Do Christian Scientists think it's necessary to be born again? Yes, they do. They accept Jesus' demand "Ye must be born again" John 3:7; as a valid command they must obey. Paul's insistence that people put off "the old man" and put on "the new man" explains in some degree how the new birth takes place. And Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, expands this explanation when she writes: "The new birth is not the work of a moment. It begins with moments, and goes on with years; moments of surrender to God, of childlike trust and joyful adoption of good; moments of self-abnegation, self-consecration, heaven-born hope, and spiritual love." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 15;
To be born again we must understand God—understand that God is the only Life or Mind there is and that man and the universe reflect God and are spiritual. Beginning to reject the concept that life is in and of matter for a wholly spiritual concept of being initiates the new birth in our experience.
This rebirth is more than merely accepting a spiritual theory of being. It means striving to live our lives like the spiritual children of God we really are instead of like the ailing and sinful mortals that we actually aren't.
