Getting Born Again

I don't really put much faith in the accounts of most people who tell their "born again" experiences. They usually paint them in very glowing terms and relate their experiences as cathartic ones, as very powerful highs, of sorts.

They've obviously never seen a baby actually being born.

One would think that Jesus chose the image of being "born again" deliberately. If it is physically painful to be born physically, it stands to reason that part of the metaphor is of the spiritual pain of being spiritually born. Babies scream and cry when they are born, and they shiver and turn all red in the face. If they had their way, they'd probably go back in! Someone who claims to have been born again but doesn't at least shudder a little from remembering the experience probably hasn't actually had it.