Father's Day, God, Fathers and Men

A few days ago in the US and many other countries we celebrated Father's Day. Historically, Dad has been the head of the family and the bastion of what's right, but in the search for equality and recognition for all, as well as admitting that men (and particularly fathers) have many human flaws, we've removed men, and Dad, from that pedestal. Also, some have had poor relationships with their fathers, and those two factors have led some to reject the God of the Bible whom they see as
harsh and dictatorial. Even in the church, some have invented new language for God because of their prejudices, refusing to speak of God as the Bible does. So what are we to do, and how can we understand God better?

First, God has to "condescend" to us, which means to simplify and limit how he appears to us so we can understand him at all. One of the reasons he is described in the Bible as a father, is to parallel the patriarchs of that era, who were not only the originators in terms of fathering children, but also providers and protectors. For example, we can see from Genesis 13:1-2 and 8-12 that Abram was a rich man, with lots of cattle and servants, He was a businessman, in essence, and he took care of his family well -- you don't read about Sarai having to work at Walmart or something to supplement his income. We read in Genesis 14 that when Lot's family were kidnapped by marauders, Abram got 318 of his trained servants, born in his own household -- now, that's a big household to provide for! -- and rescued Lot and his family and all their goods. So the patriarch was Originator, Provider and Protector. That's also what God is to us: he is the Creator, our Provider and our Protector.

Further, we see in the New Testament that Jesus came to show us the Father (John 14:8-9), that he was the perfect representation to us of who God is, carrying God's own character (Heb. 1:1-3) and that "Christ is the visible image of the invisible God" in Col. 1:15.  So what did Jesus do in these three areas? Col. 1:15-16 says that he created all things, so he is Creator/Originator. He showed us the Father's love and care for us -- we can read throughout the gospels that he fed people, healed them, cast out demons, took children and blessed, them, and told them their sins were forgiven. Then he died for us, paid for our sins and was raised up for us. In those ways, he showed that he was Provider and Protector, perfectly fulfilling all those pictures and ideas of the patriarchal past.

God is not some abusive male figure like some think. We shouldn't invent new language to create a god whom we can adore (and that would be idolatry anyway) because when we understand the God of the Bible, he is perfectly worthy of love and respect and adoration. He is someone we can call Father, and even the intimate, loving term Daddy (See Romans 8;14-16).

How about wishing God a "happy Father's day"?