Common Questions

Often in the new testament "the world" does not mean every single person to ever exist, rather it means humanity in general. For example, John 1:29 we read: "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world", if "the world" would mean every single person to ever exist, that would mean that Christ atoned for the sins of every person, if he atoned for each person, everyone would be saved, regardless of human choice. However, there are times where "the world" means a specific group of people, in 1 John 2:15, it reads "Do not love the world", if this didn't mean a specific group of people, that would be contradictory to our Lords commandment to love our neighbor. it is extremely important to see this distinction. Also, to a certain extent, God does love every single person to ever exist, God has graciously sustained sinful humans, provided them with blessings, and has delayed their judgement. God has all authority to graciously choose who to elect to eternal life, for God would have still been the most just to leave sinful humans to die in their sin, leaving no one worthy to enter eternal life. However by the incredible grace of God, he has sovereignly and graciously predestined some to eternal life, and some to die in their sin.

Great question; it is important that we all ask ourselves this question. Am I Elect (Saved)? Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5-7 that we should test our own faith. This is because judgment is God's will to exercise alone. God is better at seeing our hearts than we are, so it is important to understand that God alone knows whose name is written in the book of life. That being said, we can know if we are true children of God by checking our works. To quote Jesus in Luke 6:43, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.” This is how Paul wants us to test ourselves. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22) Check your fruits: if you believe in God and you bear good fruit, take it as assurance of your salvation; if you don't produce good fruit, it would be good for you to find your way.

The Church is the bride of Christ; if you are of the redeemed, then you are a part of the church. It's also worth understanding the context of marriage at that time. Husbands and wives were arranged together and learned to love each other. This is the antithesis to what society looks like today, where we pick who we marry of our own will.

I am not convinced we are all children of God in the sense that you are referring. The bible teaches that you become a child of god after spiritual rebirth. This is discussed in John 3, Romans 8:14, and John 1:12. It does not say verbatim in the bible that "God loves all his children" it does speak to the idea that god does not want anyone to perish but in the same chapter in the next verse it speaks of judgment day and to repent. Psalms 5:5 states "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers". God does not turn a blind eye to evil this must not be forgotten.