forgiveness of sins" in the Nicene Creed -- that is sacramental and provides lasting graces. What the traditional view denies is that it provides perpetual "fire insurance"; having one's salvation and losing it is thoroughly Biblical.
The newer view, originating in Baptist tradition and now spread throughout Protestantism and evangelicalism, is that being "born again" is a personal decision event having no sacramental form or content, and that it confers spiritual health for all time ("once saved, always saved"), or else it never really happened.
It is because of what the traditional view denies and the newer view affirms that Catholics sometimes demur from claiming the title "born again", because that term has become associated in the public mind with the newer view.
-- craig