What Does it Mean to be Born Again?

What a shame it was that I had never heard of being born again until I was thirteen. My only church experience was in Lutheran and Anglican congregations. Consequently, I never knew that Christ's atonement for sin was something I should care about.

In the providence of God, Sharon blacklock asked my sister Diane if she would attend her mom's vacation Bible school which she would conduct in her basement.

I felt reluctant at first. The previous year, I was thrown out of the Lutheran VBS for not being able to read the Bible. Nobody provided me with a strong magnifying glass and I had no idea where First Kings something-or-other was. So I felt reluctant to experience that again. When Diane insisted I go, I told myself I could always walk home if they were mean to me.

I was pleasantly surprised at the fun and games we had in Mrs. Blacklock's home. We sang songs and heard stories from the Bible. And as in past years at the Lutheran church, we had plenty of Kool-Aid and cookies.

Our teacher also gave us something of much greater worth that week. She read to us the Bible's most quoted verse: John 3:16. The Bible in Basic English renders it this way. "For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life."

I felt puzzled. Nobody had told me that before. Was this really true? I pondered that until Friday, the last day of the class.

I decided it must be right if the Bible said so and I had nothing to lose. Then I confessed to Jesus that I was a sinner and asked him into my life. None of the ramifications of that decision were apparent to me then but I came to realize that I had placed the running of my life in his nail-scarred hands.

But Mrs. Blacklock neglected to follow up with me. Neither did I get my own copy of the Bible like most VBS kids habitually receive. As a result, I listened to radio preachers and became a fan of The World Tomorrow. Those errant doctrines taught on that show primed me for the cultic church I joined.

I detailed all the wicked things the house church elders did and how I eventually was deprogrammed by good Bible teaching in  my memoir, How I Was Razed. Contact me if you wish to buy this paperback testimony of God's awesome grace.

On Saturday, I'll post about another person's meaningful summer. Unfortunately the man never was born again.