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Born Again, Per Mormon Doctrine
We believe we must be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (through an ordinance called confirmation) to be saved in the kingdom of heaven. The Savior taught, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
We Must Be Born of Water and of the Spirit, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2013/02/we-must-be-born-of-water-and-of-the-spirit
Through baptism and confirmation they are born again and thus come back into spiritual life, and through their continued obedience to the end, they shall be made partakers of the blessings of eternal life in the celestial kingdom of God.
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrins of Salvation, p 356
It is practically indisputable, that the watery birth here referred to as essential to entrance into the kingdom is baptism.
James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith
At the age of eight, Mormons boys and girls are baptized and confirmed. Thus, Mormon doctrine teaches that young people are born of water and spirit simply because they reached the age of eight years.
What does it mean to be “born of water”? (John 3:5; to be baptized). How is baptism a symbol of rebirth? (Being immersed in water symbolizes the death or burial of our past sins; when we rise out of the water, we start a new life.) What does it mean to be “born . . . of the Spirit”? (John 3:5; to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost).
New Testament, Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, p 19
This final definition is especially meaningful to me. It matters because I taught Gospel Doctrine to the LDS adults. Consequently, I likely taught trusting people that this was the Word of God.
Born Again, Per the Bible
Ron Rhodes, in his book Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons, writes that “critical to a proper understanding of John 3:1-5 is verse 6: ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’” (p. 331). Flesh can only produce flesh, and spirit can only produce spirit, since the biblical law of reproduction is “after its own kind” (see Genesis 1:11, 24-25). Since we must be born again, we realize that it is God who gives eternal life to him who believes in Christ (Titus 3:5). This is a spiritual rebirth, which comes by faith. Rhodes explains this even further, saying,
Speaking of the John 3:5 passage, the late LDS Apostle James E. Talmage wrote that the “words of the Savior, spoken while He ministered in the flesh, declare baptism to be essential to salvation… It is practically indisputable that the watery birth here referred to as essential to entrance into the kingdom is baptism” (Talmage, A Study of the Articles of Faith, 1977, 122, emphasis added).
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