Here is a good test for you go to one of the bible word search sites and see how many times someone addresses someone else with the title (capital F) father??? Then check and see who it is they are addressing this title to…Then do the same with rabbi and teacher…
Then read Matthew 23:9 where Jesus expressly forbids calling any man father as a religious title…
Then next time you see Father O’malley I’d like you to recall Jesus’ words.
Wow. Anti-Catholic and anti-Irish prejudice all rolled into one package. That’s ugly.
But you have concerns about calling someone “Father”. Here’s what the Bible says about:
Calling Priests Father
From a parable of Jesus
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ’
Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ "But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ "He answered, ‘Then I beg you,
father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No,
father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)
Did Jesus contradict His own teaching against calling someone “father” by using that very phrase in His own parable? Or have you misunderstood what our Lord meant when he said, “Call no man your father.”
From the teaching of Paul
“I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.
For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:14–15).
“I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose
father I have become in my imprisonment” (Philemon 10)
“To Timothy,
my true child in the faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Timothy 1:2)
“To Titus,
my true child in a common faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior” (Titus 1:4)
"Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. (Romans 4:16)
I guess Paul didn’t get the memo.
From a Letter of John
“No greater joy can I have than this, to hear that
my children follow the truth” (3 John 4)
Sounds like Paul and John considered themselves spiritual fathers to all these disciples, doesn’t it? And this is from the Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit, is it not?
Note to Guardian1: The next time you see a post from Myfavoritmartin, ignore it.
