Watch the video above and talk about it with a friend or mentor.

No one is born a child of God. We become his children by adoption, which opens us a wonderful relationship of closeness to God as our loving father.

LDS and traditional Christians both talk about being children of God. This is an important biblical concept. If you’re transitioning into a new church, you will hear people talk about this, but it will mean something different than you might be used to. Even more importantly, once you understand this concept, it will revolutionize your whole relationship with God.

[Related Topic: Adopted by God]

Video Highlights:

  • The LDS Church teaches that people are literal offspring of God. All humans are literally brothers and sisters. We have God’s “DNA”. He created our spirits by procreation before this earthly life. Thus every human being is born as a child of God.
  • The Bible teaches that we become a child of God by adoption. It is only when a person places trust in Jesus for salvation that he or she becomes a child of God. God then accepts us into his family. This shows how much God loves and wants us. At one time, we weren’t in his family, and we don’t deserve to be added to his family. God does it by his choice and by his grace.
  • As God’s children we can experience intimacy with him. In Charnae’s experience as a Mormon, despite all the talk about being brothers and sisters, she did not have a sense of being close to God. But now, God is personal. He feels like a Father. It’s easier to pray and to live in daily communion with Christ, knowing that we are adopted into his family. Our focus is on love, not duty or fear or trying to earn something from God.
  • As children of God, we obey him on a different basis. An employee obeys his or her employer in order to receive a wage. The employer rewards the employee based on his or her work. What’s more, there is not necessarily any close personal relationship between the two. However, children obey their parents out of love, and a father blesses and provides for his children regardless of whether are productive (like a newborn). A child is invited into the life of its parents. There is an entire relationship outside of “do this and I’ll do that.”

A wonderful intimacy with God is available to us when we become his children. It happens when we respond to God’s invitation through faith. May you come to experience this relationship with God and live it day in and day out.

[Related Topic: What Mormons Believe About Humanity]

[Related Topic: What Does It Mean to Be a Child of God?]

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Key Points:

  • The LDS Church Teaches That People are Literal Offspring of God
  • The Bible Teaches That We Become a Child of God by Adoption
  • As God’s Children We Can Experience Intimacy with Him
  • As Children of God, We Obey Him on a Different Basis

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Talk About It
  1. Watch the video together or invite someone to summarize the topic.
  2. What is your initial reaction to this video? Do you disagree with any of it? What jumped out at you?
  3. When you were LDS, how did you understand what it means to be a child of God?
  4. Read John 1:12-13. How does this describe being a child of God differently from Mormonism?
  5. Do you think adoption is a good analogy to describe a relationship with God? Explain.
  6. How does the idea of adoption change how you think about God? How you experience God?
  7. How is the obedience of a child different from the obedience of an employee?
  8. Write a personal action step based on this conversation.

This is part of the Clarifying Salvation After Mormonism series.