Catholic Apologetics #75
“Jesus answered, and said to [Nicodemus]: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith to him: How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born again? Jesus answered: Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5).
What does it mean to be truly born again?
The term “born again” is often used by Protestants who claim that someone can simply say “I accept Jesus as my savior,” as if this one-time statement saves a person from eternal damnation[1]. Interestingly, those who make this claim do not follow what Our Lord Himself taught in the Scriptures. To be born again, one must be born “of water and the Holy Ghost.” And that reference to both the Holy Ghost and water unequivocally refers to Our Lord’s Commandment to receive Baptism.
We Are Born Again in Baptism
Right before ascending bodily into Heaven, Our Lord Jesus Christ enjoined His Apostles to baptize. He did not tell them to write the Bible or tell future converts to simply accept Him as a Savior. Our Blessed Lord was unambiguous: “All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The Errors of “Born-Again” Protestants
What these people believe is not uniform or internally consistent, and it inevitably involves significant errors in direct contradiction to Our Lord’s own teachings in the Church and in Sacred Scripture. Some of these errors include:
- The rejection of Baptism as the means of being born again, in direct contradiction to John 3:3-5. The early Church was unambiguously clear that Baptism is the only means of becoming a Christian.[2]
- The belief that someone can be assured of salvation in this life simply by personally accepting Jesus verbally, even though Our Lord never taught this. In contrast, Our Lord taught that many souls who simply called Him “Lord” without following all of His teachings would be condemned to hell (see Matthew 7:21).
- The belief in the Rapture at the end of time. The Rapture has no basis in the Bible whatsoever as it was invented by the British Protestant, John Nelson Darby, in the 1830s. It also has no basis in Our Lord’s teaching, in Catholic Tradition, or any part of Christianity. It is erroneous fiction.[3]
- The rejection of the entire Sacramental system. Last Rites, Confession, the Holy Eucharist, etc. are not a part of their beliefs even though we have two-thousand years of Tradition bearing witness to these teachings.[4]
- The rejection of our Blessed Mother Mary as Co-Redemptrix, Her role in salvation history, and Her ability to intercede for us.
- The rejection of the distinction between mortal and venial sin, contrary to the very words of St. John the Apostle in 1 John 5:17: “…All wrongdoing is sin, but not all sin is deadly.”
The Truth Is Found Only in the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church’s doctrines and teachings are confirmed by the harmony among 2,000 years of writings and teachings. And God Himself continues to confirm these by working miracles through the Catholic Church. God would not work miracles in a false religion (cf. Luke 11:18). Do we have any born-again Protestants performing miracles to illustrate that God approves of their teachings? No. There are none.
Let us work for the conversion of all non-Catholics. We should be prepared to give an account in defense of the Church’s various teachings, including why Baptism is the only means of spiritual rebirth. The sixth chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans lays out important theological principles concerning the importance of Baptism, in terms of “dying” with Christ and “rising to new life” in Him.
And we must also strive to live holy lives in conformity with the Church’s teachings. In the first century this was already a challenge for Christians. Hence, St. John the Apostle taught: “My little children, let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed, and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Living a hypocritical life or one with scandals generally only leads souls away from the Church.
Let us not forget to also pray for the conversion of Protestants – and all non-Catholics – to the Catholic Faith.
Prayer for the Conversion of Protestants:
O Lord, Who wast torn by the rebellion of Thy children whom, at one time within the Ark of Salvation, ventured out into the deep having itching ears, succumbed to the false teachers of Protestant ministers who listened more to the prideful urgings of the devil to break away from the bosom of holy Mother Church and multiply worse than the first thousands of times over.
We pray Thee for our formerly Catholic brethren to give them the grace to realize the error of their ways and return to the Barque of Peter. May Thy holy Mother intercede and soften the hearts of those who may not realize the tenets they have been taught are not the full truths Thou charged Thy Apostles to spread throughout the world that all may be one. Show them through Thy wondrous ways that only in the Barque Thou founded can they truly see the marks of the true Faith: one, holy, catholic and truly apostolic. Guide them to accept and cherish Thy blessed Mother and to realize Her role which Thou hast chosen for Her, the second Eve, as Co-redemptrix of souls.
Grant Thy true priests the courage to feed Thy lambs with the manna of Thy Spirit so that every people and every tongue may acknowledge and glorify Thee as Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in unity with the Triune Divinity, forever and ever. Amen.
[1] Protestants do not have a uniformly shared body of beliefs and so numerous variations on this theme exist among them. For example, some argue the profession can be private, others that it must be public. Some will say it must “truly come from the heart” – which is determined by the individual, or the community, or various elders. Some argue there should be a corresponding change in one’s lifestyle, but the specifics are generally vague. Still others believe one can “backslide” and hence this profession may have to be made more than once. And then there are those who do not believe such a profession has salvific value.
[2] St. Augustine wrote: “No one becomes a member of Christ except it be either by baptism in Christ or death for Christ” (On the Soul and Its Origin, 1:10, 419 AD).
[3] Father Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M., Ph.D., is a professor of the Old Testament, Semitic languages and biblical spirituality at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, California. He writes: “What is the Catholic teaching on the Rapture? There is none; there is no traditional Christian teaching on the Rapture. It is a late, and rather suspect, arrival on the scene. Will Catholics be raptured? No, of course not, but then neither will be anyone else.”
[4] Spend some time studying the Catholic Catechism to see the clear Scriptural teachings on the Sacraments at https://fatima.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/bt054_catholic_catechism.pdf