[Iscool]

So everyone was a Catholic til 1054, eh??? Right on...

Ha...That's pretty lame...There's not a single group on your list that doesn't have it's roots in 33 A.D except possibly the Catholic church...

Jesus said:
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Seems unlikely that church leaders in 34 A.D. would have been called 'Father' in view of the admonition from Jesus...

[NYer]

Jesus said:
Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Jesus is condemning the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. He is saying that they desire the titles of respect for their own purposes, not for the glory of God; which is certainly wrong. He is not categorically condemning the use of titles of respect, but rather the misuse of them for one’s self interests.

If you disagree, then I ask you the following questions:

1) What do you call your male parent?

2) The passage in question also says not to call anyone teacher. Have you ever called anyone teacher?

3) In searching the New Testament, I came across numerous examples of New Testament authors calling human beings fathers. How do you explain this?

Here is a truncated list of some examples:

1. Matthew Chapter 1 – Men are called "father" so many times that I quit counting.

2. Romans 4:1-18 – St. Paul calls Abraham our father no less than eight times. In fact, the name Abraham means "father of the multitude."

3. Romans 9:10 – Isaac is called our father

4. 1 Corinthians 4:15 – St. Paul calls himself a father to the Corinthians.

5. 1 Corinthians 10:1

6. Galatians 1:14

7. Ephesians 5:31 and 6:4

8. Philippians 2:22 – St. Paul calls himself a father to Timothy

9. Colossians 3:21

10. 1 Thessalonians. 2:11

11. 1 Timothy 5:1

12. 2 Timothy 1:3

13. Hebrews 1:1, 3:9 and 12:9

I could continue multiplying verses, but I think I’ve already become redundant. The point again is that our earthly "fathers" in the faith are not an end in themselves – like gurus – but that they are representations (albeit sometimes poor ones) of our heavenly Father; as St. Paul says in Ephesians 3:14-15 "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." The Catholic practice is, and always has been, the same as the early Church (Catholic Church) that St. Paul is called "father" in those passages because he is a spiritual father. Priests are called "father" because they, like St. Paul, are spiritual fathers.

Source: Catholic Bible

[A.A. Cunningham]

That's pretty lame...

An apt description for linguistic literalists like yourself.

[RobbyS]

Well, then I guess i have been wrongly named, because my four kinds call me Farther. Seriously, doesn’t Paul call himself Timothy’s father in Christ?