There is only one definition of "born again" that makes any logical sense to me. When a baby is born, it is a new creature with no regrets, baggage, remembrances, or expectations.

There is no way the conventional Christian belief is possible because it would mean that the "sinner" would be aware of his, (all be it) forgiven past. If Heaven is the pure bliss and all it's inhabitant's are pure, that implies no remembrance of a former life. Heaven would be so full of light that the only possible way we could experience it and remember loved ones in this life is that there is a spiritual component to all of us now that only is cognoscente of the spiritual identity of others. So, if you have any hope for heaven, give up the childish idea that it is some kind of Cosmic Reward in the hereafter. If it is real, it must be something like a child being born, no remembrance of an old life. God, which must by definition be the Great MIND, is assumed to be a better Father than us earthlings, so ask yourself, "If God is Love and I love my children and would never wish them harm, how much greater must be the Love of this Great Mind be".

Big Jim doesn't believe in the Christian God and who can blame him? The Christian God, as espoused by conventional Christianity is a cruel insult to mankind. It would make God manlike instead of Man Godlike-a requirement for Heaven, wouldn't you think? However, hidden in the Gospels you will find, if you really try to think independently, the Truth and yes, Fundamentalist, the life of Jesus is the key but not the way you think it is. It is the key by the life he lived, not because you have cherry picked Gospel lines and "invented" the idea that Jesus died for our sins and that the death somehow pays for all our transgressions. No Jesus didn't pay- we will have to pay until we get it right. Jesus has been made and scapegoat and that infuriates people like Jim, who is probably more Agnostic than atheist. To be honest, all of us are agnostic because we just don't know and will probably never know. My Father asked this question in a poem written 60 years ago. One stanza is:

What is this thing we know as life?
Extreme degrees of wealth and strife?
Or is it Hell and Heaven too?
Depending upon your point of view? *

Samuel Russel Harris "The Elephant Child revisited" 1950

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein