The Normal Christian Birth: How to Give New Believers a Proper Start in Life

by David Pawson

This is a study of initiation into the New Testament, which attempts to reveal a synthesis of the "liberal" emphasis on repentance, the "evangelical" emphasis on faith, the "sacramental" on Baptism, and the "pentecostal" on the Spirit. These "four spiritual doors" are then related to conversion and regeneration.

Genres: Christian, Theology

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Alex Lupoian · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Pawson does his best to explain the biblical texts in their own context with loyalty, regardless of the tradition, without compromising the author's intent.

He is not trying to find texts to suit his theology or his own experience, but rather to determine the theology from the text.

I know every denomination or cult says they regard themselves loyal to the truth and under Biblical authority, but of course that is impossible, as some of them reach absurd conclusions ( some examples of false and terrible "doctrines directly from the Bible" : The Crusades, Arianism, praying to the saints, worshipping Mary and icons, etc)

Sometimes what you find in the Bible won't suit your life. You shouldn't be surprised, as you are not perfect, but God's requirements are :)
When we do find things in the Bible that are not true in our life, my friend, that is the time for us to repent, not to justify ourselves. May God help us to do so!

All who regard themselves Christians should approach the Bible with meekness, with an open heart and mind, with a strong conviction that the truth must be understood and lived.

This book does just so.

I thank God for men like David Pawson!

[KD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for New Believers. Teaching the Indispensable Basics

Brilliant writer and extremely thorough in his explanations. Great Bible teacher, understanding that truth must always came back to Scripture. Not afraid to list differences between Christian Groups/people etc. But insists on coming to truth rather than lazy and easy tradition. Would and should have read this years ago. Put it in the hand or go through the book with a new believer. Priceless.

[Shiping · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary 读后感
Inspired; refreshing; interesting; delighted; but hard for me to absorb them all in and combine with my own original views systematically, maybe I even didn't have a systematic view at all. So still connecting dots and will keep connecting dots.
Overall I felt a connected sense of identify with this Christian faith described in this book.

List a few inspiring points here

The normal Christian birth contains 4 steps: repent to God - believe in Jesus - Baptized into water - Receive the spirit.
Repent to God:
• Repent to God, not to yourself or other people for you have done wrong things to God.
• When you repent you should repent specific sin, there is no such thing called general sin.
• Be serious and be sensitive about sin and repent.
• Prove repentance in deed not just in words. Put things right.
Believe in Jesus:
• 'Believe in' means you can put your life into its hand, willing to take risk for it.
• Believing in Jesus is about personal connection, connection with Jesus, him. E.g. talking with Jesus by calling his name, in words like 'Jesus, I …'
• When did you last time believe in Jesus? When did you act on the truth of God's word? Deeds.
Baptize in to water:
• God is involved in baptizing, not just a human act
• 'baptize into' has meaning of burying your old self, a cleanup, empty.
Receive holy spirit
• Hebrew faith is about physical and spiritual as a whole, a physical act has spiritual effect.
• A personal that has been baptized and emptied has to be filled with new things(the spirit) or it could be just a miserable life and has danger of demon's attach
• A renewal process that God renew you to the original condition
• Receiving the spirit is a gift from God, like a bit taste of heaven
• Do you know that date that you receive the holy spirit?
• Receiving the spirit should be a experience with evidence e.g. overflowed experience like yelling out words in another language
Also important
• 'Being save' is about being saved from sin but not from hell.
• Being saved in a process, a purification process, one day God will complete the purification process to our original condition
• Christian faith is about the message 'you can live right' 'you have chance to live right' vs
'You must live right'
• God justify and accept you before he sanctify you
• Don't be a minimum Christian, move on and seek.

[Jair Goh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read through this book by the Bible teacher that I frequent most and who has started this journey for me, I am surprised at how many of his doctrines follow those that I have thought through myself. I for one, did not receive a majority of my teaching from him or from people I know in any regard. I definitely have had the privilege of the internet but I am amazed that how some of the things I believed were similarly echoed sentiments of this teacher whom I wholly respect. Of course, he presents it clearly and concisely but my own discovery of these ideas were not at all like that. It begins with assembling the small pieces of the many questions I had of Christianity and continuously inquiring of them and not accepting answers that do not make sense to me, regardless of high sounding explanations. From what does baptism mean to what is the water that Jesus gives that quenches our thirst eternally to the question of being born again. There was a period where I thought extensively through why God created us, eventually arriving at the conclusion that it must be for our happiness and for us, if it’s not for him or to enact any work. (Looking back I don’t think this argument holds the best haha) Then there was the fact that sin was at its core the lack of love. Then there concept of free will, introduced mainly by Dostoevsky. Then there idea that Love has physical elements as much as it is a decision or spiritual command. I always enjoyed just thinking things through and trying to find an answer, else researching to get a hold on the problem at least. Many times, there really is some sort of intellectual stimulation from the search for the answers and sometimes I really do feel that the search is as much fun as the answers themselves.

Suffering as a medal that we put on to denote how well we have done:
Mother Teresa and her policy of paying penance for the sins of the world. The sisters would go into the cubicles in the toilet at night and whip themselves with pieces of rope on their thighs, the only area where the scars would not be visible to others. I have always believed and am more sure of it now, after studying the Bible and hearing other bible teachers interpretation of it that the real Christian life starts after salvation, that salvation is not all there is to Christianity but the Holy Spirit in dwelling in us is what is equally important. Too many have I seen people who call themselves Christians who take up the title for convenience sake and who do not truly believe (in the sense that they do not act upon their beliefs). Another issue is that of power and what the lack of it does to the helpless Christian. They internalise this lack of power in the secular world (the world that has to do w material goods and a competition with another) and base their strength off their ability to reject that system in its entirety and embrace a different system of suffering and weakness “for Christ”. They fail to see that there is a different route through the Holy Spirit in which they try, not to aim for the goals of the secular system but to aim for the goal of overcoming oneself, or in the Christian context sanctification and being more like Christ, overcoming the original sin. While it may be that we suffer, it is a result of following the Spirit, instead of chasing suffering and glorifying it as if it were good and success is bad. Some people are run on resentment, they resent the world so much that they renounce everything it teaches, whether good or bad and only know how to head in the other direction in their rage against it.

Faith that is not only in a proclamation:
One would usually quote the case of the convicts that were at the right and left side of Jesus at the cross in arguing the case that we only need to believe and that no baptism is needed. The book argues the case that baptism in the Holy Spirit was a requirement and the norm in that period. If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

The definiteness of the receiving of the Holy Spirit:
I know that many people take comfort in the fact that as long as we call on the the name of Jesus that we are saved and more importantly that their loved ones are saved but I do not think this is the truth. One can confess to anything in the world, whether one truly believes is another issue. Furthermore, your actions will show whether you truly believe or not. The distinction between works of Faith vs works of the Law. Works of faith arise out of your faith, what you truly believe in. If I truly believe in the fact that the world is ending tomorrow (not just merely proclaiming to believe so) my actions would show. We all say to some extent that we believe God will protect us but if we truly believed in this, our actions will show. Hence, no one really knows whether one truly believes but God. A child can sometimes do the stupid things he does because he knows his parents will come to save him, he believes it to be true and hence his actions reflect accordingly. This seems to be a form of faith, in which faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Now what do we put faith in? Character. For the character of a person is the most unchanging and the character of the good God is always the same and perfect if we believe in the idea of the Christian God. Aristotle says of friendship that you can be friends for 3 reasons, for pleasure for utility but for character is the best for character outlasts pleasure and utility. We also can hang on the promises of God but that also hangs on the fact that he is a promise fulfilling God and that the promise you heard is that which truly came from him. You can guess and get the character of God right but we can only make educated guesses. I would say I don’t doubt the goodness of God, but I doubt my understanding of the goodness of God.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know David Pawson from his famous work called "Unlocking the Bible", and instantly became one of my favorite authors/teachers.

Got to say sometimes is difficult to keep the pace with long explanations and theological definitions, but at the end it's just a matter to focus on the subject, everything that Pawson seems to make hard to understand or to read is because it is worth to understand it clear.

Now, about this book, I've been christian my whole life, but never knew anything about the process or the ideal way to "become" one. Sure, everyone knows about the sinner's prayer, but whats next?, or rather what should be before or after the sinners prayer?. "Normal Christian Birth" fills the blanks on this subject, which sometimes is in the darkness in todays church. Many christians are worried about the quantity of souls that are saved, and not in the quality every "new born" is received.

I know David Pawson from his famous work called "Unlocking the Bible", and instantly became one of my favorite authors/teachers.

Got to say sometimes is difficult to keep the pace with long explanations and theological definitions, but at the end it's just a matter to focus on the subject, everything that Pawson seems to make hard to understand or to read is because it is worth to understand it clear.

Now, about this book, I've been christian my whole life, but never knew anything about the process or the ideal way to "become" one. Sure, everyone knows about the sinner's prayer, but whats next?, or rather what should be before or after the sinners prayer?. "Normal Christian Birth" fills the blanks on this subject, which sometimes is in the darkness in todays church. Many christians are worried about the quantity of souls that are saved, and not in the quality every "new born" is received.

Most of the book is focused in theory, which explains everything about the "four spiritual doors" which every candidate should go trough, and specific cases in the Bible about water and Spirit baptisms. And the last section include very practical cases in "How to" about the same principles.

One thing I didn't like about this book, was the fact of reading how much Pawson was against infant baptism in almost every single chapter, and then in the end include a special section about the same topic once again.

[Michael D'Offay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found it confusing, to be honest. Some really valid points but his insistence that we receive the Spirit later, not when we believe in Christ ,is something I don't agree with- although I do agree that we can receive the baptism of the Spirit as a seperate experience.

[Arun Thamizhvanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on salvation and how to be saved

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging book

[Theodore Tan]

Scriptural and Biblical. Worth a read for readers who want to understand the balance b/w word and spirit