Replies

... (I believe Quix calls God the Father "Daddy," how "cute"), ... That's what "Abba" means, Kosta. It is also another excellent illustration of the personal and familial relationship God wants to have with us. When referring to someone else's father, the word would be "ab". But with the addition of "ba" it would only make sense to refer to one's own father, "Daddy". This is the family of God. Only believers can properly say "Abba, Father"

LOL! ROTFLOL! Wow! Did you just make that up? Or did the "inner voice" revealed this to you? If the latter, I would watch out...

"Ab" is Hebrew; "Abba" is Aramaic, Chalean. They both mean "Father." It's not English, FK! You don't form diminutives the same as in English, i.e. from Dad to Daddy...ROTFLOL! I freally don't know where you guys are pulling this stuff from! Vivid imagination?

God is the Father because we believe that He is the source of everything and the Creator of every one of us, including the Son and the Spirit.

When Christ is quoted by Mark as crying out "Abba, why have you forsaken Me?" He is not saying "Daddy."

“the Creator of every one of us, including the Son and the Spirit.”

Now that is intersting. Please explain how God “created” God?

Nicean Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, light from light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,

Athanasian Creed

This is what the catholic faith teaches: we worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity.
Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance.
For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit.
But the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one divinity, equal glory, and coeternal majesty.
What the Father is, the Son is, and the Holy Spirit is.
The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

Orthodox

GOD THE FATHER is the fountainhead of the Holy Trinity. The Scriptures reveal the one God is Three Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — eternally sharing the one divine nature. From the Father the Son is begotten before all ages and all time (Psalm 2:7; II Corinthians 11:31). It is from the Father that the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds (John 15:26). God the Father created all things through the Son, in the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1 and 2; John 1:3; Job 33:4), and we are called to worship Him (John 4:23). The Father loves us and sent His Son to give us everlasting life (John 3:16).

... (I believe Quix calls God the Father "Daddy," how "cute"), ... [FK:] That's what "Abba" means, Kosta. It is also another excellent illustration of the personal and familial relationship God wants to have with us. When referring to someone else's father, the word would be "ab". But with the addition of "ba" it would only make sense to refer to one's own father, "Daddy". This is the family of God. Only believers can properly say "Abba, Father"

"Ab" is Hebrew; "Abba" is Aramaic, Chalean. They both mean "Father." It's not English, FK!

I know "abba" is Aramaic, Kosta. I gave you construction. Look, here is the transliteration of "AB". Now, notice is has a simple one word definition, "father". That's all we know. However, look at the entry for "BA" . Here it says the father of an individual, or head of a family. Put them together and the closest thing in English we have is "Daddy" or "Papa".

God is the Father because we believe that He is the source of everything and the Creator of every one of us, including the Son and the Spirit.

[A friend of mine said this to me once:] "LOL! ROTFLOL! Wow! Did you just make that up? Or did the "inner voice" reveal this to you? If the latter, I would watch out..."

When Christ is quoted by Mark as crying out "Abba, why have you forsaken Me?" He is not saying "Daddy."

Why would that offend you so much. It doesn't seem to offend the Orthodox Research Institute. Here is an excerpt from The Name of God: Abba by Fr. Paul Tarazi. "Father Paul is Asst. Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary and pastor of St. George Antiochian Church of Danbury, Conn." :

In the whole New Testament the Aramaic word “Abba” appears only three times: once on the lips of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane (Mk. 14:36) and twice in the letters of St. Paul where we read that the Spirit of Christ is Himself the one who cries in us: Abba. (Rm. 8:15 and Gal. 4:6) Moreover, in the three instances the authors give the Greek translation* of this word, which is Father. But precisely this fact brings to our mind the question: Why didn’t the authors merely use the Greek word for “Father” since the whole text is in Greek? Finally, the fact is noteworthy that, in all the ancient liturgies of the Church, the exhortation of the priest to the faithful before the Lord’s prayer runs similar to the one we hear today in the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, namely, “And vouchsafe, 0 Lord, that with boldness and without condemnation we may dare to call upon thee, the heavenly God, as Father…..”

The result of all this is the following: Jesus Christ’s use of the Aramaic “Abba” made such an impression on His disciples in that it was a unique instance in 1st Century Jewish piety; this explains why it stamped the apostles’ memory. Moreover, it was an exclusive use to the extent that the early Church was aware that, only through Jesus and in His Spirit, one could utter that word, that is, she was aware that its use was ultimately reserved to Christ Himself. This explains why the early Christians considered it daring to call God “Father” and prayed not to be condemned for such boldness.

But why? Why all this fuss about a simple Aramaic word? Well, it is because — and modern biblical research has convincingly shown that —“Abba” actually means “Daddy”! Shocking even to the most remote and possibly unused grey call of the coolest and most objective human brain: A young man of 1st Century Palestine called God “Daddy.” Unbefitting, scandalous, blasphemous, crazy, unreal! … Maybe! But he did it, he did call the Almighty One “Daddy”! He addressed God as a child his own father!

Open then your catechisms, teachers, and bring your books, theologians . . . Add to the question “What is God?” and to the chapter entitled “God” that He is also “Daddy,” a “Daddy,” even if He is so only to Jesus . . . Add it! And if this shatters your whole mental conception of what God is, then be it so! “Abba” prayed the man of Nazareth when He felt the bitterness of suffering and death at Gethsemane. . . “Abba” prayed He and that moment has forever been inscribed in the flesh of our human history! A man of our own flesh and blood considered Himself to be in a unique way the child of the Most High!

From that moment on every child baptized and chrismated in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Son of God, has [been] daring to call God “Daddy,” that is with the same expression he uses to address his own earthly father. ... (emphasis added)

From this excerpt it may sound like Fr. Paul only thinks it would be proper for Jesus to use the word, but he goes on to show that it works for all of us.

"Daddy" is an intimate word, expressing love of family. Do you not want an intimate relationship with God as your Heavenly Father?