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The Dynamics of Becoming "Born-Again"
Becoming a born-again Christian usually entails the following: (1 )A person is consciously or sub-consciously concerned with the direction of his life. This may include a recent traumatic happening in his life such as a death, loss of a job, divorce mortgage foreclosure or any number of events which may cause one to look closely at the specific causes and effects in his life.
There may be a "spiritual hunger", a strong desire to know "Why am I here?", and "What's the purpose of my life on this earth?". The realization that one is mortal and that at some time, death will overtake and this earthly existence will cease often plays a big role in "seeking God". There are many factors and these are only a few.
(2)The person is in some manner exposed to the born again teaching. This may occur in church, at an evangelistic service, on television, by reading, or other media.
(3)At some point, the person is told that (a) all humans have sinned (transgression or the breaking of divine law) and are therefore sinners. (b)That the bible is the word of God and it states that sinners cannot go to heaven and will suffer some sort of spiritual death forever and that (c)God has, however, provided a way for the sinner by placing the guilt of the sinner on his son, Jesus Christ, who came to the earth as a human and took the sins of all humanity on himself by suffering death by crucifixion.
(4)The individual is strongly encouraged to "accept" this sacrifice by Jesus, and ask God to forgive his past sins. When the person does this, God grants him forgiveness and he may now enter into heaven or God's presence when he dies. He is taught that he is a "new person" or a "new creature" and that the spirit of Jesus Christ is imparted to him - something he didn't have before. He is now a "spiritual" being as well as a human being.
The procedure I have described may vary according to different churches and their interpretations of the bible and its requirements for salvation but these are the basic guidelines for salvation. I say this for my Christian friends who may dispute the exact requirements.
The "new" Christian is encouraged to become involved with others who have like beliefs. Once other Christians become aware that the person has become "saved" or "born again", they encourage him to attend fundamentalist churches. The attendance allows the new Christian to be exposed to older Christians who begin their indoctrination and conditioning.
The new Christian is encouraged to attend classes and fraternize only with those who hold the same beliefs. Scripture is used to reinforced these ideas. The new Christian is then 'trained' in the ways of the Lord according to the beliefs of the particular church.
There are many inherent problems with the "prescription for salvation" I have described above.
The Problems
The new Christian usually has very little or even no knowledge of the bible and its origins and the history of the church when he makes his committment. Yet he has chosen to base his entire life on the contents of a book of which he knows very little or nothing at all. He is now being very subtly trained by Christians who were once in the same shoes as the new Christian. They teach him what they have been taught by the Christians who were before them - and so on.
The knowledge handed down from the older Christians is allegedy "bible based" and "scriptural". In fact, it is what they have been taught and decided to accept as true.
The real truth is that the bible is a compendium of books by different authors from different time periods. It describes a biblegod who, during the Passover, killed innocents such as infants and old men and women. It describes him as "repenting" or changing his previous committments as he pleases. It contains contradictions, inconsistencies and errors. It sometimes describes God as a singular entity - sometimes as having more than one personality.
Much of the bible is borrowed from earlier, ancient religions. Many of the names and incidents are strikingly similar. One needs only observe the present day Christian holidays to verify this truth. Easter is of Pagan origin. Christmas was celebrated by older religions before Christ arrived.
Although Jesus never referred to his 'miraculous' birth, Christians claim he was born of a virgin - a most unusual happening. The 'original' evidence is supported only in the gospels of Luke and Matthew. It is not supported in any historical work. There are, however, other "virgin" births in other ancient religions similar to the one described in the bible. When confronted with scientific evidence that a virgin birth is difficult if not impossible, the born-again response is usually "God can do anything". Born-again Christians, on the other hand, will not accept a response from a non-believer which may be superstitious in nature. Any phenomena which occurs outside of Bible teachings is usually attributed to Satan, demons or just plain "evil".
While we know that a human must have oxygen to live and that the digestive juices in a whale's stomach will deteriorate metal, nevertheless, the bible teaches us that Jonah lived in a fish's belly for three days and survived.
Again, the Christian response is usually "God can do anything" which is, of course, an entirely inadequate response.
It is important to realize that Christianity invented sin. Then, Christianity offers to "fix" it so the sinner can go to heaven. Its sort of like having someone punch you in the eye and then sell you ice to keep the swelling down.
The bible teaches that women are worth less than men. In the Old Testament when women were sold, they were always sold for less money than men. (Biblegod condoned the practice of selling human beings and also condoned slavery.) The Bible commands that women should not be allowed to preach in church. It also commands that women must always be subservient to men.
The new "Promise Keepers" movement promises to enforce and keep alive the ancient customs.
The thrust of my comments is to show that the bible is not a book to be trusted to guide one's life. Nor are seasoned born-again Christians accurate or knowledgable with their teachings about salvation, born-againism, etc. They parrot what they've been taught. And what they've been taught is incorrect, inaccurate and unproven. And they in turn teach their falsehoods to others.
Is the Bible Really the Inerrant Word of God?
It is my sincere hope that no one reading this will ever refuse to explore new areas of information and knowledge because of unfounded fears that new ideas may re-shape their thinking and beliefs. We are all "captains of our own ship" and therefore free to accept or reject any or all new information and concepts.Born again Christians argue that the bible is the infallible, inerrant, inspired word of God. Let's take a close look.
When a born again fundamentalist Christian speaks of salvation or matters regarding his spiritual beliefs, he usually backs up his statements by quoting the bible to prove his authority. He quotes biblical verses taken from various areas of the bible in a certain sequence. The quotes and the sequence serve as the authority to prove that the statements are true.
Nearly any religious doctrine can be "proven" by quoting scriptures in the alleged proper sequence, claiming they are all in context with each other.
Christians use scripture to prove they are correct. Interestingly, there are hundreds of differing Christian factions - all using scripture to prove that only they have the truth.
Using Scripture to prove Scripture is factual and true is called "begging the question". Proof must come from extra-biblical, non biased, proven documentation.
Lets go right to the core of belief that the bible is the word of God. How valid is the claim that the bible is inerrant (without error) and that it contains no contradictions?
It is a fact that not a single original manuscript of any book of the bible exists today. We cannot, therefore, say that, in the present tense, "they are inerrant". Furthermore, by the time the latest book of the bible was written, all of the original manuscripts had long since been worn out and replaced by copies. There were no firsthand copies. They were copies of copies of copies....and on and on. This means that nobody ever saw the entire bible as it was originally written.Even if the original manuscripts were inerrant - and there is no evidence that they were - there is presently no way to determine which parts of the bible were originally "true" and which parts are now "false" or errant.
So if the claim is made the scriptures were inerrant in their original manuscripts, it is an empty, meaningless claim today since there is no way to compare the copies of copies of copies to the original manuscripts to verify their accuracy. There never was an "inerrant" bible and there never will be. Fundamentalist Christians will certainly dispute what I have written. Some will say they don't care what I say and that the bible is the inspired word of God and they choose to believe it - not me. That's because the bible says it is the word of god. That's really a "Catch 22". A favorite quote by born-again Christians is, "The bible says it, I believe it, that settles it!". No reason, logic, thinking or knowledge is required.
If the bible says it, its true. The bible is a self-perpetuating book. It makes claims and then warns and threatens us not to dispute those claims under pain of being cast into a "lake of fire". If you choose to believe the entire bible literally, you are left absolutely no room or right to questions its validity or authority.
An interesting note - the entire content of the Bible was chosen by men. The writings which were excluded were excluded by men. Be assured these men all had an agenda which was to propagate and preserve what THEY believed. Some scholars chose to include books contained in the "Apocrypha" and these books appear in the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible. Other men chose to omit the Apocrypha, so it is not included in the King James version. The concept of the Trinity of the Godhead was a political issue and was voted upon by religious factions in the early days of Christianity. Whether you accept the Trinity as a part of your beliefs or not, the Trinity is generally incorporated into Chrisitan doctrine because men voted upon the concept and the pro-Trinity faction won. Divine inspiration of what to include and preclude in the Bible then, often depended upon the whims and agenda of a man or a few men who made the decision.
Having Second Thoughts About Born Again Fundamentalist Christianity?
If you're involved in born again, fundamentalist Christianity and you're have second thoughts and doubts about it, join the email discussion group BELOW where you can discuss them with others who feel the same way you do.
The email list below (sometimes called a newsgroup) consists of ex-fundamentalists and those who are interested in walking away from born again fundamentalism or who aren't sure and have questions about whether to leave.
This is a support group and is not intended to take you away from spiritual beliefs in which you are comfortable and in which you wish to stay.
created 3-11-99
revised 7-5-03