If we accept religion as a way to transmit values from one generation to another, God becomes the great connector for the communities we belong to. In a sense God is eternal, we are not. Although some still cling to it, the idea that God is an entity outside the universe who knows everything and who controls everything has long since been abandoned along with the afterlife idea. Jesus uses the image of a father to explain God for us. Now, Jesus was a Jew and he lived in a time and place very different from ours in some respects, but also very much the same in others.
The role of a father in his time was someone who would be responsible not only for his wife, children and other relatives, but often also for an extended household of slaves, servants and livestock. Everyone would look to the father for leadership. No doubt there were abusive fathers in his day as well, but a father is generally someone who takes care of you, someone who only wants the best for you.
Our English translators use the formal, neutral word father. Jesus actually used the Aramaic word abba which also implies affection and that, I think, makes a considerable difference for our understanding of God. Jesus was a Jew speaking to other Jews. They would understand what he was talking about. If we were to try to explain the concept of God to someone today, we probably would not use the father metaphor. Some of us might think of God as spirit, something that exists between us or among us, but not within us. In this case God would be an it, not a he. Some of us might think of God as part of human nature, something internal, our natural tendency to connect with one another and not live in isolation. That could also best be described as spirit. I think God is both in us as well as among us. In this view, God would be more like an us.
People in his time were used to being taught about a different God, someone all powerful who made you follow a bunch of rules that often made no sense. We still have that today by the way. We may have more government regulation and enforcement now than at any other time in history. In contrast, the God Jesus was talking about, was a God who would set you free from all the rules. Love would be the way to do that. If you had the same kind of affection for everyone else as the affection God has for you, then you would not need any laws. The law enslaves you. Love sets you free. Love one another, Jesus says. But first, you must love God. First, you must accept that the community is the most important thing we have. You must love God first.
During his time of ministry, Jesus taught mostly through short stories called parables. Sometimes he would make a longer speech like the one we now call the Sermon on the Mount described in Matthew 5 and 6. Some consider that a manifesto for Christianity. The miracles like the resurrection, ascension and healings were made up by the gospel writers to convey to us how important Jesus was. They did this by painting a picture of him liking him to God himself stepping down to earth.
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