Intimate or Irreverent?

One thing (almost the only thing actually) about New Wine which rankled a little was the insistence by one of the leaders in one of the venues on referring to God the Father as 'Daddy God'.  Now I admit that there might be rare occasions when I could find that appropriate, but to use that epithet for God all the time just seems wrong...

God is the all-powerful, all-seeing, all-knowing, creator of the universe (and I think it takes a physicist really to even begin to grasp just how immense the universe is, and therefore to marvel at God's awesome power, but that's another story for another day); He is above everything, but is in everything too.  He's closer to us than we are to ourselves, but also vast and remote.  We christians are His children - by adoption!  I love God, but at the same time, I tremble at the thought of His holiness and power.

The veil of the temple was torn in two (Mark 15:38, Hebrews 10:19-20) when Christ died upon the cross, symbolically enabling mankind to enter the 'holy of holies' without hindrance, so we can approach God, and talk to Him, directly, without the need for the Levitical priesthood and a lot of 'mumbo-jumbo'.  But does that mean that we have the right to be irreverent towards Him?  I think not.  But perhaps that's just me.  Perhaps I am an old fuddy-duddy.  Perhaps I'm 'hung up' on the idea of the vengeful God of the Old Testament, but on the other hand God is the same God He always was.  The only difference between 'then' and 'now' is that Jesus died on the cross as the one, perfect, sacrifice for our sins.  I am only fit to come into His presence because of the blood of Jesus.  I am a sinner, though a redeemed sinner. Therefore, I am going to stick, for the most part, to being appropriately reverent towards God, and shall, probably, always find it difficult not to cringe inwardly at the mention of 'Daddy God'.

Copyright © Phil Hendry, 2022