Are Catholics and Protestants that different?

There are always priests in prison, nowadays. But there are tons of possible occasions. Imprisonment in a non-christian country. Hostile environment at home or abroad, death on the battlefield, any other sudden death. Yes, my answer is the same. It was baptism of desire. It does not replace water baptism since even Jesus was baptized by water. But Jesus wanted to show the apostles that the ritual does nothing in itself without faith, and faith can even accomplish the ritual. He is in a way asking the disciples not to start getting cocky about baptism like some were about circumscision. Don't you feel that the Holy Spirit is what saves? Do you think we can be saved without grace of God? And what is grace? Grace is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our soul. It makes no sense to say that men can be 'saved' without the Spirit, and by their own merits. So much for faith and not works! If a person is saved before they receive Spirit, then what saved them? Works? Well, maybe you have found a different belief of a subsect. Th Catholic church believes that the Church and Christ are one and the same, 100% united, eternal and alive, undivided in Heaven and earth.
We don't need revelations to show that the churches are not united, but then, they can't all be part of the body of Christ then. I guess your church admits that it is not part of Chrsit to the extent the Catholic church is, so I would already quit it. Yes, but not like a Boy Scout meeting. It is not merely a declaration in public for spectators, but a sacrament in which grace comes down from God. Yes, the godparents are accountable for the spiritual life. Faith by proxy may sound weird, but you would have it that the child can be saved without faith of any kind...not really fair to the rest of us, right?You are doing well, nemesis. It's a hard road getting past the rhetoric, and usually folks don't have the patience to see that the other side makes good sense also.

But it is a second physical phenomenon. Th above birth does require something physical...water! In fact you will find that all the sacraments in the RC church require a physical channel thru which grace flows. Water, oil, holy chrism, bread and wine, to name several.

I'm afraid we're leading off topic so I'll leave off with response. Suffice to say this new birth verse has been central to a large segment of non-Catholic evangelism whereas not so with RCs.

And not central to a large segment of other Protestant Churches. So it is not a difference between Protestant Doctrine and Roman Catholic Doctrine but rather simply a difference between those non-Catholic Evangelical Churches and the whole other body of Christians both Protestant and Roman Catholic.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

You're losing me here, Buz. "Again" may not be in John 3:5, but it is in John 3:3. The Greek word is "anothen," and it is in the NT 13 times. It is translated as "from above" 5 times, and it is translated as "again" 2 times (in the KJV, anyway).The context pretty much demands that "again" is chosen over "from above," because Nicodemus understood it to mean "again." Otherwise, why would he ask about entering into his mother's womb a second time? Can you imagine this conversation?Jesus: You must be born from above.Nicodemus: I don't understand, can I enter my mother's womb a second time?Jesus: I said "from above," what are you talking about? Your mother's right here on earth, why would you bring her up?No, "again" works much better, and it is there in the Greek.

For jar & Buz, A new birth that does not involve baptism in water is a difference between a segment of the Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church. That particular difference can be traced back to the Pietists in the 17th century.Interestingly enough, Pietism was a Lutheran movement, but it influenced many denominations. It's emphasis on "practice over doctrine, spirit over form, a thorough-going spiritual rebirth of the individual" seems to me to be the source of the "born again" movement.I think you will find that outside of Pietism and its strong influence down to today, that everyone else has taught that baptism in water is being born again (except the Quakers, of course, that began at a similar time period). There's rather wide historical agreement on that. Pietism began with Philipp Jakob Spener in 1670(re: here and more info here and here), so separating the new birth from water baptism is a very recent doctrine.jar, I mentioned you not to disagree with anything you said, but just because I thought you'd be interested in that info.

I'm glad you brought that up. The Pietist Movement was certainly one of the major turning point, particularly that it was influential on John Wesley and the advent of the Methodist Church. One interesting feature is that almost all of the churches that Pietism influenced remained basically Liturgical.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion