Question: I was recently told that if a person does not know the exact date that he or she was born again and accepted Christ, that they are not real Christians. Is this true?

Answer: This question bothers many people unnecessarily.

No, it is definitely NOT true that someone is not a true Christian unless he knows when he was born again. That would be like saying that you are not alive unless you remember your physical birth! In fact, we don't remember that day, and yet here we are, alive and kicking. Since today I am breathing and showing other signs of life, I can be certain that there was a day when I was born...and not the other way around.

Spiritually, how do I know that I was born from above? Simply because today I'm believing in Christ and I am exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit.

The Bible says, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). Please note that the apostle John does not say "whoever had believed," as if faith is something past (though, of course, there is a time when a Christian begins to believe in Christ). He uses the present continuous tense: the person who is now believing that Jesus is the Christ is assured that he is born of God. The Bible links assurance to a present faith in Christ and not to some dramatic event in the past.

Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe He is the Christ, the Son of God, whom God sent to the world to accomplish our salvation? Is there evidence in your life of the work of the Holy Spirit in you: love for God and His people, a sincere desire to obey His Law, and hatred and sorrow for sin? If you can answer yes, then you are born again according to the Bible, whether or not you remember the day when that happened.