We are all children of God?!

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SirEwenii

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I watched the Pope’s prayer intention video, which you can watch here

In it he makes the quite remarkable claim that we are all “children of God”, referring to people of other faiths including, Buddhists, Muslims and Jewish people.

I am used to hearing people use that phrase and I normally associate it with people who have been poorly catechised. We are made children of God through baptism according to Catholic theology.

this is an incredibly important theology in the scripture. St John especially has a very strong theology of what it means to be a child of God both in his gospel and in his first epistle. It is very clear from saint John that we are not naturally born children of God.

Why did the Holy Father say we were? We are all creatures of God surely, but that is very different from saying we are children of God. The devil is a creature of God.

Does anyone have thoughts here?
 
I’d say he used the phrase as being that “God created each and every one of us, therefore we are children of Him.”
 
SirEwenii said:
I watched the Pope’s prayer intention video, which you can watch here

In it he makes the quite remarkable claim that we are all “children of God”, referring to people of other faiths including, Buddhists, Muslims and Jewish people.

I am used to hearing people use that phrase and I normally associate it with people who have been poorly catechised. We are made children of God through baptism according to Catholic theology.

this is an incredibly important theology in the scripture. St John especially has a very strong theology of what it means to be a child of God both in his gospel and in his first epistle. It is very clear from saint John that we are not naturally born children of God.

Why did the Holy Father say we were? We are all creatures of God surely, but that is very different from saying we are children of God. The devil is a creature of God.

Does anyone have thoughts here?
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What did he say that the Church has not said for 2000 years?
What’s the big deal?
 
Son_of_Niall said:
What did he say that the Church has not said for 2000 years?
What’s the big deal?
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He said that nonbaptised people were children of God.

I am not one of those “Pope Francis is changing everything” people, I know he is not. He said something I normally associate with the poorly catechised.
 
fan312 said:
I’d say he used the phrase as being that “God created each and every one of us, therefore we are children of Him.”
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I would agree with this. We are created by God and therefore His children
 
Michael68 said:
I would agree with this. We are created by God and therefore His children
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The Holy Father must be using the term in a very very broad sense.

I am not going to be picky about every sentence he utters but that was the “high point” of hte video. If he had said, “we are all made in the image and likeness of God” no problems

Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t be picky, but the sentence just jabbed out at me because of the theological untruth of it. According to Catholic theology only baptised persons are children of God

“Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission” CCC 1213
 
Sometimes the choice of words matters, and the difference Baptism achieves by making us the adopted children of God matters. I’m sure that Pope Francis means well, but have to agree with SirEwenii.
 
SirEwenii said:
He said that nonbaptised people were children of God.
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Since you seem to think you have a greater understanding of the matter than the Holy Father, can you please tell me whose children they are, if not God’s?
 
Add this to his declaration that Catholics are not to evangelise Jews anymore and it can be a step toward the “one world religion” predicted in Revelation.
 
1neophyte said:
Since you seem to think you have a greater understanding of the matter than the Holy Father, can you please tell me whose children they are, if not God’s?
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According to the Bible they are the “children of darkness” or Satan’s children.
 
Acts 4, RSVCE
Peter and John before the Council
4 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sad′ducees came upon them, 2 annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.[a] 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the morrow, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

5 On the morrow their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Ca′iaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, 10 be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. 12 **And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
**
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. 14 But seeing the man that had been healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred with one another, 16 saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is manifest to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any one in this name.” 18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people; for all men praised God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

We do a disservice to our fellow brothers and sisters on earth if we do not share the Gospel of Christ with them. They either believe or not. They are then saved or not. But my brothers and sisters in Christ are those that believe in Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
 
1neophyte said:
Since you seem to think you have a greater understanding of the matter than the Holy Father, can you please tell me whose children they are, if not God’s?
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No need to be snarky I have not said anything disrespectful about the Holy Father.

I am not saying anything new or even very clever. It is very clear from the catechism that baptism is what makes us children of God, I have been taught that in catechism classes from a very young age. I quoted the Catechism above.

You ask me whose children they are, St Paul answers:

We are slaves of sin (Galatians 4:1-7) but we are adopted as God’s children in baptism.

We are also sons of Adam, therefore born in sin. In Baptism we are “born again” (avoiding the protestant use of the term here) or adopted into God’s family.

It really could also be sons of the devil in light of John 8:42-44 and 1 John 3:10
 
We should want for all people to be children of God, that is for all people to be baptized. Instead of acting like it’s already true, let’s believe it can happen and do what we can to allow God to make it happen.
 
SirEwenii said:
Why did the Holy Father say we were? We are all creatures of God surely, but that is very different from saying we are children of God. The devil is a creature of God.

Does anyone have thoughts here?
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This popes regularly leaves me speechless.

Another issue to explain to those who are poorly catechised. On and on it goes.
 
For crying out loud people, the point the Pope was making is simply to involve people of different religions in friendly dialogue and interaction, so we can live in peace with them.
Loving others who do not share our religious beliefs is an essential requirement as Christians in general, not just Catholics.
Stop getting your Catholic teaching from Michael Voris and Fox News.
 
Son_of_Niall said:
For crying out loud people, the point the Pope was making is simply to involve people of different religions in friendly dialogue and interaction, so we can live in peace with them.
Loving others who do not share our religious beliefs is an essential requirement as Christians in general, not just Catholics.
Stop getting your Catholic teaching from Michael Voris and Fox News.
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👍👍👍
 
SirEwenii said:
The Holy Father must be using the term in a very very broad sense.

I am not going to be picky about every sentence he utters but that was the “high point” of hte video. If he had said, “we are all made in the image and likeness of God” no problems

Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t be picky, but the sentence just jabbed out at me because of the theological untruth of it. According to Catholic theology only baptised persons are children of God

“Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission” CCC 1213
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It only goes to show that it is not easy to be Pope. You are not allowed to be your own person.

Obviously the Holy Father knows what he is saying. He couldn’t make a theological mistake on something so obvious, so simple theologically.

But why did he say it? This Pope has shown us that he can be very simple, and perhaps to a fault. Sometimes he uses layman language, thing we understand but may not be right technically or legalistically, as you rightly pointed out.

I have no problem when the Pope talks in such a manner. I know what he was trying to say and he is not so stupid as to making a mistake theologically. If he said something like all are children of God, it could mean God loves all His creations, whether they are baptized or not; or he could just saying, God love you and you are important in His eyes. What a comforting word to hear to the listener.
 
SirEwenii said:
I watched the Pope’s prayer intention video, which you can watch here

In it he makes the quite remarkable claim that we are all “children of God”, referring to people of other faiths including, Buddhists, Muslims and Jewish people.

I am used to hearing people use that phrase and I normally associate it with people who have been poorly catechised. We are made children of God through baptism according to Catholic theology.

this is an incredibly important theology in the scripture. St John especially has a very strong theology of what it means to be a child of God both in his gospel and in his first epistle. It is very clear from saint John that we are not naturally born children of God.

Why did the Holy Father say we were? We are all creatures of God surely, but that is very different from saying we are children of God. The devil is a creature of God.

Does anyone have thoughts here?
Click to expand...
All people are children of God, as all are children of Adam and Eve. Some are still dead in their sins as the prodigal son once was dead and returned to his father’s house. They just haven’t returned to the Father’s house through baptism making them alive again.

[Lk15:22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this **my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.]
 
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