Do you really believe in regeneration?
(Art by Cameron Grey)
In John 3 Jesus utters some of the most well known words found any where in the Bible. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Jesus made it plain that entrance into the Kingdom required something profound in terms of the interior life of a human being. If one is to relate to God, and his world (which includes the earth, but is much larger than the earth alone) then they will need a newness within, what scripture calls a new heart. This is not simply a new idea, or a new system of thought, or a new attitude. Jesus was speaking of a level of newness that means transformation at the deepest level of our motivations, our will, our emotions, and our thoughts. He was speaking of something to which the O.T. prophets pointed with great hope: Ezekial 36: (25)I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. (26) And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. However, I wonder - Do we really believe it is true and that we must relate to one another on the basis of this “new identity?”
Let me site two very difficult cases; Karla Faye Tucker and David Berkowitz. In 1983, 23 year old Karla Faye Tucker broke into the home of some aquaintances and brutally murdered two people with a pick axe. Karla’s crime was particularly cruel and heartless. Later, she bragged to others about having committed these murders. In 1984 at an evangelistic outreach in the prison, where she was being held, Karla responded to an invitation to come forward and give her life to Christ. Do you believe that Karla Faye Tucker, brutal murderer was transformed? Everyone who observed her over the next 10 years said that she was a different person. In 1998 Karla Faye was put to death for those crimes.
David Berkowitz was the notorious Son of Sam Killer. In the late 70’s Son of Sam terrorized NYC
by randomly killing 6 people and wounding several more. He brazenly taunted the police in letters mailed to the newspaper as his rampage continued. When he was caught he fabricated stories about the next door neighbor’s dog having “commanded” him to commit these murders. Nearly 10 years later, an inmate approached David in the yard and told him that God loved him and that Jesus could save and transform David. He scoffed and told the young man, “there is no way God could love someone like me, I’ve done so much evil theres no way He could forgive me.” The young man persisted and built a friendship with David over the next several weeks and months. He gave David a Bible and one night He read these words from Psalm 34: (6) This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. David said that tears suddenly filled his eyes and he felt compelled to get on his knees and cry out to the Lord Jesus for help. From that day forward, according to David Berkowitz he was a transformed man. Do you believe it?
One of the things which is so challenging for us as followers of Jesus is how many people we see who make this claim to be “born again” and yet end up doing and saying things that are ridiculously hypocritical. The failings of those who allege themselves to be Christians is one of those distressing realities plaguing the church. I wonder if our own weak-kneed experience with Christ’s transforming power is part of the reason for so little courage and boldness in sharing the gospel with others. I wonder if some Christains think - I don’t feel I’ve gotten very far in my “new birth,” maybe there really isn’t much change possible in this life. Maybe it will only be in the life to come that real transformation will come. But so many places in the N.T. encourage us to believe that change of a significant degree is possible for the person who will really give themselves to Jesus. “If any many be in Christ, he is a new creation. Behold old things have passed away, new things have come.” I also think that believing in the new birth transforms how we are to relate to one another. Doesn’t the new birth say - “we can never relate to one another as though we were our sins.” We must always believe the best about one another, believe that change is possible and hope and pray for God to work. We cannot condemn and we cannot render “final” judgment about our brothers and sisters, but instead we keep looking and hoping in Christ’s transforming power. That is the gospel I want to believe in, and share with others. The one that takes a brutal murderer like Karla Faye Tucker and turns her around. A gospel that takes a notorious serial killer like David Berkowitz and turns him into a gentle man living out a life sentence serving other prisoners for the sake of Christ.Share your thoughts…
Here is a link to a video of Karla’s testimony - Karla Faye Tucker
Here is a link to a 20 minute video on David Berkowitz which includes his personal testimony - David Berkowitz The video link is in the right hand column on the page under the heading “Online Video”