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.

[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