|
||||||||||||
|
Before we can engage in a fruitful study about God the Father, we need an attitude adjustment. Many have problems with the term "father". Just the mention of “fatherhood” causes “old tapes” to dredge up memories, especially those acquired while growing up: fear; mental, sexual or physical abuse; heavy handed discipline; a lack of affection and affirmation; and constant fault finding, to name a few.
Ruth Ann attended a women’s retreat where the leader — attempting to put the women in touch with God the Father — told them to picture themselves sitting in their daddy’s lap, being loved and hugged. Now, Ruth Ann was subjected to significant abuse by her father while growing up, particularly while forced to sit in his lap. The image directed by the retreat leader was painful and repugnant to her. Having ministered to a fair number of the attendees with similar backgrounds, she stood and suggested to the retreat leader that his imaging technique might be offensive, painful and intolerable to many women there. The leader, curt and mocking, summarily dismissed her remarks as being anomalous and speculative. However, Ruth Ann received many affirmations that afternoon, and in later phone calls, from women who thanked her for speaking out — as they had experienced considerable pain as well. A standard “ice-breaker” in men’s gatherings is to break the attendees into groups and have each man share memories of his father. I've been in a number of these groups and observed a curious dynamic at work. (I usually try to share last because my parents were divorced when I was two years old, so I grew up with no memories of a father.) In the first round, sharings are usually about positive memories of their fathers. When my turn comes, I apologize and tell them I grew up without a father and have nothing to share. My statement is followed by a long, silent pause; and then, in turn, each man again shares about his father. But, this time, the stories are about negative and painful memories. I don’t get off scott-free, however. I may have no painful memories that instigate calumny against God the Father. But, since my father was missing as I grew up, it's no surprise my early beliefs about God the Father, included His absence from my day-to-day affairs. So, God The Father gets a bum rap from the pain experienced in many lives — a significant block in relationship with Him. Let's look at The Father from three different perspectives: Theology to reveal some of His attributes; Bible history that reveals aspects of His personality; and What Jesus reveals to us about the Father. Please set aside any prejudices you may have acquired about fathers (or authority figures), and consider what I have to say with your mind as unencumbered as possible. A LITTLE THEOLOGY You and I are blessed to know God in two ways: intellectually — based on concepts and notions we were taught or read; and experientially — as we came to know God, following that moment of conscious decision to let Jesus be the Lord of our lives. We might refer to that moment as our metanoia, epiphany, baptism in the Spirit, getting saved, or being born again. Good theology helps us learn about God, without having to wait until we experience Him in attributes He chooses to reveal. This layman’s review of several fundamentals will help us get in touch with important attributes of The Father. There are several theological proofs of the existence of God. One — known as first cause, prime mover or the source of existence — begins with the observation "For every effect, there is a cause". If I see an orange rolling down the hill, I know it has been set loose from a tree, and something is pulling it down the hill — one effect, at least two causes. I exist, and I see things that also exist. My existence is an effect since I did not cause it. My parents may have been the proximate cause, but they have only passed along the existence they received from their parents. If I trace all existence backwards to its beginning, I must eventually arrive at the source of existence. If that source does not have a cause, it must possess existence in itself, without any beginning. We call this source of existence the Prime Mover, First Cause, God.
Since God is the first cause of our existence, and all things that exist, we know He is capable of decision because He has caused the existence of others. In other words, He has a will. And since He got the job done, He must know a lot, and is powerful enough to have created things, with nothing but Himself to start with. So He has an intellect. A being that exists, with an intellect and a will, we call a person. The Father is a person. If The Father is existence in Himself, there can be no limits to Him — otherwise, He would have been caused by someone or something else. In other words, He is infinite. If He is infinite, He must possess the fullness of all we observe, and much more — the fullness of everything possible. The Father is all knowing, all-powerful and He is everywhere. We say everywhere because each thing and person that exists is held in existence from moment to moment by His conscious, deliberate, specific intention. Were He to withdraw His power from our existence, we would disappear without a trace, as though we had never existed at all. If The Father is infinite, He must be the perfection of all existence. Since good exists, He must be the perfection of all goodness. Love exists, He must be perfect love; self sacrificing love that places the needs and the interests of the beloved first, as the highest priority, above all else. God is existence, all knowing, all-powerful, involved in everything — and God is Love. The Father, Himself, has revealed this in scripture through Jesus and the Apostles:
If The Father is perfect love, there can be no evil in Him. Evil is a lack of, or an imperfection in, goodness. In a sense, The Father cannot do evil or commit unloving actions because they are an imperfection of love, and that possibility does not exist in His nature.
This does not deny the existence of evil beings, i.e. Satan And His Minions. It's simply one way of getting at the notion that The Father’s nature is the infinite perfection of all that is good and loving. We know from Scripture the Israelites thought physical sickness, birth defects, abnormalities and other illnesses were the result of sin — the sin of the individual or his ancestry. They were right, in a certain sense, in that all sickness, evil, and discord with nature came into human life through the sin of Adam and Eve. And once admitted into our world, evil entities are free to take advantage of our weaknesses, and the disharmony of nature. Today’s culture tends to hold God responsible for evil, not mankind. We blame Him for injustices and rail against Him, asking questions like: "Why do You allow this? Why do You not intervene and stop cruelty, starvation, wars, etc?" This flawed logic reveals the modern tendency to duck personal accountability and responsibility, and make God responsible for our actions, and the free will actions of others. So our theology review, supported by scripture, reveals The Father is a person, of infinite power, knowledge and perfection. He is infinite and perfect love and the source of all that exists. He is actively involved in our lives. He holds us in existence from moment to moment, motivated by love for us. SOME BIBLE HISTORY Why do we call God — The Father? I don’t want to stir up emotions here about patriarchy, matriarchy, women’s rights, men’s and women’s roles, etc. — all hot topics of the day in some circles. I'm just trying to get at what God has revealed about Himself through the Israelite culture and the Scriptures. In the Israelite culture, a father was first, and foremost, the initiator of life. It was not until the father planted his seed that the process of life began. Women brought children to birth, and participated fully in raising them. But the Israelites assigned the responsibility for life, inheritance, and the successes and failures of past generations, to the father. Being more powerful than the mother, the father provided food and shelter, and did the warfare necessary to protect the family and the larger community. He was the arbiter of order, justice, and punishment in the family. And he shared those same responsibilities — together with other males — in the larger society. He was responsible for the training and maturation of sons who would carry on the ancestry, the family line, the race, etc. In no way, did this minimize the role of women who carried great responsibility, and without whom, the Israeli society could not function. Proverbs 31 is an excellent reference. Still, based on the Israeli culture, we can easily understand why God is called The Father, because their concept of father best describes an infinitely good and loving person, Who cared for them, and brought life. Israeli culture is not the only source. Many times in scripture, God Himself uses the term Father. Here are examples as He speaks through Isaiah the prophet:
The scriptures reveal God The Father as the source of life; our protector, our provider; He orchestrates our growth and maturation as He uses both the joys and vicissitudes of life to bring us closer to Him. Let’s see what Old Testament history reveals about The Father. At creation, God made man in His image and likeness (the ability to know and love). Adam and Eve had a close relationship with God and a life of peace, joy and happiness — free of want or threat — in the Garden of Eden. God knew that if we were created and able to share in His life, we'd enjoy it. So, because He's a God of love, He wills for us to exist so we can be happy. He doesn't have a choice, so to speak. Because He loves, He creates. (More at A God Who Loves Us) But, there's a catch. Mankind cannot receive the fullness of existence The Father intends for us, unless we freely choose to be with Him. Choices require opportunities to select amongst alternatives; and mankind chose wrongly. The fall was catastrophic. Adam and Eve rejected God by accepting Satan’s word and authority, and put enmity between themselves, God, and nature. It's difficult to grasp how significant was the fall of mankind. It was more traumatic, more significant, more horrendous, and left us in a much more dysfunctional state — than if our current culture, with all its sophistication and civilization, were to suddenly revert back to the pre-Neanderthal age. The Bible tells us death entered the world by Adam and Eve’s disobedience. I count five modes of that death: (For a more detailed discussion of this subject, see the Sandbox postings entitled The Train Wreck Of Humanity and What Jesus Did.)
So, exactly how does one repair an offense against an infinite being? How do you restore a severed relationship with an infinite being? To be sure, mankind did not have the capability to do so. We are not infinite. Nevertheless, out of love for us, The Father promised a new Adam who would mend the breech in our relationship with God, restore our authority in ourselves and nature, and put us back on the path to spend eternity with Him. The following, brief Old Testament history reveals The Father’s loving, untiring, relentless pursuit and preparation of mankind for our redemption. The dates are approximate references, to keep it simple. I don't intend to validate or propose dates, especially the early ones — that's the province of scholars and historians. My purpose is to reveal the incredible patience and investment by The Father to bring mankind back into relationship with Him.
For more than four thousand biblical years, The Father relentlessly selected, formed and made mankind ready to receive the ultimate healing and forgiveness through Jesus' defeat of Satan — healing and forgiveness that would mend the incredible breach between the Creator and His created. Then, after all the formation and pursuit, The Father’s love for us is so great, He sacrifices His own Son to restore the breech.
The Father is a God of love. He's not an egotistical potentate, sitting on a throne, who issues lifeless rules. He's a God who pursues us, is actively involved with us, and wants us to succeed. These scriptures demonstrate my point. Catch the sense of a father who agonizes over his people when they stray, and rejoices over them when they return — a loving father in pursuit of, and involved with, his loved ones.
JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER The Father’s revelation of Himself continues in the New Testament in two ways: through descriptions of Him by Jesus and the Apostles, and in the person of Jesus. There are more than 200 references to the Father in the Gospels; through parables and by direct revelation. Here are a few in which Jesus describes aspects of The Father:
Perhaps the most important revelation of The Father in the New Testament is in the person of Jesus, i.e. what He said, what He did. He knows what The Father wants; and He obediently follows His will to the cross. From The Father’s perspective, it’s as though Jesus is saying The Father is whispering in His ear: “Look Jesus, heal that person, … teach them about this principle, … now they’re ready to learn this, … show them how to deal with evil here … and so on.”
I believe that, until the crucifixion, everything Jesus did — healing, teaching, forgiveness, deliverance, relationships, and so on — was done with the active involvement of The Father. But The Father’s unwavering zeal for mankind doesn’t end at Jesus’ resurrection. Just before His Ascension, Jesus bid us join with Him to complete the task of bringing all mankind into relationship with Him and The Father.
SUMMING UP Let's finish with the prayer Jesus taught us to say to The Father:
© Copyright 2008 by The Cramer Institute, Prior Lake, Minnesota |
|||
|
|||
