God As A Father Essay, Research Paper
Anthropomorphism is defined as attribution of human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. The Bible teaches many lessons for life, including how to be a good parent. In Genesis, the first book of The Bible, God is given human motivation, characteristics, and behaviors of a father. God sets rules and limits, he protects and provides for his people, and he punishes his people.
In the beginning, God creates the world. He separates the dark from the light, the oceans from the dry lands; he creates all wildlife, animals and people. The story starts in the Garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve are living. God sets one rule for them and it is to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Although there is only one rule set on them, both Adam and Eve both disobey it and eat of the tree. Another rule that is set by God is that nobody is to kill Cain. Cain murders his brother Abel and God puts a mark on Cain. This mark is to let people know that he is a murderer and if anyone kills him vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. In Genesis 9:6, God says, Whoso sheddeth man s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. This is saying that if a man kills someone else, then that man will be killed. This is another rule that God sets, even though there are other parts in The Bible that will contradict this.
God protects and provides for everyone and everything that he has created. When God creates the first man, Adam, he decides that he should provide him with a wife. He removes a rib from Adams body and out of it, he creates Eve, Adams wife. God provides Adam and Eve with everything they need while they are in the Garden of Eden. All their food sources come from the wildlife around them. Food from the trees, drinks from the rivers, anything they need, they had. When God sees that the entire world is turning wicked, he wants to punish them, but also protect the one righteous family that he knows of. He also wants to protect all species of animals. He tells Noah to build an ark, and to bring on it: his wife, his three sons and their wives, and a pair of every animal. By doing this, God protects this family and all of the animals from total destruction.
To be a good parent, punishment is something that must be done. In Genesis, there are many instances where God punishes someone or something. For example, when Adam and Eve disobey God s rule about not eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God punishes Adam, Eve, and the serpent that tricked Adam and Eve into eating the fruit. The serpent is punished with loosing his legs, therefore making him slither along the ground for ever after. God tells Adam that he will work hard for his food, and he has now become mortal. Eve is punished by becoming under the control of her husband, and will now endure pain while giving birth. Another punishment given by God in Genesis is when Cain kills his brother Abel. God punishes Cain by making him a vagabond and putting a mark on him so that everyone knows he is a murderer. The last punishment that God gives is when the people of the earth build a tower to reach heaven. These people are arrogant and they think that they can be above God. God punishes them by changing everyone s language, so that no one could be understood, and scattering them all over the earth.
In The Bible, God is portrayed as a fatherly figure, he sets rules and limits, he provides for and protects his people, and he punishes. In Genesis 1-11, God has demonstrated all of these characteristics of a father. In The Bible, there are many lessons to be learned not only by their literal meanings, but also by their symbolic meanings.