Dunston Family Church
Dunston Family Church
None of these are correct. Dr Billy Graham once said, "If you were born in a garage, it doesn't make you a car."
The phrase 'born again' is an often-misunderstood and misused term. Jesus Himself uses it to describe the process of spiritual rebirth. The original Greek literally translates, 'born from above', meaning made new and clean by God's Holy Spirit.
It is a phrase which simply refers to a person who has become a Christian. A Christian is a person who:
Has BELIEVED that on the cross, Jesus died to save them personally from their sins and from Hell.
Has REPENTED (that is, turned away from) the sins of their life which will ultimately lead to eternal separation from God.
Has RECEIVED Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, personally and as a conscious decision.
Jesus is the only Son of God, but Christians become his adopted sons. Once you are a Christian you are part of His family, and no-one can snatch you out of His Hand. (John 10:28) Being a Christian requires you to change and be different from the world. You can only do this by relying on God to help you.
The Christian life is not always easy, but God is always with you along the way. The blessings for a Christian are many - peace, joy, forgiveness, the limitless resources of God to help in in our daily lives - not to mention the rewards stored up in heaven for those who do the will of God. When we become a part of God's family, He is our Father, and will lovingly discipline His children where necessary, just as any good father would.
For the non Christian, there is no means of escaping the just punishishment of God for sin. The Bible tells us that there is only one way to heaven and that is through Jesus.
Jesus was either the Son of God or He was the greatest con man to ever live! You cannot believe that He was just a good man, because if He was not the Son of God He was a liar. Jesus came down from heaven to die on the cross to save sinners.
"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn’t be a great moral teacher, he would either be a lunatic - on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or else He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this Man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse ... but don’t let’s come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.” (C. S. Lewis)
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