John 3:7

I’d like to have some sort of a Christian message. When I was younger, I always liked to see Bible verses on buses, street posters, and so on. And I knew this guy, Frank Hogan, who used to attend sports events with the John 3:7 sign. So perhaps I would choose that.

Initially, I didn’t see it as a particularly effective form of evangelism, but as time went on, people developed a great affection for Frank. They saw him as thoroughly Irish, which he was. But he was a very typical Irishman, unlike some of us 😄. Whenever you watched a game on TV, or highlights on the news, when someone scored, you’d often see Frank lifting the sign behind the goal as the crowd cheered.

At one stage Sony released a Gaelic football game for the PlayStation 2. They wanted to replicate the atmosphere of a game, and the sign actually featured in the game, or at least in the TV advert for it. I also saw an Irish TV documentary about Frank back in 2009. It was on TG4, the Irish language TV station.

Here are some links about Frank Hogan (John 3:7):

• Frank tells it as it is in TG4 documentary
• The story behind GAA fan Frank Hogan’s famous John 3:7 sign
• Frank Hogan, holder of ‘John 3:7’ sign at GAA matches, dies aged 81
• GAA and the Gospel according to John
• John 3:7 (sign) – Wikipedia
• John 3:7 Sign on Display in TUS Gaelic Grounds
• ‘Why did he carry that sign? Because Frank Hogan was born again’: Man famous for John 3:7 sign laid to rest

So, what does John 3:7 say? Here it is:

John 3:7 (Jesus speaking to Nicodemus, an open-minded Pharisee)
⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

All denominations believe in the new birth, but opinions differ as to when it happens. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches tend to tie it with baptism. So, when a baby is baptized, it is seen as being born again. Some Protestants see it more in terms of a lifelong process, perhaps seeing baptism as the beginning.

Evangelical Christians view it as the work of the Holy Spirit that causes you to personally repent and commit your life to Christ. For me, this outlook seems to be most aligned to the New Testament. I do admit that not everyone has a dramatic conversion, and not everyone can put a date and time on it. But the important thing is to make sure that you are born again.

Throughout my life, I’ve known many people who were baptized as infants but who show little or no interest in Christianity. So, I can’t see baptism as the new birth. And I see no evidence of infants being baptized in the New Testament. Some evangelicals do baptize babies, but they would probably see it more as initiating them into the Christian community in the hope that one day they will personally respond to the gospel and become Christians in their own right. They wouldn’t see it as making a person a Christian.

Here are some other verses that touch on the new birth.

John 1:12-13
¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

2 Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Titus 3:5
he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

1 Peter 1:3
³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:23
For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

The term “born again” became very widely used in the late 20th Century. It even spread out into the secular world. And it is used in all sorts of secular songs.

Here are some examples:

• Airbag – Radiohead
• Born Again – Rihanna – someone made an AI song too 😄
• Born Again – Black Sabbath
• Born Again – Badly Drawn Boy
• Born Again – LISA – BORN AGAIN (Lyrics) ft. Doja Cat & RAYE
• Born Again – Saint Motel
• Born Again – The Christians (Not a Christian song or group)
• With You I’m Born Again – Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright

The metaphor of rebirth is also used in other religions and in secular mental wellbeing language. There’s something very attractive about the notion of new beginnings. In Christian teaching, the whole universe will begin again:

Isaiah 65:17
¹⁷ “See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.

And here are a few of Christian songs about the new birth: