On July 12, Dorothy Fontaine asked some good questions about what it means to be a born-again Christian.

A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus is God who came to Earth as a human, died to take upon himself the punishment our sins deserve, and came back to life again. A Christian also is sorry for his sins and has asked Jesus to forgive them and to be Lord of his life. This is why, unlike some other religions, no one can be born a Christian. Each one must decide personally whether to accept this or not.

Sometimes, Christians use terms such as “born again,” “believers,” “disciples” and “saved” to distinguish between those who accept the claims of Jesus from the heart and those who consider themselves to be Christian because, for family, cultural or other reasons, they identify more with Christianity than with another religion, even though they have not understood or not accepted the claims of Christ personally.

Ms. Fontaine also asked about Christianity and war. Not all Christians agree about war. However, the Bible does distinguish between murder by an individual, which is forbidden by the Ten Commandments, as Ms. Fontaine points out, and the responsibility of the government to protect its people by punishing wrongdoing, as seen in Romans 13.

Laurel De Lige, Turner