The condition in the rural New World may not have been as bleak as in Palestine’s urbanized economy, but childhood was still a terribly vulnerable period. With so many difficulties in childhood, why must we become as children to enter the kingdom?
It is because Jesus becomes our father. Benjamin made this clear when he established the Christian covenant with his people: “And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7). There is a proper relationship between humankind and God. It is a familial relationship with obligations and duties. We become children because we are adopted into the kingdom. We do not enter a place; we enter a relationship.