All Are Alike Unto God

This morning I decided to go to the temple and participate in the initiatory. I didn’t have much time and so I decided to use temple names instead of printing my own. I received a sheet with one person from China, two from Russia, and two from Spain. After struggling through the difficult task of pronouncing a couple of these names, the temple worker said to me, “Where did you get these names?!” The first three were in both the original language (Chinese and Russian) as well as the English equivalent, and it was interesting to be able to do this work for people who were totally unrelated to me and whose language I couldn’t even begin to decipher. It was fitting because on the way to the temple I listened to the most recent general conference talk by Elder Soares who taught that we are all “brothers and sisters in Christ.” He said, “The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches that we are all begotten spirit sons and daughters of heavenly parents who truly love us and that we lived as a family in God’s presence before we were born on this earth. The gospel also teaches that we were all created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, we are equal before Him, for He ‘hath made of one blood all nations of men [and women].’ Therefore, we all have divine nature, heritage, and potential, for there is ‘one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in [us] all.’” Our work in temples is evidence that we do indeed believe in the brotherhood and sisterhood of men and women of all countries and races. We do work for people from all nations from all time periods that we can discover, hoping to offer the ordinances of the restored gospel to all of God’s children. Instead of being exclusive, the gospel teaches us, “He manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith…. He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Nephi 26:13, 33). All are alike before Him and deserving of our love and respect.  

                Elder Soares also said in this same talk, “I have deep compassion for those who have been mistreated, belittled, or persecuted by unfeeling and thoughtless people, because, in the course of my life, I have seen firsthand the pain good people suffer from being judged or dismissed because they happened to speak, look, or live differently. I also feel genuine sorrow in my heart for those whose minds remain darkened, whose vision is limited, and whose hearts remain hardened by the belief in the inferiority of those who are different from them. Their limited view of others actually obstructs their ability to see who they are as children of God.” He expressed compassion both for those who have been mistreated because of their differences as well as those who mistreat others because of their own perceived superiority. To belittle others is to misunderstand that we all share a common position as children of God; only when we don’t understand that do we feel insecure about our own place among others and cover up by pretending superiority. This reminds me of a comical scene from Mustaches for Maddie, a book my kids like. The main character Maddie had two identical twin brothers, Ethan and Emery. In one scene they got into a fight: “‘You’ve got a problem with your brain,’ Ethan snapped. They could go from joking to upset really quickly. ‘You’ve got a problem with your face,’ Emery shot back. ‘Ugly face.’” Before they could start really going after each other, their dad burst out laughing. The book continues, “Everyone looked at him. Usually he would reprimand the twins for saying mean things to each other, not crack up. Dad opened his mouth to say something but had to wait a few seconds before he could get the words out. ‘You said he had an ugly face,’ he said. I still didn’t get why that was funny. He laughed a little more. ‘But you’re identical twins.’ There was another pause. ‘You have the same face.’” Sometimes we too forget that we are brothers and sisters, and to disparage or hurt one another is to offend their Father who is also our Father. Though we may not have the same faces, we have the same spiritual pedigree and we were all created in the same image, even that of God—a principle taught in the very first chapter of the Bible. Jesus taught us how He feels concerning the way we treat one another: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me…. Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me” (Matthew 25:40, 45). When we insult or demean others, we are ultimately insulting the God who made us all. To hurt a brother is to hurt God. To belittle a sister is to belittle God. And ultimately that hurts and belittles us who are also His child. We must strive to accept this invitation that Elder Soares left us: “My dear brothers and sisters, may we align our hearts and minds with the knowledge and testimony that we are all equal before God, that we are all fully endowed with the same eternal potential and inheritance.”