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trinsyI hate it when people refer to God as our Father.
We were talking about it in Bible study tonight, and I was reminded of just how much I hate it. I just finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller, and in it he talks about his struggles with his own dad. He says, “Today I wonder why it is God refers to Himself as ‘Father’ at all. This, to me, in light of the earthly representation of the role, seems a marketing mistake.”
I so get that. I said it in Bible study too. “I would never apply the term ‘Father’ to God,” I said, “because it just has too many negative connotations to me.” Everyone just looked sort of blank after I said that, like they didn’t know what “connotation” meant or something. Then Aubrey, a well-meaning but annoyingly ignorant freshman, went on some rant about how people like me (she didn’t say me, exactly, but it was obvious it was directed at me) just don’t realize how good God can be. I wanted to tell her that she doesn’t realize how bad fathers can be ... but I didn’t.
To me, if I were to think of God as my Father, I would think that he just doesn’t care. If I were to speak him as a Father, I wouldn’t feel like he was really listening. I think I’d half-expect him to get out his God-sized cell phone and start checking his messages or something. That’s just not how I connect. Father God is there, but distant and mysterious, and he’s never going to get closer, and he just doesn’t care! He probably wouldn’t even come to my birthday party. Even if I asked him.
I’m always so jealous of girls who have great dads. It’s horrible, and I hate that I’m jealous, but I am. I always wondered what it would be like, you know, having a real dad. Like maybe I’d feel more comfortable around boys or something. And maybe I’d be okay with having a round face, and a horrible profile, and a “meatier” frame.
I don’t know.
But I really wish we’d stop having these Father God discussions. It drives me insane.
And it hurts me so deeply.
We were talking about it in Bible study tonight, and I was reminded of just how much I hate it. I just finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller, and in it he talks about his struggles with his own dad. He says, “Today I wonder why it is God refers to Himself as ‘Father’ at all. This, to me, in light of the earthly representation of the role, seems a marketing mistake.”
I so get that. I said it in Bible study too. “I would never apply the term ‘Father’ to God,” I said, “because it just has too many negative connotations to me.” Everyone just looked sort of blank after I said that, like they didn’t know what “connotation” meant or something. Then Aubrey, a well-meaning but annoyingly ignorant freshman, went on some rant about how people like me (she didn’t say me, exactly, but it was obvious it was directed at me) just don’t realize how good God can be. I wanted to tell her that she doesn’t realize how bad fathers can be ... but I didn’t.
To me, if I were to think of God as my Father, I would think that he just doesn’t care. If I were to speak him as a Father, I wouldn’t feel like he was really listening. I think I’d half-expect him to get out his God-sized cell phone and start checking his messages or something. That’s just not how I connect. Father God is there, but distant and mysterious, and he’s never going to get closer, and he just doesn’t care! He probably wouldn’t even come to my birthday party. Even if I asked him.
I’m always so jealous of girls who have great dads. It’s horrible, and I hate that I’m jealous, but I am. I always wondered what it would be like, you know, having a real dad. Like maybe I’d feel more comfortable around boys or something. And maybe I’d be okay with having a round face, and a horrible profile, and a “meatier” frame.
I don’t know.
But I really wish we’d stop having these Father God discussions. It drives me insane.
And it hurts me so deeply.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-12 05:23 pm (UTC)And you know what? I think one of the greatest things about God is that He can be more than one thing to us; He is one more thing to us. I'm not going to say that it wouldn't be wonderful if we could identify God with all of those things without the negative connotations, but the truth is that those negative connotations are going to be there in at least some aspects of our lives, and maybe eventually one gets over them, and maybe not, but no matter what, one can still realise that God is good and loving, because He shows that in far more than one aspect of who He is.
*hugs you tightly*
[20 days until I get to do that for real. ♥]
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-12 05:29 pm (UTC)[*grins teasingly*]
[P.S. Whether or not it looks like mine, I think your profile (and incidentally, the rest of you) is gorgeous. So take that.]
♥