Is God a father substitute.?

Question

It seems that the love thing and the discipline functions are what would be expected from a father in the critical years of youth. The high numbers of fathers who need to work excessive hours and the large proportion of single parent homes seem to be depriving children of their fathers. Could this explain the religious fervour of many of the Christians. Do God and Jesus represent the fathers they wish that they had, and never did.

the nonexistance of evidence is not evidence of the nonexistance of the fact. IEuropeans work fewer hours and spend much more time with family, the religiosity is also much lower. It has a decent level of corelation and it would seem likely that there is a cause and effect relationship here.

Answer 1

could be God taught me how to be a better father than mine was.

Answer 2

Not a bad analogy? However God the Father, Jesus the son, and the Holy Ghost is a patriarchal twist of the ancient Trinity. In the oldest religious accounts the holy trinity was female and represented the three phases of woman, the Virgin, the Birth Mother, and the Crone. Later religions modified the trinity into Mother, Father, and Child. Judaism originally had both a male and female Deity, but as time went on the female presence was eliminated in favor of the one male God theology. Christian theologians borrowed the concept of the holy trinity from the older religions but still elected to exclude women, hence the father, son and the holy ghost or spirit analogy. So the analogy still has the father and the child but no mother? So I guess the answer to your question is the Holy spirit is more of a substitute for a missing birth mother.

Answer 3

I had a very good father, and I am the father of a beautiful 5 year old daughter. I love her so much and hope to raise her in the best way that I can. However, I am only human, and I know that there will be times when I fall short and even fail. The father image is used to describe God as the perfect father. The father who will never fall short or fail us. The father who gives us the perfect love, encouragement, and discipline that we need. He is not a substitute for the father we wish we had, He is our perfect Father.

Answer 4

Only if you believe that the one true God is male. God is also loving, nurturing, fair, forgiving and all about peace and harmony...much like a mother would be. Having been raised in a Roman Catholic Irish family, I'm most willing to accept God as both a father and a mother, as my human father was a waste of God's handiwork, and God took my mother away much too soon. Why Christians portray God as punisher is something I have never, ever understood.

Answer 5

God does promise to be a "father to the fatherless" and he describes himself as the perfect father. Not all believers, however, come from fatherless homes. I have a great father whom I love very much as well as a wonderful, caring mother, and they are still married to each other. If you are looking for a reason for my fervent belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, you won't find it in things lacking in my childhood.

Answer 6

God says that he is a "father to the fatherless" and that he will not "leave the orphans with no protector", so technically yes. But this is not a role which is imposed on him by people. It is simply an expression of his attributes.

Answer 7

Got to agree with robert. God IS the Father. No earthly man is to be called father.

Answer 8

This is Freud's projection theory of religion and it has no clinical support in his work or any other's. The answer is no.

You migth be interested in NYU psychologist Paul Vitz' book on this subject called Faith of the Fatherless, where he demonstrates the applicability of the projection theory to explain the atheism Voltaire, David Hume, Neitzsche, Bertrand Russell, etc. All of them had fathers die in their childhood.

Answer 9

No, He is the Father; however, your relationship towards God often mirrors that you learned of your father in your youth.

Answer 10

No,, I am living with my Father that is 83 years old
I loved Jesus long ago as a child and my Father and Mother taught me to love him.
We love him because he first loved us.........

Answer 11

God is the ultimate Father, yes. For those whose fathers have abandoned them, abused them, neglected them, etc., God, who is perfect in wisdom, justice, mercy, love and power, can help heal the wounds inflicted by the imperfect human fathers who have disappointed or damaged their children. He provides himself and his son as a model for fathers who would try to be the best father they can be. I wouldn't be surprised if many people based their attachment to a religious group or God on this need that has or has not been met by their fleshly fathers.

However, true faith cannot be blind or based on mere sentiment. An accurate knowledge of the scriptures can cement faith with reason and evidence. Fulfilled prophecy, scientific ideas unknown to the world at the time of their inspiration apart from the scriptures themselves, the Bible's ability to survive despite rigorous efforts to torture and kill its believers and destroy all copies over and over again, the profound wisdom contained within advice given on many topics such as thriftiness, family relationships, health concerns, etc., are the basis of my "religious fervor," as you put it. :)

I'm sure, with a diligent investigation of the scriptures themselves and the evidence surrounding us, you'd find the same to be true for yourself. On that note, I highly recommend a book entitled "The Bible - God's Word or Man's?" or "Is There a Creator Who Cares For You?" The archaeological, scientific and logical information contained in them is very convincing and satisfying.

:)

Just briefly, in response to one other person who mentioned the fact that it is unacceptable in God's eyes to call anyone on earth our "Father," please excuse me, but the term used in that scripture is referring to the title "Father," as in a religious context. No one is our spiritual Father except God. God himself refers to human fathers as "fathers." We are to respect them as such.