“…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 26:33
This is a well-known and repeated concept in scripture. I’ve always interpreted the phrase “and all are alike unto God” to mean that God views, treats, and loves everyone equally. Divine love and acceptance aren’t based on any particular race, gender, religion, cultural background, addiction or enslavement characteristic.
All Are Alike unto God
To me, that wording still denoted separation and division. Like even though there are these varying groups, God still views everyone equally. And because He does, we can overcome those labels and groupings to view each other similarly.
However, while reading these familiar words in 2 Nephi, I suddenly had a glimpse into a different way of reading them.
“…all are alike unto God…” suddenly reminded me of these words in Moses 6:8-10:
In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
In the of his own , male and female, he them, and blessed them, and called their Adam, in the day when they were created and became living in the land upon the of God.
And lived one hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his own , and called his name Seth. (emphasis added)
All are alike unto God — equal, yes; beloved, yes — but this new view gave me a different perspective.
All are alike
because all are created in the image of God, male and female. All are alike because we are after the likeness of our Heavenly Parents. All are alike unto God because that is our primary label, group, and social status. We are alike unto God with His glorious future for us: salvation, immortality, and exaltation.
That totally changed my paradigm. Instead of seeing humankind in varying boxes trying to overcome those labels to become united, I saw humankind outside of boxes, together as a group, wearing those labels like little name tags describing our current experience. I realize that is an oversimplistic and unreasonable explanation for people living the realities of human labeling; however, that mental image provided an important lesson for me to learn the lesson I needed to learn. The shift in viewing identity really impacted my perception of how myself and others are “…all are alike unto God…”
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