While Jesus speaks plainly about the necessity of new birth in following him. Is there a stigma attached to the term: "Born Again Christian" in our current context? Are there things that are un-willingly being communicated when this term is used to identify one's self as a follower of Jesus?Frank D. Macchia writes: "The many churches today that tout the 'born again' experience as a way of distinguishing themselves as the awakened ones from the 'worldly' churches should take heed. Even the most awakened churches exemplified in [the book of] Acts had to live from a perpetually painful and humbling conversion experience, one that couaed them to depart from long-held and even cherished beliefs. To use the born-again sloan as a cheap means for self-aggrandizement runs completely contratry to the true nature of converstion. Conversion should bring about humility, critical self-evaluation, and openness to the other to see what God would teach us about the expanding horizon of the Kingdom of God in the world."
