In this essay the word «person» will refer to a particular series of experiences extending
from physical birth to physical death considered as a whole.
The meaning and character of this endlessness was interpreted and reinterpreted, but rarely did there emerge the clear sense of radical beginning
with physical birth and radical ending with physical death that the Western mind often mistakenly identifies with universal common sense.
The side from which one dives into the pool
represents physical birth, the side toward which one swims represents physical death, and each stroke of the arm represents an experience on the journey from birth to death.
3) Jesus was referring to «born of the water»
as physical birth, and then to the second spiritual birth.
But sooner than we might think, the term «quality of life» will be cropping up in popular medical / ethical articles about people who are not dying but who have either been born with
severe physical birth defects or have sustained severely debilitating injuries, such as quadraplegia.
We become members of the church by birth — not
by physical birth, as was the case with the Israelites, but by spiritual birth; by being «born again» (John 3:1 - 8).
And the authors warn that other children who were infected with the virus in their mothers» wombs may be born with or may develop hearing problems, even if they do not have
visible physical birth defects.
«If these findings are right,» he says, «the birth of sociality occurs
before physical birth — a fascinating prospect.»
Alcohol consumption during first trimester of pregnancy is one of the most common causes of mental and
physical birth defects.
The context reveals that that which is, «Born of water», is speaking of
physical birth.
It is not
our physical birth — of flesh and blood — which is primary, but our spiritual birth as Sons and daughters of God.
There is and never has been an instruction or command to celebrate
the physical birth of Christ.
I. Every person must experience a spiritual birth comparable to his or
her physical birth.
As his mother had once given
him physical birth, so now God must give him spiritual birth.
The only real «beginning» of discipleship is the moment of
physical birth.
Some options revolve around
the physical birth phenomenon.