your situation, your sex or your country?
No, you did not. Your parents (by their activity alone) made the choice to cause your birth.
Spiritual birth: What was it that triggered the new birth?
The Apostle John lists three things that were non factors:
John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
1. It was NOT because of blood (not because of human ancestry).
2. It was NOT because of the will of the flesh.
3. It was NOT because of human will.
Question: So what caused the new birth?
Answer: GOD!
God did it! The new birth is the work of God alone, all of grace.
You are absolutely right, John. The key clue is in verse 8 of John 3 where we read that the wind blows “where it wishes”. The Holy Spirit “blows” into peoples’ lives and “quickens” them. Only once the Holy Spirit has so worked will people be able to turn from their sins and turn to Christ.