And he has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear.
Kind parents
I am a child of God,
And so my needs are great;
Help me to understand his words
Before it grows too late.
My needs
I am a child of God,
Rich blessings are in store;
If I but learn to do his will
I’ll live with him once more.
Blessings
Live with him
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.
Teach me, walk beside me
Live with him
Reviewing the song this way can help your children understand and respond to the words. Listen to their thoughts, and use them later in the lesson.
You might comment, for example, on your own desire to be a kind parent or how one of our needs is to know the truth about God and about blessings that have come by doing his will.
Explain to your children that they will always be members of your family and that you will always be their father and mother. Nothing can change that. The same is true of God’s family. He will always be our Father. We will always be his children. But to return to him we must live his commandments. That’s what the chorus in “I Am a Child of God” means when it states,
“Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.”
Remind your family that just as we are similar to our earthly parents, we are, as children of God, similar to him. As we can grow up to be like our earthly parents, so we can also grow spiritually to be like our Heavenly Father. (See chapter 2 , “Our Heavenly Family,” Gospel Principles [31110], pp. 11–15.) Draw the following chart on a chalkboard or poster, and ask your children for words that describe what our Heavenly Father is like. Some examples are below:
|
|
---|---|
Loving. | |
Forgiving. | |
Helpful. | |
Wise. | |
Interested in the future. |
Your family list may not be exactly like the one illustrated.
Under the heading “His children can be,” write the same qualities you list in the left column. Ask for examples of these very qualities that have been observed in family members during the past week.
Explain to your children that because they are God’s children, they are worth very much.
What is it about us which Heavenly Father would love so much? (First of all, he loves us because we are his spirit children; we are his family. Secondly, he loves us because of what we are capable of doing and becoming.)
Remind your children that their worth, like their family membership, is unquestionable.
What if someone were to tell you that you are not a child of God?
After listening to their answers, reinforce the fact that regardless of what others may say, they are still children of Heavenly Father. Point to the list that you made as you ask the following question:
What if someone were to tell you that you could not develop these qualities?
After they have answered, read and discuss this statement by Lorenzo Snow: “We are the offspring of God, born with the same faculties and powers as He possesses, capable of enlargement through the experience that we are now passing through in our second estate” ( Millennial Star, 3 Dec. 1894, p. 772). Be sure each person knows what the phrase “second estate” means.
Give some practical examples to apply these ideas. For example, when they feel discouraged, encourage your children to look in a mirror and say such things as, “I am a child of God. I can learn and grow. I can be kind to others. I can succeed.”
Have each family member make a small card or poster with the following on it to place by his bed:
I am a child of God, and I can become more ____________.
Explain that each morning before prayer the family member looks at the card and identifies a godly quality he could develop to fill in the missing word, such as loving, forgiving, educated, or accomplished. He should use whatever quality he may feel he needs to develop at the time. Encourage family members to seek the Lord’s help in being true to their capacity to become like him. In the evening, they should ponder the chances they had during the day to work on their potential. Challenge each person to examine the experiences he has had each day and share with his Heavenly Father what he, as one of God’s children, has learned from them.
If possible, display a picture of each family member as a baby. Let the children try to find their own pictures and identify the others. Tell them about the circumstances surrounding their birth. You may wish to describe your feelings as a parent as you prepared for their coming to your home. Describe how you felt when you saw, held, and loved them for the first time. Then ask them to imagine how Heavenly Father must feel to see them growing and learning.
Share how a knowledge that you are a child of God has helped you to choose the right. A specific example of a righteous choice they would understand would be helpful. You could recall how you were tempted to be unkind and then remembered that you were a child of God and so did a kind thing instead. Use some example from your recent experience so that the child will see the point clearly.
Sing “I Am a Child of God” with your children. Then tell them what the words mean to you.
At bedtime, during different nights of the week, spend some time with each child to share with him your knowledge of his worth to you and to God. Give examples of how Heavenly Father and you have confidence in his ability to succeed in life.
Use the family picture, discussing similarities between family members and their earthly parents. Proceed from there to discuss the concept that all persons are children of God.
Do people sometimes teach or imply that we are something less than children of God?
Give examples and the implications of such beliefs on how one feels about oneself.
What difference would it make in how a person acted if he really believed he were a child of God?
Analyze the words of “I Am a Child of God,” and let your children tell what it means to them as young adults. Then make the chart on the chalkboard or poster about what Heavenly Father is and how we can become like him as suggested in the section “What We Inherit from God.”
As you discuss the idea of worth and potential, have your family members analyze Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 and Moses 1:39 together so that they will get a feeling of how important we are to our Heavenly Father as his children.
Making the personal poster for each family member to take to his room for consideration in daily prayer could be the most important part of this lesson for teenagers and adults. Explore in depth the development that could come from such an activity.
Heavenly father loves us without reservations.
Explain that God is the perfect parent. He loves each of us unconditionally. No matter what we do, he loves us. He can bless us when we obey his commandments, and he must deny us blessings when we do not. But he always loves us and wants us to grow to our full potential (see Moses 1:39 ).
Discuss with your family what that unconditional love means to them. Have the family read the parable of the prodigal son ( Luke 15:11–32 ).
Discuss the joy our Heavenly Father feels when we repent and try to return to him. Assure them that as they repent and go to their Heavenly Father in prayer, he will put his love into their hearts (see Moroni 7:48 ) and they will know that he loves them.
Seat the family in a circle. Place a bottle on its side in the center, and spin the bottle. When it stops, have all the others in the circle tell one thing that describes the person at whom the bottle points. (For example: “He is a boy.” “His name is Terry.” “He is ten years old.” “He laughs a lot.”) If no one else mentions it, add, “He is a child of Heavenly Father.” Repeat this until everyone in the circle has been described.
Point out that even though each person’s description may be different, he is a true child of God.
Then discuss whether Heavenly Father likes one person better than another for any reason, such as his disposition, age, or hair color. Read and discuss Acts 10:34–35 . Explain that every person is important to Heavenly Father because every person is his child.
Explain that we are always God’s spirit children and that he loves us. Explain that we can also become his children in a special way. Read Moses 6:65–7:1 . Then tell them that God will not stop being our Father, but we can turn away from being his children.
How? (By not respecting him and obeying his commandments.)
Discuss with your family how obedience makes us children of our Father in Heaven in a special sense.
Read Abraham 3:25 , and discuss what it means.
Articles/Essays – Volume 55, No. 1
“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power, and the angels are subject unto them.” D&C 132:20
The doctrine of Heavenly Mother is cherished among Latter-day Saints. [1] She is birthed from necessity in a physicalist theology. Though she has feminist roots, her theology in Mormonism is laced with latent gender essentialist and complementarian theories. Both have been used in modern Mormonism to exclude the LGBTQ+ community from Mormonism. The assertion that God is composed of one fertile, cisgender, heterosexual couple, namely Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father, is a narrow interpretation of the broadness of Mormon theology. Though gender essentialist interpretations of Heavenly Mother are queer-exclusionary, her presence in Mormon theology opens the door to a robust polytheism that includes an entire community of gods, diverse in gender, race, ability, and desires. In this paper, I argue that if we are all made in the image of God, God is significantly larger than a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual female and male coupling. Through deification, we all have the potential to become gods. In Mormonism, our theology cannot be fully understood unless it is developed within the bounds of the concrete, material, physical, and practical experiences of our human experience. Theosis, or the process of becoming gods, implies a polytheism filled with generational gods as diverse as all humanity.
The doctrine of Heavenly Mother can be traced back to many early Saints, including Eliza R. Snow, W. W. Phelps, Edward Tullidge, Orson Pratt, and Erastus Snow. The earliest references to Heavenly Mother in Mormon theology were found in poetry and theologically committed to physicalism, also called “materialism.” In Mormonism, heavenly beings and families are material like our earthly bodies and families. Not only that, our earthly existence functions as a pattern for a heavenly existence.
One of the earliest and most popular affirmations of Heavenly Mother comes from Eliza R. Snow, polygamous wife to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. Her status in the patriarchal order of the Church gave her significant credibility in her poetry and theology. For many, Eliza R. Snow’s poem “Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother” is the most notable beginning of Heavenly Mother in Latter-day Saint worship. Today, Latter-day Saints now sing Snow’s poem in a hymn called “O My Father.” In this poem, Snow potently infuses theology with “reason”: “Truth is reason; truth eternal tells me I have a mother there.” In the first and second verses, she writes about her premortal existence and her longing to return to an “exalted sphere.” In the third verse, she “reasons” that heavenly families must be patterned after earthly families, which include mothers and fathers. She asks, “In the heav’ns are parents single?” To this she replies that the thought of a single parent “makes reason stare!” This seems to defy all reason to Snow. Single parents existed in Snow’s social world, so the allusion to needing both a mother and a father is likely a biological one. The thought of a single Heavenly Father asexually creating all these spirit children is so strange that the “truth” of her “reason” is that we must have “a mother there.” Lastly, the final verse concludes with her desire to meet both her Father and Mother after her earthly probation is over. [2] Snow’s poem is a testament to Mormonism’s commitment to physicalism. In Mormon theology, the earth and heavens are physical or supervene on the physical. In this case, if it takes a fertile cisgender man and woman to make children on earth, it stands to reason, in Snow’s mind, that it takes a fertile cisgender man and woman to make children in the heavens.
Edward W. Tullidge, literary critic, newspaper editor, historian, and influential Latter-day Saint, also wrote about the union of man and woman as a necessary component of celestial glory. In his poem titled “Marriage,” he uses Heavenly Mother to promote complementarian themes and views on gender differences. In short, men and women, in Tullidge’s view, are complements and are perfected through one another. In the first verse of his poem, he uses couplings and pairs to demonstrate that it is by design that man and woman are created for one another. He muses that, when unionized, “two lives, two natures, and two kindred souls” are completed. When separated, they are only parts, “not two perfect wholes” but only incomplete halves to a whole. For Tullidge, “sexes reach their culminating point” when they merge as one. In the second verse, he explicitly states that sexes will never end and asks rhetorically, “Himself sexless and non-mated God? A ‘perfect’ man and yet himself no man?” Here, Tullidge is suggesting that a perfected god cannot be a sexless god. According to Tullidge, sex is a material reality on earth and will continue into heavenly realities: as he writes in the poem, God’s “works on earth” are patterned on “things above.” This is another demonstration of the early Saints’ commitment to physicalism. Finally, in the last verse of the poem, Tullidge concludes with a reference to theosis. In wedlock, couples become like the “first holy pair” and may become “parents of a race as great.” [3] In summary, Tullidge’s poem “Marriage” demonstrates that earthly realties and lived experiences of Latter-day Saints are seen as a pattern for heavenly imaginings.
In both Eliza R. Snow’s and Edward W. Tullidge’s creative works, the doctrine of Heavenly Mother appears to be rooted in the idea that “[God’s] works on earth, but pattern things above.” For Snow, the thought of having a mother on earth and no Mother in the heavens made reason “stare” due to her physicalist views. Tullidge’s praise of the “universe” and “great nature” is another manifestation of physicalism in Mormon theology. God, the heavens, and celestial glory are not a metaphysical paradise beyond the scope of our reality. Again, physicalism is a very important philosophy embraced by early Saints that led them to believe that God must be composed of a fertile, cisgender man and woman.
The completeness of God through the union of man and woman was a common teaching in this period. For instance, in 1853 Orson Pratt affirmed, “No man can be ‘in the Lord,’ in the full sense of this passage, that is, he cannot enter into all the fullness of his glory, ‘without the woman.’ And no woman can be ‘in the Lord,’ or in the enjoyment of a fullness, ‘without the man.’” [4] A couple decades later in 1878, Elder Erastus Snow avowed, “If I believe anything God has ever said about himself . . . I must believe that deity consist of man and woman.” [5] David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido argue that Erastus Snow’s God is not a “hermaphrodite,” but a God composed of male and female through marriage. In a footnote they argue, “The passage reads much clearer within Mormon discourse and Snow’s own declarations if read from a perspective describing social unity in marriage.” [6] Again, even our contemporary interpretations of early Mormonism are committed to physicalist interpretations of our theology.
These sentiments would persist throughout Mormonism in the following years. In the Mormon imagination, Heavenly Mother is a practical necessity and could not be erased even though some began to question her status as a deity. In 1895, George Q. Cannon contended that “there is too much of this inclination to deify ‘our mother in heaven.’ Our Father in heaven should be the object of worship. He will not have any divided worship.” [7] Here we can see that though Heavenly Mother is an essential part of Mormon theology, her robust and equitable inclusion in worship is at times repressed by patriarchal authority. This continued all the way to the late twentieth century. In a general conference talk by President Gordan B. Hinckley in October 1991, he affirmed the doctrine of Heavenly Mother but simultaneously excluded her from explicit worship through prayer. In his words,
Logic and reason would certainly suggest that if we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. That doctrine rests well with me. However, in light of the instruction we have received from the Lord Himself, I regard it as inappropriate for anyone in the Church to pray to our Mother in Heaven. [8]
For Hinckley, Heavenly Mother is a matter of “logic and reason,” just as Snow suggested in her poem written over a century ago. Throughout Mormon history, there seems to be a persistence among patriarchs to keep Heavenly Mother under control as a necessary but hidden cog in a physicalist theology.
All along the way, Mormon feminists have championed the inclusion of Heavenly Mother in Mormon discourse. Though it is beyond the scope of this paper to give a robust history or analysis of Mormon feminism, it is worth noting that Mormon history is deeply influenced by Mormon feminists both past and present. [9] Mormon feminists have been both friend and foe in the development of a gender-expansive theology. While non-queer feminist interpretations of Heavenly Mother broaden the story of God to include cisgender, heterosexual women, they often also promote gender essentialist interpretations of godhood. Mormon feminists have written poems, articles, essays, and even entire books on Heavenly Mother that further the goals of monogamous, cisgender, heterosexual women but fail to include or comprehend the needs of queer women, and often women of color. At best, non-queer feminist works have attempted to be queer inclusive with sincere intentions but with little understanding of how to actually do it. At worst, feminist works have weaponized Heavenly Mother against the queer community, furthering our exclusion from church pews, temple worship, and ultimately celestial glory with our families. [10]
Non-queer feminists might more thoroughly follow their own physicalist philosophy to more inclusive vistas. In the history of Mormon theology about her, Heavenly Mother generally isn’t queer-inclusive, not because feminist theology is wrong but because it is incomplete. It’s no wonder why some critics suggest that the inclusion of queer genders and relationships in Mormon theology could destroy the very foundation of the Church when the ultimate archetype of God in Mormon culture is shaped by gender essentialist, binary, ableist, monogamist, and complementarian biases.
Monogamy is one way that some Mormon feminists have constricted the possibilities of a theology of Heavenly Mother. For instance, Carol Lynn Pearson’s The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy advocates for a single Heavenly Father and a single Heavenly Mother in an eternal pairing. [11] In this monogamous, cisnormative, heteronormative relationship, she strangulates theological veins that could lead to the inclusion of a multiplicity of diverse gods, including queer genders, queer pairings, and queer groupings. [12] The potential of polygamy could be an opportunity for lesbian, bisexual, trans, infertile, asexual, non-monogamous, and intersex Heavenly Mothers. [13]
Gender essentialism is another limitation that Mormon feminists have placed on teachings about Heavenly Mother. As pointed out by religion scholar Taylor Petrey, many feminist theologians fail to see how their theological ambitions lack queer representations, just as the patriarchs fail to include women. [14] Margaret Toscano wrote in response to Petrey’s criticism: “If there is one regret I have about Strangers in Paradox that I wrote with my husband Paul, it is that we didn’t make homosexuality visual and theologically viable in Mormonism.” [15] While this sentiment is appreciated and represents an improvement on the standard feminist rhetoric in the Church, it suggests a limited focus on homosexuality rather than a more capacious vision of how to include queer women and people in Mormon feminist theology. Mormon feminists should consider how to better include intersex, nonbinary, and trans women in their ambitions. Queerness is more than homosexuality.
Queer Mormon women are women. Feminist and queer approaches should work together to accomplish shared goals of inclusion. These tensions about which women are included in feminism is a long-standing one. Sojourner Truth confronted the hypocrisy of white feminism as far back as the 1850s in her unforgettable speech “Ain’t I a Woman?” [16] These criticisms have been echoed by many women of color throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. [17] To advocate for some women and not all women hardly seems like a feminism worth championing and does not embody the notion that “all are alike unto God.” [18]
People are very good at fashioning God in their own image. This observation is not intended as a slight, nor is it intended to discourage anyone from equitable representation in godhood. My observation that we fashion gods in our image is not an affront but an invitation for LGBTQ+ Saints, Saints of color, single Saints, infertile Saints, and disabled Saints to tell the story of God too. We are all made in the image of God and thus, as believers of Mormon theology, are called to champion the creation of gods as diverse as ourselves.
God is “they” in Mormonism. [19] Many Mormon feminists, Church leaders, and scholars of religion alike have insisted that God is plural—not simply “he” or “she” but “they.” [20] Even modern prophets have referenced Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father as “them.” Dallin H. Oaks is just one example of this when he wrote in an Ensign article, “Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.” [21] Though God and heavenly parents have both worn “they” pronouns, the preceding analysis has shown that it is more often than not used to represent a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual, male and female pairing.
While many agree that God is “they,” few consider the ramifications of a “they” God beyond cisnormative, heteronormative, and mononormative assumptions. As previously discussed, many early Mormons considered God to be “they” by earthly reproductive default. For many feminists, God is “they” because women lack divine representation. Yet, for many queer Latter-day Saints, God is “they” because God is a community composed of diverse genders, orientations, abilities, races, bodies, and families. God is “they” because if we are all made in the image of God, “they” is the only pronoun we have in English to adequately signify the plurality and diversity that exists within our heavenly family. [22] God is “they” because God is a community as diverse as our earthly existence, with a diversity of Heavenly Mothers.
Under the umbrella of “God” there are many possible parental formations and familial dynamics, as exemplified in our earthly life. The union of man and woman does not need to mandate heteronormative ideas concerning reproduction, sex, or marriage. It mandates the possibility of multi-gender alliances, partnerships, and cooperation, just like here on earth. Keep in mind that Zion was called Zion because the people were of one heart and one mind. [23] The intimacy of being joined together in heart and mind is not limited to heterosexual relationships between men and women. Zion is bigger. Even families sealed in the temple share more than genetic material. [24]
If life on earth is a pattern for life above, we can see that there are many different family formations on earth right now. Yes, there is the mono-cis-hetero nuclear family model, but there are a lot of other different family groupings too. There are also eternal polygamist groupings. Many Church authorities, from Joseph Smith to President Russell M. Nelson, have been sealed to more than one partner. [25] President Nelson’s eternal family includes two wives, two mothers, two lovers. Some families have two moms, be they polygamist or lesbian. Some families have two dads, be they gay or stepfathers. Some families are single-parent families, and some families have no children. Some families have biological children while others have adopted children. Family relationships in mortality are varied, but under cis-hetero supremacist ideas, we are taught that some of these families are less than, imposters, or counterfeit. [26] Yet, once again, Snow and Tullidge set a powerful precedent when it comes to celestial glory. If life on earth is a pattern for life above, life above is just as diverse as the socialities that exist here among us on earth, and that includes queer families and genders. [27]
Furthermore, in Genesis 1:27, we are symbiotically created in the image of God, both male and female. People have read this passage of scripture and quickly assumed that this excludes queer, trans, or nonbinary genders, but that hasty reading of scripture is incomplete. In Genesis we also read about how God created night and day—two contrasting polarities separated from one another through lightness and darkness. [28] At first glance it might seem like the division between day and night creates a clear binary. However, in the following sentence, it states that God also created evening and morning. [29] Night and day, both necessary and lovely, are opposites resting at the ends of a broad spectrum. In transition between them is morning and evening. Yes, God created night and day, but God also created dawn and dusk. Dawn and dusk are no less godly than night and day simply because they are transitions. The same is true of humanity. God created man and woman—two lovely binaries made in the image of God. Yet in transition between them are nonbinary bodies and spirits. Though we are rare, we are no less godly. We are the dawn and dusk of humanity. There is a spectrum of transitions between lightness and darkness, day and night, earth and water, man and woman. We are all made in the image of God—intersex, nonbinary, and trans—because God created more than binaries.
Each of us is the coeternal image of God. [30] In a physicalist theology, we are literally made in their likeness. God is a community intimately intertwined with the materiality of every living entity. God is life eternal—wholly, singly, and plurally. [31] Any other reductive, androcentric, cisnormative, heteronormative, ableist, or white aesthetic of an all-encompassing God would be an incomplete, even harmful, representation of God’s plurality. The community that is God is reflected in all life, not just men, women, or even humans. God told Moses, “Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless?” [32] It stands to reason that an endless God, at the very least, has the potential to include queer bodies, queer genders, and queer families in our coeternal nature. We have the potential to be just as diverse and endless as God through theosis.
Theosis, or the process of becoming gods, is at the core of LDS religion. It undergirds all other doctrines and policies of the Church. It does not dishonor God to emulate them. Quite the opposite. Our emulation of God is our highest respect and worship. Again, as stated by Dallin H. Oaks, “Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.” [33] If it does not dishonor the Father for men to emulate him, use his priesthood power, and strive to divinity, then it does not dishonor the Mother that her daughters should emulate her. Likewise, queer folks in no way dishonor God when we emulate and worship them in our works, worship, and theology. Quite the opposite—it’s a manifestation of our highest respect, faith, works, and reverence.
In Mormonism, gods create gods in worlds without end, and no god exists independent of their community, heritage, or posterity. [34] We are taught this through scriptures, hymns, and temple ritual. Even beyond the Mormon Godhead being composed of three separate beings, including a God composed of a full spectrum of genders, marriages, alliances, relationships, and partnerships, Mormon theology can be taken even further.
In Mormonism, God is a community of generational beings. Godhood is not a one-time occurrence. From early Saints to modern prophets, we all have the potential to share in the same glory as our heavenly parents. [35] We do temple work because the hearts of the children turn to their parents. [36] The spirit of Elijah, also defined as the spirit of familial kinship and unity, demands the plurality of gods. [37] Being a child of God isn’t just a theoretical or metaphysical proposition but has a material lineage and posterity. In the taxonomy of gods, we are the same species as God. [38] We are all made in the image of God with the potential to join the endless network of gods above and partake of our heavenly inheritance. Our theology is so much grander than a single Heavenly Father or Mother. God is expansive, dynamic, generational, and endless. Yet at the same time God is as familial, personal, and physical as a great-grandparent or great-grandchild. [39]
God wasn’t always God but became God. [40] God was once a child of God, too. God also has heavenly parents. Likewise, those heavenly parents have heavenly parents, and those heavenly parents have heavenly parents. Not only that: if our children make it to godhood they will become gods too, and their children will become gods, and their children’s children will become gods. Gods birth gods in an eternal, interconnected round. God is an eternal, never-ending cycle of creation without beginning or end. [41] As Joseph Smith taught, “The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end.” [42] If our prophets, scriptures, and rituals are to be taken seriously, God is not just God, but Gods—communally, generationally, and endlessly. [43]
Mormon theology leads to the inclusion of innumerable, diverse, generational gods reflected in our earthly experience. This concept is beautifully and artistically iterated in the hymn “If You Could High to Kolob,” with text written by W. W. Phelps. In this iconic hymn, philosophy and poetry articulate the doctrine of generational gods. According to this hymn, no one knows where gods begin, nor if they will end.
If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye, And then continue onward With that same speed to fly, Do you think that you could ever, Through all eternity, Find out the generation Where Gods began to be? Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend? Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end? Methinks the Spirit whispers, “No man has found ‘pure space,’ Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place.” [44]
Phelps’s poetry echoes the teachings of Joseph Smith. He taught, “If [we] do not comprehend the character of God [we] do not comprehend ourselves.” [45] Joseph Smith is inviting us to understand that God is so much more than our limited perceptions, not just of gender, orientation, or anatomical differences, but of space, time, and eternity. The image of God includes the whole of humanity. Not just one Heavenly Mother, but many diverse, unique, and exquisite Heavenly Mothers. Not just one Heavenly Father, but many diverse, unique, and exquisite Heavenly Fathers. Not just one pairing of heavenly parents, but many diverse pairings, even groupings, of heavenly parents—polygamous or otherwise.
God is so benevolent and grand that we all could have a place in the community of gods if it is the desire of our hearts. [46] We are taught in Doctrine and Covenants that we are not meant to passively wait for godhood to come to us. Mormonism is a religion of praxis—a religion of doing. Faith without works is dead. [47] To become gods requires us to bring to pass righteousness of our own free will without idly being told what to do and to be anxiously engaged in good causes. [48] Godhood is a fruition of our desires and efforts. As taught by Jeffrey R. Holland, if we want to become gods, we must do godly things with our godly desires.
We’re the church that says we’re gods and goddesses in embryo. We’re the Church that says we’re kings and queens. We’re priests and priestesses. People accuse us of heresy. They say we’re absolutely heretical, non-Christians because we happen to believe what all the prophets taught and that is that we are children of God, joint heirs with Christ. We just happen to take the scriptures literally that kids grow up to be like their parents. But how does that happen? How does godliness happen? Do we just pop up? Are we just going to pop up out of the grave? Hallelujah, it’s resurrection morning! Give me a universe or two. Bring me some worlds to run! . . . I don’t think so. That doesn’t sound like line upon line or precept upon precept to me. How do you become godly? You do godly things. That’s how you become godly. And you practice and you practice and you practice. [49]
Now is not the time to “procrastinate the day of our salvation.” [50] Now is not the time to idly “dream of our mansions above.” [51] This is not the time to revel in smug complacency about a completed Restoration. [52] The Restoration is still happening. [53] Godhood is still and always will be in a creative and formative process. There is no end to “restoration” in a theology that believes in eternal progression. There is no end to an endless God. The inclusion and creation of queer gods beyond a single paring of fertile, cisgender, heterosexual Gods called “Heavenly Mother” and “Heavenly Father” depends on us when we are both the creator and inheritors of godhood.
In Doctrine and Covenants we are taught that the same sociality that exists here will exist in the next life, only it will be coupled with eternal glory. [54] Our relationships are so important that Joseph Smith declared “friendship” to be “one of the grand fundamental principles of ‘Mormonism.’” He also commented that, “Friendship is like Brother Turley in his blacksmith shop welding iron to iron; it unites the human family with its happy influence.” [55] Smith knew the value of friendship. When he was isolated from friends he said, “Those who have not been enclosed in the walls of prison can have but little idea how sweet the voice of a friend is.” [56] As he was escorted to his death at Carthage, he said, “If my life is of no value to my friends it is of none to myself.” [57] Godhood is not simply about couples being sealed, it’s also about friendship. The friendships, relationships, and sociality of what we have here on earth is only a taste of things to come. What we learn here from Joseph Smith is that the community of gods should be linked together on the bonds of friendship for our enjoyment, happiness, and joy.
Sadly, at present, LGBTQ+ Latter-day Saints are not included fully in the bonds of celestial friendship. [58] Queer Saints are abused, excluded, rejected, isolated, ridiculed, and persecuted. We have been taught implicitly and explicitly to hate ourselves, our bodies, our genders, and our orientations. [59] From reparative therapy to folk doctrines of transfiguring queer bodies into straight bodies, fellow Saints work toward our extinction. [60] At best, we are placated by false platitudes of love by those who know little of our world. [61] At worst, fellow Saints advocate for our celestial genocide. [62] It wasn’t that long ago that Spencer W. Kimball was lamenting the fact the homosexuals could not receive the death penalty. [63] The sociality that exists within the Church does not bring us a fullness of joy and happiness and it is not because LGBTQ+ Saints are unworthy of happiness.
The book of Job shows us that not all suffering is a product of sin. Even God’s most “perfect and upright” children suffer at the hands of other. [64] Even though he suffered greatly, “Job sinned not.” [65] As was the belief of the time, Job’s friends insisted that he must have sinned and brought this suffering upon himself. [66] However, Job rejected this assessment of his suffering and stood firm in his beliefs that unhappiness is not always caused by sin. [67]
Likewise, the suffering of queer Saints is not a product of sinful gender identities, expressions, pronouns, surgeries, or relationships. Queer suffering stems from being greeted with prejudice, fear, misunderstanding, falsehoods, skepticism, violence, and ignorance from what feels like every possible vantage point. If ever there were a group of people in need of a friendship, it is queer Latter-day Saints. The sociality that exists among the Saints today is not glorified and will not be glorified until it includes us as equitable members of the community of gods.
Though the Mormon understanding of Heavenly Mother is carving a path to a more inclusive physicalist theology, she is not the only godly archetype in our repertoire. God certainly includes visions of a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual Heavenly Mother, but God also includes so much more. LGBTQ+ theologians, like myself, argue that deification includes us too. We are all made in the image of God, which includes queer, intersex, trans, and nonbinary bodies. [68] Deification includes diverse marriages, children, relationships, families, and socialities, even if queer sealings are delayed by prejudice set against the fulfillment of joy. We belong, if nowhere else, among the gods.
We are not just children of God. We are children of gods in an endlessly creative, dynamic community of diverse deities reflected in our earthly existence. The sociality here is that of the gods. Under this more robust vision of God, cherished hymns like “I Am a Child of God” could be enhanced by using more inclusive terminology. Surely, I am a child of gods.
I am a child of Gods, And they have sent me here, Have given me an earthly home With parents kind and dear. I am a child of Gods, And so my needs are great; Help me to understand their words Before it grows too late. I am a child of Gods. Rich blessings are in store; If I but learn to do their will, I’ll live with them once more. I am a child of Gods. Their promises are sure; Celestial glory shall be mine If I can but endure. Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do To live with them someday. [69]
Note: The Dialogue Foundation provides the web format of this article as a courtesy. There may be unintentional differences from the printed version. For citational and bibliographical purposes, please use the printed version or the PDFs provided online and on JSTOR.
[1] “ Mother in Heaven ,” Gospel Topics Essays.
[2] “O My Father,” Hymns, no. 292.
[3] Edward W. Tullidge, “Marriage,” Millennial Star 19, no. 41 (1857): 656.
[4] Orson Pratt, “Celestial Marriage,” The Seer 1, Apr. 1853, 59.
[5] Erastus Snow, Mar. 3, 1878, Journal of Discourses, 19:269–70.
[6] David L. Paulsen and Martin Pulido, “‘A Mother There’: A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven,” BYU Studies 50, no. 1 (2011): 70–97.
[7] George Q. Cannon, “Topics of the Times: The Worship of Female Deities,” Juvenile Instructor 30, May 5, 1895, 314–17.
[8] Gordon B. Hinckley, “ Daughters of God ,” Oct. 1991.
[9] Joanna Brooks, Rachel Hunt Steenblik, and Hannah Wheelwright, eds., Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).
[10] Valerie Hudson, “ Women in the Church—A Conversation with Valerie Hudson ,” Faith Matters (podcast), Dec. 29, 2019.
[11] Carol Lynn Pearson, The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men (Walnut Creek, Calif.: Pivot Point Books, 2016).
[12] Blaire Ostler, “ Queer Polygamy ,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 52, no. 1 (Spring 2019): 33–43.
[13] I want to make clear that no one should enter a marriage, polygamous or monogamous, if it is not their desire. Asking women who desire monogamy to practice polygamy for all eternity is just as oppressive as asking homosexual people to practice heterosexuality for all eternity. However, if fear of polygamy causes someone to oppress those who are different from them, they have now become the oppressor they so desperately tried to liberate themselves from.
[14] Taylor Petrey, “Rethinking Mormonism’s Heavenly Mother,” Harvard Theological Review 109, no. 3 (2016): 16.
[15] Margaret Toscano, “ How Bodies Matter: A Response to ‘Rethinking Mormonism’s Heavenly Mother,’ ” By Common Consent (blog), Aug. 30, 2016.
[16] Sojourner Truth, “ Ain’t I A Woman ?,” speech, Women’s Rights Convention, May 29, 1851, Akron, Ohio.
[17] bell hooks, Ain’t I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism (Boston: South End Press, 1981).
[18] 2 Nephi 26:33.
[19] Genesis 3:22; Doctrine and Covenants 132:20.
[20] Tyler Chadwick, Dayna Patterson, Martin Pulido, eds., Dove Song: Heavenly Mother in Poetry (El Cerrito, Calif.: Peculiar Pages, 2018), 4.
[21] Dallin H. Oaks, “ Apostasy and Restoration ,” Apr. 1995.
[22] Genesis 1:27; Genesis 3:22.
[23] Moses 7:18.
[24] General Handbook: Serving in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [July 2021], 38.4.2., “ Sealing Children to Parents .”
[25] “ Elder Russell M. Nelson Marries Wendy L. Watson ,” Newsroom, Apr. 6, 2006.
[26] L. Tom Perry, “ Why Marriage and Family Matter—Everywhere in the World ,” Apr. 2015.
[27] Doctrine and Covenants 130:2.
[28] Genesis 1:3–5.
[29] Genesis 1:5.
[30] Joseph Smith, “ King Follet Sermon ,” Apr. 7, 1844, in History of the Church, 6:311. “There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven.”
[31] John 17:3; Doctrine and Covenants 14:7; Moses 1:4; Moses 1:39.
[32] Moses 1:3.
[33] Oaks, “Apostasy and Restoration.”
[34] Moses 1:33.
[35] Jeffrey R. Holland, “ Elder Holland Arizona April 2016 ,” YouTube, Apr. 30, 2016.
[36] Malachi 4:6.
[37] Doctrine and Covenants 138:47–48; Doctrine and Covenants 110:13–16.
[38] Andrew C. Skinner, To Become Like God: Witnesses of Our Divine Potential (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016), 13.
[39] Doctrine and Covenants 76:24.
[40] Smith, “ King Follet Sermon ,” in History of the Church, 6:305. “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret.”
[41] Hebrews 7:3.
[42] Smith, “King Follet Sermon.”
[43] Psalm 82:6; John 10:34–35; Acts 17:29.
[44] “If You Could Hie to Kolob,” Hymns, no. 284.
[45] Smith, “King Follet Sermon.”
[46] Psalm 37:4; Psalm 20:4.
[47] James 2:20.
[48] Doctrine and Covenants 58:26–27; 2 Nephi 26:33.
[49] Holland, “Elder Holland Arizona April 2016.”
[50] Alma 34:35.
[51] “Have I Done Any Good?,” Hymns, no. 223.
[52] Hebrews 6:12.
[53] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “ Are You Sleeping Through the Restoration? ,” Apr. 2014.
[54] Doctrine and Covenants 130:2.
[55] Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:517.
[56] Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 3:293.
[57] Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 6:549.
[58] General Handbook, 38.6.15, 38.6.16, 38.6.23.
[59] Andrew E. Evans, “ Rise and shout, the Cougars are out ,” Outsports, June 8, 2017.
[60] Blaire Ostler, Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction (Newburgh, Ind.: By Common Consent Press, 2021).
[61] . Blaire Ostler, “ More Than a Statistic ,” Queer Mormon Transhumanist (blog), Sept. 10, 2018.
[62] . Blaire Ostler, “ Celestial Genocide ,” Queer Mormon Transhumanist (blog), Sept. 19, 2019.
[63] Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), 79.
[64] Job 1:1.
[65] Job 1:22.
[66] Job 36:1–12.
[67] Job 31.
[68] 2 Nephi 26:33.
[69] Revised version of “I Am a Child of God,” Hymns, no. 301.
2022: Blaire Ostler, “ I Am a Child of Gods ” Dialogue 55 .1 (Spring 2022): 99–119.
The doctrine of Heavenly Mother is cherished among Latter-day Saints. She is birthed from necessity in a physicalist theology. Though she has feminist roots, her theology in Mormonism is laced with latent gender essentialist and complementarian theories. Both have been used in modern Mormonism to exclude the LGBTQ+ community from Mormonism. The assertion that God is composed of one fertile, cisgender, heterosexual couple, namely Heavenly Mother and Heavenly Father, is a narrow interpretation of the broadness of Mormon theology. Though gender essentialist interpretations of Heavenly Mother are queer-exclusionary, her presence in Mormon theology opens the door to a robust polytheism that includes an entire community of gods, diverse in gender, race, ability, and desires. In this paper, I argue that if we are all made in the image of God, God is significantly larger than a fertile, cisgender, heterosexual female and male coupling. Through deification, we all have the potential to become gods. In Mormonism, our theology cannot be fully understood unless it is developed within the bounds of the concrete, material, physical, and practical experiences of our human experience. Theosis, or the process of becoming gods, implies a polytheism filled with generational gods as diverse as all humanity.
Lessons and activities for teaching children of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, child of god: lesson ideas, table of contents, premortal life, made in his image, we can become like our heavenly father, traits inherited from heavenly father, heavenly father loves us, he loves all his children, we feel their love when we pray, i lived with heavenly father before i came to earth., heavenly father knew me before i was born., i am a child of god. (younger children), i am a child of god. (older children), heirs of god, heavenly father is the father of our spirits.
Doctrine and Covenants 130:22
Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine and Covenants 129-132”
When we understand that God the Father and Jesus Christ have bodies like ours, we feel closer to Them, and our relationship with Them is strengthened.
Friend August 2016 “God is Our Father” God our Father has ears with which to hear our prayers. He has eyes with which to see our actions. He has a mouth with which to speak to us. He has a heart with which to feel compassion and love. He is real. He is living. We are his children made in His image. We look like Him and He looks like us.
Friend November 2020 “Like Him”
Friend April 1984
Friend October 2015
Moses 1:1–4, 6 , 30, 37–39; Abraham 3:22–28
Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Old Testament 2022 “Moses 1; Abraham 3”
For younger children :
For older kids:
Primary 1 (Sunbeams) “Lesson One: I Am a Child of God”
We lived in Heaven: ( Click on the below picture. Print the picture, or show it on an electronic device.) Explain that before we were born on earth we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father.
Friend April 2015
We were spirits there. A spirit is what is inside of us that makes us alive. When we were spirits, we didn’t have flesh and bones like our bodies have now, but we looked the same.
(Use these puppets to demonstrate what it means to be a spirit. See here for assembly instructions.)
Show the first picture again and explain that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and we are his spirit children
Sing: I Am a Child of God. Tell the children they are going to sing the song “I Am a Child of God.” Explain that God is another name for Heavenly Father. (I like the Red Headed Hostess visual aids for the first verse of this song, but it does cost money. Jolly Jen has a flip chart that would work too, or you could use the below visual s from the Nursery Manual . Also see lds.org for the music )
Who is a child of God? Toss a beanbag or soft object to a child as you say the words “I know a child of God named_____ .” Have the child say his or her own name and give the beanbag back to you. Repeat the activity until everyone has had a turn.
Print and cut out this activity . Show the pictures one at a time and ask the following:
Is a policeman a child of God?
Is someone who lives in a different country or culture
Is a bishop
Is a grandmother or grandfather
Is a soldier
Is someone who doesn’t go to our church
Is a mailman or missionaries
Is a mom or dad
Have the children take turns posting each picture under the title “Child of God.” The title can be written on the board or in a file folder or display board. You can also bring up people they know such as a neighbor.
Help the children understand that everyone is a child of God even though we may be different in age, hair color, what we do, where we live, skin color, or the church we attend, we are all children of God.
We can be like Heavenly Father
(Print and cut out these images pdf .) Use the following questions with the images. They could also be made into a matching game.
Explain that just as animals grow up to be like their parents, we will grow up to be like our parents.
Friend January 2017 “Kylie’s Parents” Kylie is like her earthly parents, and she is also like her Heavenly Parents. PDF version
Have children tell or act out ways they can be loving, good, or kind.
(The images for the activity “Who is a Child of God?” are from the Friend magazine. Soldier 6/16, Bishop 1/16, etc.The images for the animals are from Pixabay: Free Images )
Friend January 2022 “I Am a Child of God” Coloring page
Friend March 2023 “I Am Amazing”
Ensign July 2019 “Family Study Fun”
In Athens, Paul taught people who believed that gods were powers or forces, not living, personable beings. Help your family recognize that we are literally the “offspring of God” ( ).
Friend January 2022 “You Are a Beloved Child of God” “You are a beloved child of God. Please remember that fact. If you never forget that one pure truth, you can face any problem with faith and courage. I know that Heavenly Father watches over you. He loves you very much, and so do I.” (President Russel M. Nelson)
Primary Sharing Time 2018 “I am a Child of God” Week One
1. Guessing game with clues about who you are thinking of (Heavenly Father).
2. Read scriptures about how the Lord addresses each prophet, and then help the children understand that God knows each of us by name.
3. Pass around several items that represent God’s love for His children as they sing “I Am a Child of God” (CS, 2–3) or “I Know My Father Lives” (CS, 5).
Friend August 2019 “Show and Tell” Primary children in Virginia, USA, were given the “toothbrush challenge”—to look in the mirror and say, “I am a child of God,” when they brushed their teeth each day. Each Sunday they shared how God had helped them during the week. Then they put a pom-pom in a jar to help them remember that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love them.
Friend January 2016 Stand tall because you are a child of God and he stands with you. Heavenly Father lifts and helps us. He blesses us with others to help us. .
Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–12
Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine and Covenants 18–19: “The Worth of Souls Is Great”
Many people struggle with feelings of low self-worth; others are unkind toward people who are different from them. The powerful message of Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 can change how we view ourselves and people around us.
Repeat verse 10 with the children, this time replacing “souls” with the children’s names.
Help the children think of things that people consider valuable. Then let the children take turns looking in a mirror, and as they do, tell each child that he or she is a child of God and of great worth. Testify that to Heavenly Father, they are more valuable than all the things they thought of earlier.
Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine and Covenants 18–19: “The Worth of Souls Is Great”
Each family member could read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13 and substitute his or her name in place of the words “soul,” “souls,” and “all men.” You could then discuss how these verses help us understand our worth to the Father and the Son (see Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19 ).
Liahona February 2021 “Your Worth is Great” Family Study Fun: Circle of Worth
Circle of Worth : Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were counseled to remember that “the worth of souls is great in the sight of God” ( Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 ). As we help others to see their own worth, we bring them nearer to Christ while becoming closer to Him ourselves.
Discussion: Why is it important to remember our own worth as well as the worth of those around us? If Christ were in the circle, what would He say about us? Read Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13 and discuss what Christ went through because of how much He loves and values us.
Friend February 2021 “Scripture Time Fun”
Friend February 2021 “Scripture Time for Little Ones” For Doctrine and Covenants 18–19 : Help your little ones say, “I am important to Heavenly Father.” Then sing “I Am a Child of God” ( Children’s Songbook, 2) and have your children give themselves a hug when they sing the words, “I am a child of God.”
Friend November 2020 “We are Moving Forward”
Friend March 2022 “He Is There” Song and Music Video
2. Do you ever stop to think What your Heavenly Father sees When He looks at you?
He smiles brighter than the sun When He sees His precious one; There’s just one like you!
So take comfort when that quiet voice reminds you:
Chorus 2: He is there, greater than any challenge. God is there, watching you as you grow,
Sending comfort in the night, Helping you know and choose what’s right.
You’re not alone, for He is always there. So keep trying, keep growing;
Keep praying, keep knowing:God loves you so, and He is always there.
For additional teaching ideas see “ Child of God “
Friend November 2023 “Conference Notes”
Elder Stevenson invited us to stop each time we see ourselves in a mirror and say, “Wow, look at me! I am amazing! I am a child of God! He knows me! He loves me!” Doing this will help us remember who we really are and how God and the Holy Ghost can help us.
This teaches me:
Friend October 2022 “Bright Idea”
Friend September 2020 “Everyone is Important” We’re all daughters and sons of our heavenly parents—not all the same, but all equally important, needed, valuable, and loved!
Friend March 2019
Friend October 2018
Friend February 1988
Nursery Manual “Behold Your Little Ones”
If you’re very, very tall, (stretch and reach arms up) Heavenly Father knows and loves you. If you’re very, very small, (crouch down) Heavenly Father knows and loves you. Tall, (stretch up) Small, (crouch down) Tall, (stretch up) Small, (crouch down) Heavenly Father knows and loves us all.
Ensign October 2017 We grow closer to Them and feel their love as we pray and read the scriptures. Color a heart each time you do one of these things.
God is the Father of our spirits. We are literally His children, and He loves us. We lived as spirit children of our Father in Heaven before we were born on this earth.
Doctrine and Covenants 93:23, 29, 38
Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine & Covenants 93”
The Savior emphasized three times in section 93 that we lived with God “in the beginning” ( verses 23, 29, 38 ). Why might He want us to know this? How might knowing this truth bless the children you teach?
Friend August 2021 “Scripture Time Fun” Reminder Rocks
Jeremiah 1:5
Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Old Testament 2022 “Jeremiah 1–3; 7; 16–18; 20” Because we lived with God before we came to earth, He knows us, even if we can’t remember Him. How will you help the children you teach understand this important truth?
We lived in Heaven: Explain that before we were born on earth we lived in heaven with Heavenly Father.
Friend June 2024 Cover
Doctrine and Covenants 76:24
President Dallin H. Oaks said that if we teach “a young person the powerful idea that he or she is a child of God,” we can give him or her the “self-respect and motivation to move against the problems of life” (“ Powerful Ideas ,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 25).
Explain that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and we are his spirit children
Explain that God is another name for Heavenly Father.
(The below visuals are from the Nursery Manual . Also see lds.org for the music )
Acts 17:22–31
Come, Follow Me—For Primary: New Testament 2023 “Acts 16-21” On Mars’ Hill, Paul taught basic truths about the nature of God, including the truths that we are His children and that He is “not far from every one of us” ( Acts 17:27 ). How can you help the children feel close to their Heavenly Father?
Invite the children to repeat the phrase “We are the offspring of God” ( Acts 17:29 ), and explain that offspring means children. Bear your testimony to each child, one by one, that he or she is a child of God. Invite them to share how they feel about their Heavenly Father.
Show pictures of children with their families (if possible, include pictures of the children in your class). Ask the children to point to the parents in the pictures. Explain that we are the children of our mothers and fathers, and all of us are also spirit children of our heavenly parents.
Sing a song about Heavenly Father, such as “ I Know My Father Lives ” (Children’s Songbook, 5). With help from the children, write words or draw pictures on the board that represent things we learn about Heavenly Father from the song.
Read to the children these words from Acts 17:27 : “He be not far from every one of us.” Talk about times when you have felt close to Heavenly Father, and invite the children to do the same.
Come, Follow Me—For Primary: New Testament 2023 “Acts 16-21” How can you help the children remember that they are children of God?
Show the children a stone, and explain that in Paul’s day, people worshipped gods they made out of stone and other materials.
Ask the children to read Acts 17:27–29 . What do we learn about God from these verses? Explain that offspring means children. Ask the children how it makes them feel to know that they are children of God. ( Explain that we are the children of our mothers and fathers, and all of us are also spirit children of our heavenly parents. )
Ask the children to read Acts 17:27 . Invite the children to write about or draw pictures of ways they can “feel after” or come closer to God. When have they felt that He is “not far from [them]”?
Child of God Resources See this site for additional Child of God resources
You might introduce Galatians 4 by discussing the differences between a king’s servants and his children. What opportunities or potential does a king’s child have that a servant does not? Think about this as you read together verses 1–7 . What do these verses teach about our relationship with Heavenly Father? ( Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: New Testament 2023 “Galatians” )
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Home — Essay Samples — Religion — Kingdom of God — My Identity As A Child Of God
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Introduction.
Childhood, family, community, religious or spiritual beliefs, political stances, and other factors influence one’s social environment. Identity and values are shaped by upbringing, including interactions with parents, siblings, and other family members. Despite their significance, they might not be as significant as accepting a biblical worldview and the conviction that one is a child of God. The paper considers how their own families and spiritual traditions have molded them. This essay will investigate how this influences people’s predisposition for secrecy, religious reliance, and strict limits.
A person’s early growth and development are grounded in their family of origin. Personality can be shaped through one’s educational experiences by being exposed to inspiring role models and intellectual debate (Parrott & Parrott, 2012). My supportive childhood has equipped me with a strong sense of identity and the resilience to overcome adversity. Career paths are also heavily influenced by one’s family of origin. My parents’ expectations, ideals, and advice heavily influenced my path to adulthood. They put a premium on making money, so even as a kid, I felt compelled to go into a field that paid well, even if it was not a good fit for my interests and skills. My family was my model for interacting with and comprehending others. The habits of talking things out, making up, and being close that I picked up at home have served me well in my subsequent relationships(Parrott & Parrott, 2012). Family of origin influences may also include ideas and beliefs about marriage, commitment, and gender roles. Compared to being a child of God, a relationship with the Lord emphasizes love, forgiveness, compassion, and honesty. My identity and worldview have been dramatically changed due to this connection. I am God’s child because I am a miraculously particular product of the Creator—a person’s sense of worth, confidence, and belonging all benefit from this realization. In addition, the moral concepts I learn from a biblical perspective help me make decisions and shape my values. For example, the passage in Deuteronomy 32:7-9 emphasizes the value of seeking advice from the past and respecting the knowledge and comprehension passed down to us from our predecessors. It emphasizes the significance of considering their insights and perspectives while making decisions. This ethical maxim reminds me of the value of honoring our history and learning from the experiences of those who came before us.
In my view, the masks people use to get by in life might be influenced by their family of origin and their spiritual walk with God. Due to pressure from their families and society, many people learn to wear masks to disguise their authentic selves. Conversely, as it values genuine human connection and trust in God’s grace, a biblical worldview encourages honesty and openness. One’s ability to trust in God’s provision, guidance, and constancy can be influenced by upbringing and life circumstances. Happy memories from childhood may bolster trust in God, but painful ones may severely test it. However, people can discover comfort, restoration, greater trust in the Lord, and a more comprehensive biblical perspective.
For one’s mental health and the well-being of one’s relationships, boundary setting is a need. Their family of origin may have shaped one’s conception and use of personal space. Blurred boundaries or difficulties articulating personal limits may result from unhealthy family dynamics such as enmeshment or neglect. However, the biblical emphasis on love, respect, and self-care can serve as a basis for establishing and upholding healthy limits.
Maintaining these safe zones requires introspective thought about one’s reactions and exchanges. An individual’s upbringing and religious beliefs have a significant bearing on whom they become as an adult, and each deserves consideration. It is essential to consider how one’s upbringing might have influenced forming and maintaining boundaries while examining personal responses and interactions (Campbel et al., 2020). Someone may find it difficult to set appropriate limits in their adult relationships if they learned to do so as a child in a hostile setting. The ability to recognize these patterns is crucial for locating potential improvement zones.
Setting appropriate boundaries can also be aided by having a relationship with God and having a Christian perspective. Self-care, respect for others, and the pursuit of relational wisdom are all emphasized in the Bible. Aligning one’s behavior and outlook with these teachings allows people to create protective barriers that benefit their health and dignity as God’s children. Setting and maintaining appropriate limits is not always easy, though, so that is something to keep in mind (Fuchs et al., 2021). Obstacles and difficulties can be spawned by a person’s upbringing, individual experiences, and the nuances of interpersonal interactions. Finding someone you can trust for advice, motivation, and accountability is essential, such as mentors, counselors, or spiritual leaders. When evaluating other people’s reactions and interactions, consider whether your personal space is respected and acknowledged. Consider whether or not one effectively conveys and advocates for one’s opinions, values, and needs. By frequently evaluating the state of one’s boundaries, one can make appropriate adjustments, seek reconciliation when necessary, and cultivate healthier, more satisfying relationships.
One’s upbringing and spiritual connection to God significantly impact their personality, career path, social circle, and values. A person’s family life and the relationships they form throughout their early years significantly impact their sense of self and level of maturity. However, adopting a biblical viewpoint and comprehending that you are a child of God positively impacts your character, decisions, and relationships. It is crucial to consider how these factors affect the use of disguises, faith in God, and personal boundaries while assessing their impact. A person’s healthy boundaries, familiarity with early-life patterns, and adherence to scriptural principles can all be gauged through thoughtful consideration of responses and interactions. People can grow, have more satisfying relationships, and honor their identity as God’s children by learning from and incorporating the best of their families of origin and spiritual lives.
Campbell, M. C., Inman, J. J., Kirmani, A., & Price, L. L. (2020). In times of trouble: A framework for understanding consumers’ responses to threats. Journal of consumer research , 47 (3), 311-326.
Fuchs, D., Sahakian, M., Gumbert, T., Di Giulio, A., Maniates, M., Lorek, S., & Graf, A. (2021). Consumption corridors: Living a good life within sustainable limits (p. 112).
Parrott, L. & Parrott, L. (2012). Real relationships .
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See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
And greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ...
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
In whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. And he said: “The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.” Thus says the Lord : “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord . ...
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
Because we are members of his body.
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.
But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ...
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
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Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles , a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.
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3) I am not a child of God because of my will but because of his will. John talks about "the will of the flesh" and "the will of man.". If I trust in Jesus, there is nothing I can think or will that makes me any more or less God's child. If I can only have a pure thought life, then God will love me. False.
Introduction. This Bible study is written from the perspective of helping you better. understand who God the Father is so that you can step deeper into your identity as a child of God. Identity is never an easy thing, especially for women. We can have a really hard time feeling secure in who we are for many reasons.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him." (1 John 3:1, NIV) In Christ, you are loved. Your identity is a child of God. This Bible verse comes from a chapter that warns against the temptation to stray from God into sin. You can resist sin by remembering that God has the best for His children.
He is a child of God and born again. If your life has been transformed, if your lifestyle and habits have changed, then this is evidence that you are saved. III. Children of God love each other (10b-12). Remember that a major reason John writes this letter is so that believers can have assurance of salvation.
God has named you, which means he declares his unique authority over your life, his good and perfect plan for you, and his power to make all things work for your good. Worship him today. Hold your head high, child of God. Walk tall. You were created with such wonder. Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/RyanJLane.
You can just look over at them and say, "But this is my Daddy and I am his beloved child.". And you can crawl up into his lap and rest playfully in his arms. You are a beloved child of God. Your identity as a child of God changes everything. Knowing your identity as a child of God then, becomes extremely important.
To be a child of God means our old sin nature is replaced with a nature that wants to please the Lord. We still sin ( 1 John 1:8 ), but we have "an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the righteous" ( 1 John 2:1 ). Being a child of God means our sins are paid for and our fellowship with God has been restored.
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. The Spirit leads us to kill and our sin, and he leads us to cry, "Abba! Father!".
There's a beautiful confidence and assurance in your prayer. And the bible tells me that the Spirit witnesses to you. It says in Romans 8:16, "The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God". In the Roman times where this part of the bible is written, adoption is a common process.
One of the greatest privileges of being a child of God is that we have direct access to Him through prayer. In Matthew 7:7-8, Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be ...
And the Scriptures begin with God providing a poetic summary of his creating…and culminates in His declaring… Genesis 1:26 (NIV) Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…" 1. I was CREATED to be a child of God… to bear the nature of God.
In Knowing God J. I. Packer writes: If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand ...
1. I am a child of God, And he has sent me here, Has given me an earthly home. With parents kind and dear. Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, Help me find the way. Teach me all that I must do. To live with him someday.
Invite a child to stand next to you in the front of the class. Say: "This is [child's name].". Ask the children to repeat the child's name. Say: " [Child's name] is a child of God.". Ask the children to repeat: " [Child's name] is a child of God.". Repeat the activity for each child in the nursery. If the nursery class is ...
Answer. Becoming a child of God requires faith in Jesus Christ. "To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" ( John 1:12 ). "You must be born again". When visited by the religious leader Nicodemus, Jesus did not immediately assure him of heaven.
Nothing can change that. The same is true of God's family. He will always be our Father. We will always be his children. But to return to him we must live his commandments. That's what the chorus in "I Am a Child of God" means when it states, "Teach me all that I must do. To live with him someday.".
Articles/Essays - Volume 55, No. 1. I Am a Child of Gods. Blaire Ostler. View PDF. "Then shall they be gods, because they have no end; therefore shall they be from everlasting to everlasting, because they continue; then shall they be above all, because all things are subject unto them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power ...
My testimony of his love and my spiritual identity was strengthened immensely as towers shone with whiteness. I believe in a loving Heavenly Father who knows my feelings and desires. I believe in who I really am, a child and son of God. I'm grateful for His glorious creations. "I am a child of God, and He has sent me here…I am a child of God.
am am am a a a child child child of of of ˙˙ 2 5 œ1 œ ˙ CF (G) Fervently q = 80-96 Optional descant (with verse 3) for voice or instrument ⌜ œœ œ œ œ I am a child of ˙˙.. œ 2 God, God, God. And And Rich ˙˙.. œœ 1 5 C œ. J œ œ œ God, And bless ings œœ.. 5 3 J œœ œœ œœ he so bless has my ings sent needs are me are ...
See here for assembly instructions.) Show the first picture again and explain that Heavenly Father is the father of our spirits, and we are his spirit children. Sing: I Am a Child of God. Tell the children they are going to sing the song "I Am a Child of God.". Explain that God is another name for Heavenly Father.
My Identity as a Child of God. On the third page of a thin, navy-blue booklet is my profile information and identification: Isabella Chow, citizen of the United States of America. This small passport lists among some of my most important possessions, but I know deep down that my true identity is not as a citizen of the United States of America.
Introduction Childhood, family, community, religious or spiritual beliefs, political stances, and other factors influence one's social environment. ... and honesty. My identity and worldview have been dramatically changed due to this connection. I am God's child because I am a miraculously particular product of the Creator—a person's ...
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.