Q5. The Metaphor of Father and Son

[Kaitlin]

When we look to the very first chapters of the Bible, we can see that the idea of females being subordinate to males. Although many people have capitalized on this idea throughout the world's history, there is some validity to it. I will be one of the last ones to want to admit it. I am always the girl who wants to compete with the guys and prove I can do just as good, the girl who always wants to appear unemotional and tough. But I am not invincible, and I am weaker. My attempts prove that. The Bible further verifies the partnership/helping role intended for women. There are a lot of typical stereotypes for women that I despise, and I think some of this may be why it does not work as well to represent God as a female. God is not swayed in His thinking nor does He become shaken emotionally. In power, God has no equal. He is the leader. He is first. Look at what happened with women's frist attempt at leadership...sin entered the world, because Eve was easily swayed in her thinking and viewpoint. While God is neither male or female, there seem to be many more of God's characteristics that line up with the typical male roles. God knows what He's doing, and He chose to come to earth as a male.

OK, so I think I pretty much bashed females there, but I am one, so I guess it's OK. There are also aspects of God's character that are very beautifully portrayed by traditional female roles. One of my favorite "mother verses" in the Bible (well actually a three verse chapter) is Psalms 131...

"A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. "

Male or female, God has created everyone in His image, as Havilah, a friend of mine said, "We are all facets of God's character." That is so true. While some characteristics are generally considered more male or more female, they can all ve inspired by God's own character. Some "male" examples: strength, power, stability, firmness in decisions and commands, not emotionally driven. Some "female" examples: gentleness, kindness, self-sacrifice, nurturing, mercy, sensitivity.

This is kind of a side note, but one thing I have alway wondered is how the male portrayal of God affects males as opposed to how it affects females. I'm sure that the Father role isn't as big of a deal, because it's pretty natural that guys would love thier fathers. However, things like loving Jesus and being the Bride of Christ are what I'm talking about here. I mean, to me that seems worthy of anticipation, and pretty exciting, but when I think about how that must seem to guys, it seems a bit awkward. If it were that Christ were the bride, that would seem a bit odd to me and possibly uncomfortable. Maybe guys don't see it that way, I'm not sure.

[juanieg63]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

I think by removing the Father-Son metaphor we lose some of the strength of God we also lose some of the judge/justice aspect. It is the job of a father to mete out discipline still often times and the role of the mother to comfort. The father teaches, directs, guides as the son matures. The mother, on the other hand, prepares the youngest to accept this teaching. Timothy is said to have learned the scriptures from the time he was at his mother

[servant for Christ]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

We would miss a whole lot if we removed the metaphor of Father and Son. We could not understand the love of our God and Savior. We would not be able to have the relationship provided through Jesus Christ. The feminine metaphors of God that help me is his love, his protection, his provision, his comfort, his understanding. He is everything. There is nothing lacking in our God.

[JanMary]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary?

We miss the strength, and Headship as our Master, Protector and defender who guards his family, Disciplinarian, Provider, Warrior and Strong Tower, absolute authority over His family in a love relationship with each. It has been said that most people's God is just a little bigger version of themselves. To eliminate The Father and Son metaphor, is to try to reduce Who God is, to fit a smaller version of what suits feminists, or those who haven't been healed from an abusive Father or abusive Pastor or church leadership. I've been a victim of all of those, but that doesn't reduce God from being Who He is. It's simply man/woman's attempt to try to make Him more palatable to their woundedness. He is also the Great Physician, and He heals those wounds....He healed mine by separating the abusers from Himself. He is the lover of my soul...and would never abuse me.

Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

As a mother of 2 children who were breast fed, I love the metaphor of the many breasted One...He is a true nurturer of His children and the breast feeding time between a mother and Child is a precious time of intimate bonding. I love the metaphor of God giving birth, and of comforting His son. He is the ultimate parent with both male and female characteristics, but having had abusive, violent parents, the ones that mean the most to me are the tender side of our God and Father. He is reparenting me with His love.

[Tina]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

If we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our vocabulary, we are going against God's word and not believing it when He tells us that He is our Father and our God. We devalue His position in our lives and we don't give Him the respect that is due His Name. The feminine metaphor of God gathering us under His wings is very precious to me. I see myself running to my Father when I have a need, when I need protection or when I just want to feel His love all over me.

[Marloes]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

In Jesus' days, a father had the legal duty to take care for his family - to protect it, to feed it, ...

The mother had a role in the family itself.

Besides this, the heritage rules were different for men and women.

The eldest son had a birthright that we find back in this metaphor.

The eldest son gets most of/ all of the heritage and he has a leading responsable role.

The metaphor tells us that we'll have the full inheritance!

Feminine metaphors remind me of mother Mary and therefore I don't like them. SOLA SCRIPTURA!

Besides the catholic part, there are also people abusing the Book for their own political goals.

This is bad - also if it is in favour of women (like I am).

[humblesinner]

Names of God

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

If we remove the central metaphor of Father and Son from church vocabulary we are removing the only real way of understanding the LORD and His anointed Son Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us that God is “The Father”. Jesus taught us that Jesus is His Son. That is how a Christian is taught by God and Jesus, the prophets, the apostles and Scripture to understand the nature of God and Jesus in relation to humanity. To remove this central metaphor of metaphors we are really removing the Teachings of God and Christ. In other words there would be no point in calling ourselves Christian if we do this.

I have found a very good account of the male and female aspects of God on the web page of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood:

http://www.cbmw.org/Resources/Articles/Seven-Reasons-Why-We-Cannot-Call-God-Mother

This is entitled “Seven Reasons Why We Cannot Call God “Mother”” by Randy Stinson and Christopher W. Cowan. The authors state that,

“On rare occasions, Scripture describes God’s actions using feminine figures of speech—metaphors and similes (see, e.g., Deut 32:18; Job 38:29; Ps 123:2; Isa 42:13-14; 46:3; 66:13; Hos 13:8). However, the Bible also uses similar figurative language to speak of the actions of male human beings (see 2 Sam 17:8; Isa 60:16; Gal 4:19; 1 Thess 2:7). Rather than implying that we are to refer to any of these men as "mother" or "she," such language is simply a literary device that makes for a vivid description. But if this figurative language does not require feminine terminology for human beings, neither does it demand the same for God.”

As in Luke 13:34, where Jesus used the simile of a hen gathering her chicks,

“34 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God's messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn't let me.”

We can appreciate the nurturing nature of Jesus and the Father. It is a trait that we ascribe to the feminine out of tradition, but in truth it is an impulse that men have naturally also. It is a simile for describing a certain feeling and impulse, but not role or gender or a title of God or Jesus. Names of God are always masculine.

I find it totally unnecessary to understand the LORD in any feminine sense, but I appreciate the metaphors and similes where Scripture reveals this nurturing aspect of our Creator's Being. Through all Scripture the LORD is described to us by using masculine terms. This is how the LORD chose to reveal Himself to humanity. God sent us His Son and not a daughter. I do accept that God can have certain feminine ways with us, the more nurturing care He provides us with. I also believe that the female is part of His creation and comes from Him. However, in my own soul I only look to the LORD as He, as Father and Jesus Christ as He and Son. That is what God wanted for us and I follow the LORD’S teaching and descriptions of Himself.

[Trusting God]

When the metaphor of Father and Son is removed from church vocabulary it devalues the intimate relationship that God wants to have with His children. Intimate relationships are to be cherish, and when we cherish a person, place, or thing we share it with others, which would be lost if the metaphor of Father and Son is remove from church vocabulary.

The feminine metaphors of God that help me to understand God's nature is when He compares Himself to a mother hen gathering her chicks under her wings (Luke 13:34). Knowing that God wants to gather me under His arms comforts me, and it shows me that He is always there for me waiting to bring me into His arms of protection and safety.

[hanks]

Q5.

What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary?

Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

To me our Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus will always be there for me. I don

[Guest Windy]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

If we removed the metaphor of the Father and Son, we would be changing God's Word. Rev 22:18,19 And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book. If anyone adds to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. If anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book. That would not be good, it would change our concept of God. As for the feminine metaphors of God, it would be comparing God to a mother. A good mother would love, care, comfort and nurture her child. God does all of that and more. I am so glad that He loves me and shows me in so many ways.

[wilma m]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

For me the Father is the head of the house who leads and makes the decisions. He cares and protects his family. If we think about God as our mother, we will lose the fact that He is the Head and Leader. I never think of God as a mother but I think He has the sensitivity and the protection and love and devotion that a mother have for her child, only more so because He is perfect.

[mc'el4life]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

God is the Father and Jesus the son they cannot be removed neither can the love between them as father and son be removed as this has been established from the beginning and would ever remain.

God is love just as a mother or father would shower their love on their children God also shower His Love on us and I believe His love surpasses any human love - He gave His only son to die for our sins. How much more can one express His love?

[jacquie7]

It robs future generations of a relational understanding of God as Father and Jesus as Son. People need to know and understand the difference and relationship between the two. When God said “let us make man in His own image”, I understand His own “image” to mean “Spirit” without being gender specific; because God is a Spirit and so are we. The feminine comparison of God to a “motherly” role to me explains how deep and sincere His love is for His people. He not only loves as a Father but as a mother also…loving us as BOTH parents in one person.

[csreeves]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

Father and Son represent a generational approach. Jesus was the father (not by a physical) but it is important that we see this to keep the bibical commandment among other reasons. Jesus also was a generational "relative" of a harlot. I do believe that to be a good Father we must have femenine characterictics and in everyone there are both charactics and we are in the "image" of God.

[Guitar Jim]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary?

 

Only the entire theme of God giving His only Son as redeemer for our sins! To just call God, God . . . and Jesus, Christ, we miss the whole point of God loving the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perich but have everlasting life. For a genderless being to give another being as a substitutional sacrifice causes the whole act to lose all its impact. The Father-Son bond just isn't as apparent when God is not acknowledged as Jesus' Father and just as some omnipotent genderless being.

We need to understand that God is the God and FATHER of our Lord Jesus Christ, as is written in the REAL Bible and not some phony feminist re-write.

If folks haven't gotten it yet, I'm totally against calling God our mother. I believe with all my heart that it's just another way Satan is destroying the Church from within. The argument that fathers can and sometimes do abuse their wives and children and therefore we shouldn't consider God to be our Father just doesn't wash with me. Femminists don't want equality with men; they want superiority! To alter Scripture just to suit their feminist agenda is heresy in my view and no different to what the Jehovah's Witnesses and others do to make the Bible agree with their warped theology.

This issue is no different to the homosexual "Christians" who try to read same sex relationships into the story of David and Jonathon, and Naomi and Ruth.

I knocked back the position of lead guitarist in the house band of a denominational organization that put on huge Youth Rallies back in 1993. The choruses they sang had God " . . . looking after her creation" and other feminist lyrics. I politely told the guy who offered me that job that my heart wouldn't let me join an organization that considered God to be feminine.

 

 

Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

 

The ones that Pastor Ralph quoted in the lesson in which God is seen as our comforter and protector. Even then, just because God is compared to a protective female tenderly caring for her young, it doesn't mean God has feminine qualities. God has caring qualities that can be compared to those of a woman caring for her children. In fact, I think Pastor Ralph probably quoted the only examples in the Bible of God using feminine comparisons. In an overwhelming number of places in Scripture God describes Himself as a jealous husband, a forgiving Father, etc.

 

[Rosesam]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

Bible is all about progressive revelation and this revelation is completed in this era, as we have the scriptures in its entirety. In the revelation of God’s word we do not find God being addressed in a feminine form, even though there are allusions to a feminine role in the way He cares for us, loves and cherishes us. Jesus revealed to us the Father heart of God, how intimate and personal He is toward us which was more revealing than the understanding of Father they had in their day. Jews in Jesus times considered Father to be authoritarian, provider and protector. But Jesus in revealing Him as “Abba, Father” made us to understand the tenderness of His heart toward us. He never changed, but our understanding of God changed because of Jesus. If we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary, the tenderness and intimacy between us and God will be diluted and lost for future generations. If we try to comprehend this relationship based on the earthly relationships that we experience then we are having a marred understanding of God. But if we pray to the Holy Spirit, He will remove every impaired understanding and give us the healing within to comprehend Him as the loving Father who loves us with tenderness and cares for us with an intimacy that is unmatched to whatever anyone has experienced in this earthly realm.

God is referred to as El Shaddai which had a connotation of mountains and multi breasted. Mountains speak of grandeur and power whereas multi-breasted speak of His nurture and care. I like what Jesus said about caring for Jerusalem as a mother hen has her chicks in her wings. This speak of His protective nature as a mother whose heart is tender towards her children. He is not only strong but also tender towards us and loves us with a fierceness of a mother’s love toward her children.

[Lottie]

We miss the very relationship that Jesus has with the Father and that God has with His Son. Then a lot of the Bible verses lose their meaning if we take that out. Because Jesus the Son and God the Father are a part of the Trinity. Then we are taking out the very heart of the gospel message. Because God the Father chose to sens His Son, Jesus to die for us. We gut out the core of the message then.

The one about a woman quieting her child on her lap. It reminds me of how God wants me to lean and depend on Him and how much He loves me.

[Mona Burton]

On 3/2/2006 at 1:23 AM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary? Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

If we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary, we will miss the understanding of Him as Ruler and Protector.

The feminine metaphors of God that helped me understand God's nature are those of 'woman' and 'mother'.  The woman in searching, speaks of perseverance, especially in seeking the lost and not giving up until they are found.  A man looks for nothing??.  And the mother speaks of caring, comforting, nurturing, and just being there for her children regardless of what may come their way.

[Jonathan Edwards]

By using gender metaphors, we are not growing in our understanding of Biblical truth.  The Bible is extremely sacred ; its words cannot twisted nor mistranslated.  For centuries,  in monasteries throughout Europe, manuscripts were copied with utmost care.  Rabbis during the Middle ages spent much time and utmost care in composing new Torahs.  Never would be the thought of gender neutral language ! God desires that we use proper metaphors; we accept the Holy Bible as a Divine Revelation.

A nursing mother (Isaiah 49:15).   So wonderfull that one knows the maternal love of God.   I love this verse dearly!   All these years,this verse has been a comfort to me.   It summarizes the Song of Solomon; God's profound love for us beyond words.  A nursing mother is our God to us during our years in the dark nite of the soul.  Friends are gone; problems with neighbors and work associates.  We have a quiet place to go to ! Prophet Hosea grasped the motherhood of God (Hosea 11; 13).   What a revelation he had !   No matter how low Israel descended into the slimepits; Yahweh is full of mercy.  Yahweh Shaddai title is rich in meaning of the motherhood of God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bianca]

A person would be taking away and misleading people on who God is. We cannot change God around in order to fit our own ideas and experiences. No matter how bad those experiences might have been for a person. People need the truth not trying to sugar coat and change things around to please the world. God is Father and Son not God the Mother.

 

A mother who can't forget her baby and a mother who comforts her son. I know that God has never forgotten me and never will in the future. God also comforts me and encourages me. 

[Dove81]

Q5. What do we miss in our understanding of God if we remove the metaphor of Father and Son from our church vocabulary?
It is very sick and disturbing that people want to bring politics into understanding God and His word. It’s upsetting that people want to change the narrative to fit whatever agenda is of popularity at the moment. It’s demonic and just shows that we live in a fallen world. God is a spirit how in the world can you give Him a gender? We call Him Father because He created everything and Jesus was a male which would make Him Gods son. Fathers are the authority figure in the home, the provider, the defender all traits of God. I really believe that people like Ruth Duck have daddy issues and this is her way of not dealing with it. 

Which feminine metaphors of God especially help you understand God's nature?

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. As a mother I cant imagine ever forgetting my children, but I understand that every mom isn't like me. This verse brought me comfort not too long ago when I was feeling like God had forgotten me. Funny thing is my teenager read this verse to me and it reminded me that God never forgets us and He never stops loving us.