"call No One On Earth Father"

[geetarplayer]

If Jesus told us to "call no one on earth Father, for you have but one Father in heaven," why do we refer to our priests by the title "Father"? I'm asking out of curiosity, but this is a big deal for Protestants who scrutinize Catholicism.

-Mark

[dUSt]

This command of Jesus found in Matthew 23:9-10 is not about vocabulary. If it were, the Bible wouldn't refer to other humans as "father". The command in Mt. 23 is warning us against putting complete trust in human beings, rather than God.

Luke 16:24 - Jesus himself refers to "Father Abraham". Breaking his own command? Of course not.

1 Cor. 4:14-15 - St Paul refers to himself as father.

Acts 7:1-2 - St Stephen refers to the high priests and elders as fathers.

1 John 2:13-14 - St John uses father to refer to other people.

Matthew 23:8 - Jesus also says we should not to use the word "rabbi". Rabbi means teacher. I'm sure the Protestants who scrutinize this verse don't ban themselves from using the word "teacher" to refer to people do they?

Hope this helps. God bless.

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
8/21 - Twenty-first Sunday

geetarplayer,

Here's a few more Scripture verses to help you out:

*Acts 21:40, 22:1 - St. Paul calls Jerusalem Jews "fathers"

*Romans 4:16-7 - Abraham called "the father of us all"

*1 Timothy 1:2 - St. Paul calls Timothy his true child in the Faith

*Titus 1:4 - St. Paul refers to "my true child in our common faith"

*Hebrews 12:7-9 - St. Paul tells us that we have earthly fathers to discipline us

*1 Thessalonians 2:11 - St. Paul says that he treated the Thessalonians as a father treats his children

*Philemon 10 - St. Paul refers to him "whose father I became in my imprisonment"

Also, remember that in Evangelical Protestantism, if someone intends on "proving" something through Sacred Scripture, there must be more than one verse of Scripture to support their point. However, they will buy into the "call no man Father" controversy with the single verse from Matthew. Hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono