WE ARE ALL CHILDREN OF GOD---OR ARE WE?
In times of conflicts, strife, and violence, we often hear people pleading to the universal brotherhood of men with one father as a reason or motivation to stop the madness. We even sing about it like the famous song born out of the 1986 EDSA Revolution:
"Magkakapatid lahat sa Panginoon.
Ito'y lagi nating tatandaan."
(Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo)
The concept of "we are all children of God" has become almost gospel truth; the key word there is "almost" because if you study the Bible carefully, you will discover that it does not teach that---at all. What it teaches instead is that we are God's creation (Colossians 1:16), made in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). That is our universal denominator (at least one of them). Creating us doesn't make us His children in the same way that animals and plants are not His children.
Another common denominator is that we are all sinners (Romans 3:9-20, 23) and our sin has alienated us from God, our creator who wishes to have a relationship with us.
And because God so wants to have a relationship with us, He gave His one and only Son to die for our sins (John 3:16). That's the third denominator.
This is the fourth: John 1:12 tells us that "to ALL who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to BECOME the children of God (NIV cf. Romans 8:16). We are not born children of God but we BECOME children of God when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
And what is the simplest way to tell if we are indeed children of God? 1 John 3:10 gives us the answer: "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister." (NIV)
The way to stop the madness is to get to the core---sin. Sin is the root of all the conflicts, strife, and violence. Appealing to the brotherhood concept will not work. It has shown it does not work time and time again especially if we remember that the very first murder in the Bible was a fratricide. If one can do this to own one's flesh and blood, how much more to a conceptual kinship? Preaching the gospel is the antidote to all the hatred that exists in the world because God is love (1 John 4:8b).
"But what about all those bloodsheds, hatred, bitterness, and anger committed by Christians to other people and to each other?" you might ask. The answer is simple. Go back to the paragraph preceding these last two. I will give you two minutes.
1 John 4:8a, "Whoever does not love does not know God." In a world dominated by fake news and fake goods, there are also fake children of God and "you will know them by what they do." (Matthew 7:16, GNT) More frighteningly, you will know if you are a child of God by what you do. Shalom.
In times of conflicts, strife, and violence, we often hear people pleading to the universal brotherhood of men with one father as a reason or motivation to stop the madness. We even sing about it like the famous song born out of the 1986 EDSA Revolution:
"Magkakapatid lahat sa Panginoon.
Ito'y lagi nating tatandaan."
(Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo)
The concept of "we are all children of God" has become almost gospel truth; the key word there is "almost" because if you study the Bible carefully, you will discover that it does not teach that---at all. What it teaches instead is that we are God's creation (Colossians 1:16), made in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). That is our universal denominator (at least one of them). Creating us doesn't make us His children in the same way that animals and plants are not His children.
Another common denominator is that we are all sinners (Romans 3:9-20, 23) and our sin has alienated us from God, our creator who wishes to have a relationship with us.
And because God so wants to have a relationship with us, He gave His one and only Son to die for our sins (John 3:16). That's the third denominator.
This is the fourth: John 1:12 tells us that "to ALL who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to BECOME the children of God (NIV cf. Romans 8:16). We are not born children of God but we BECOME children of God when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
And what is the simplest way to tell if we are indeed children of God? 1 John 3:10 gives us the answer: "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister." (NIV)
The way to stop the madness is to get to the core---sin. Sin is the root of all the conflicts, strife, and violence. Appealing to the brotherhood concept will not work. It has shown it does not work time and time again especially if we remember that the very first murder in the Bible was a fratricide. If one can do this to own one's flesh and blood, how much more to a conceptual kinship? Preaching the gospel is the antidote to all the hatred that exists in the world because God is love (1 John 4:8b).
"But what about all those bloodsheds, hatred, bitterness, and anger committed by Christians to other people and to each other?" you might ask. The answer is simple. Go back to the paragraph preceding these last two. I will give you two minutes.
1 John 4:8a, "Whoever does not love does not know God." In a world dominated by fake news and fake goods, there are also fake children of God and "you will know them by what they do." (Matthew 7:16, GNT) More frighteningly, you will know if you are a child of God by what you do. Shalom.