Born Again?

Nichodemus said "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
- John 3.2-3

This little dialogue goes on to talk about what it means to be "Born of the Spirit", to be born again. What does this mean?

In the church (in general), we take it to refer to that Moment when a person first turns their attention to Jesus and makes a decision, whether it be by altar call or tract or personal conversation, to "give their lives to Jesus" or "get saved." I think this comes from a desire to see salvation as a secure decision.

If salvation is a momentary decision, then we can know "beyond a shadow of doubt that we'll go to heaven when we die." We can, further, understand the faiths of others and help guide them to that moment for themselves.

But, what if this isn't what Jesus meant? What if Jesus was talking about this being "born again" as a process in which a person changes his/her entire lifestyle, entire reality, entire way of thinking of themselves and others? What if Jesus was talking about a new set of eyes and ears, a new method of perceiving everything, a completely new personhood? What if being born again is that conflict that Paul talks about in Romans, where flesh fights against spirit, where the old person is constantly at war with the new?

Or, maybe Jesus is talking about birth itself, the process from conception, through all the phases of the fetus, to baby. What if Jesus is referring to re-birth as a development? What if he's referring to the common ideal of birth in which it takes 9 months, proper nutrition, much turmoil, etc. to produce a new being?

This makes me think of theology (duh..right?). It makes me think of a "first birth" as our birth in Adam (and Eve), as God's image bearers, as perfect crown of creation. However, as Scripture reads, there was then a Fall, a crisis that, in essence, killed the original creation; as God promised "if you eat of this fruit, you will surely die." So, if we are dead, then we must be reborn.

But, when does this re-birth, this being "born again" occur? Is it after a short prayer, after accepting some doctrinal truths, once we make an initial decision to seek after God? If our first birth was into perfection, then the new birth should follow suit. If this is the case, then I have not truly, fully been "born again." Certainly I am growing. God is nourishing me and I'm forming into the man he once created (Adam), I'm learning how to view reality as it truly is, learning how to have an interactive relationship with God.

But, have I yet been born? Or will I one day see "then" in full what I see "now" in shadows and glimpses? Will I one day know fully, as compared to my current state of partial knowledge? Should I, then, be seeking the position of "born again" or the process? Should I be seeking a deeper security or a closer sync with the re-birth perspective?

Can I both live in the "kingdom of God", the "fullness of life" that Jesus promises is here, at hand, and remain unfinished or still unborn to the "born again" identity?