One of the qualities of being born again is that you prefer submission to God over sin, scripturally described as “having no desire to do evil.” It is important to realize that having no desire to do evil at your present level of understanding does not imply that you will have no desire to do evil at a greater level of understanding.
Total submission to God is a binary condition—you either are or aren’t—with differences in degree, depending on how well you know Jesus and what kind of opposition you have faced. When one submits to God, it is a one-time choice meant to be forever binding and unconditional. However, getting to know God is a never-ending process. While deciding to submit to God is meant to be a one-time event, you can’t be sure of your commitment to God beyond the limits of your understanding of him. Similarly, it is not possible to know against what level of opposition you would remain faithful to God beyond the maximum opposition you have experienced.
It is not infrequent that a person who has been born again will decide, after exposure to new challenges, to once again prefer sin to God.3 Remember, being born again is not an effect, but a description. The sinlessness of one who is born again is what defines their state,4 and when they choose to change through sin, they relinquish their state.
Being born again does not suspend your ability to sin, but it does increase the consequences for doing so.5
You can be born again as many times as you dedicate yourself to God while in this life, though it will be harder to achieve the level of repentance required each time you willingly disobey God. One who has surrendered to God will do more damage to their conscience and find it harder to return to God after sinning again than one who has not. In any case, becoming reborn again is the same process as becoming born again in the first place, through forsaking sin and unconditional future submission to God.
Footnotes
- 1. And now, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end of speaking the words which had been delivered unto him by the angel of the Lord, that he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them. And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men. And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them. (Mosiah 4:1-3) ↩
- 2. And behold, the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words. (Helaman 5:45) ↩
- 3. But there is a possibility that man may fall from grace and depart from the living God; (D&C 20:32) ↩
- 4. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9, NASB) ↩
- 5. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. (2 Peter 2:20-22) ↩