Children of God

I will be quite frank and say that as a woman worshiping within a conservative Christian community most of my life, I have never had occasion to address a congregation or teach a group of adults from the scripture, (except for that infamous Greek class of course). But, my perspective - affected by this accident of nature, my femininity, that is - when it comes to translation, is almost entirely focused on what the text means to the unchurched, or my wider community.

On Monday I saw this verse, Matthew 5:9 displayed on an immense banner in a public building in Vancouver,

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

From this I would deduce that - a) the general public believes that peacemaking reflects the purpose of God, b) that God is not entirely irrelevant to modern society, c) that the KJV is better known than the RSV and its derivatives, d) that peacemakers are male and female, e) that we are the children of God because we are made in his image. As our anonymous commenter has pointed out,

that each person, having been created in the Divine Image, and having had spirit breathed into him by God, is a "Child of God", regardless of religion.

That is how I see it, and to add my two cents to the Bible poll, only two versions of the Bible have ever been mentioned to me by the unchurched, the KJV and the Good News Bible. If I had to pick only two ... Oh, I think I have said this before.