Why are Catholics priests called "Father" when

[mystic]

Hello all, can you guys offer any opinion on why congregants in Catholic Churches are required to address their Priests as Father when Jesus said "call no man on earth father" please? Blessings.

 

[Dave M]

because they mislead people into putting mans word above Gods word, they have many things that dont line up with the word of God, confessing your sins to priest and thinking he has the power to forgive your sins is the worst of all IMO I was a catholic most of my life JFYI

 

[Hekuran]

Call No Man Father

By Fr. Richard Ballew Several decades have passed since Bing Crosby donned clerical garb and portrayed on the screen a role which would endear him to many even to this day-Father O'Malley. Somewhat earlier in…

www.protomartyr.org

Here's an answer from an Orthodox perspective

 

[mystic]

From that article:

"Just as in our family units there is one who with love is called “father”, so in God’s household we have honored and will continue to honor those who have brought us to the new birth through our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, what better term for them than “father”? Jesus warned against calling men “father” or “teacher” in order that the leadership of His holy nation would remain pure."

I can see why he is saying we can call someone father who is responsible for our Spiritual birth. However in my gut I don't think that is what Jesus's intention was when he said those words.

What really baffles me about this is what are we to call our biological male parent?

 

[Dave M]

From that article:

"Just as in our family units there is one who with love is called “father”, so in God’s household we have honored and will continue to honor those who have brought us to the new birth through our Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, what better term for them than “father”? Jesus warned against calling men “father” or “teacher” in order that the leadership of His holy nation would remain pure."

I can see why he is saying we can call someone father who is responsible for our Spiritual birth. However in my gut I don't think that is what Jesus's intention was when he said those words.

What really baffles me about this is what are we to call our biological male parent?

Jesus get all the glory not man, the above is rubbish taking credit for our new birth is vile !!!!!

the scripture that tells us NOT to call any earthly man father is talking about men that claim to be teachers or priest that want to elevate them selves, it is not talking about our parents. The whole section of this scripture is a warning to those that want elevate themselves like being a spiritual father to you, there is only one spiritual father and that is God the almighty, the catholics are always trying to give honor to priest instead of Jesus. Its is Jesus's Holly Spirit who leads us to God, no one but the Holly spirit which is Jesus Christ living in us is the one who gave us a new birth, !!!!

 

[mystic]

Agreed!

 

[Mart]

Hello all, can you guys offer any opinion on why congregants in Catholic Churches are required to address their Priests as Father when Jesus said "call no man on earth father" please? Blessings.

As others have indicated it is a reference to a spiritual father.

Where I see the Catholic church going down the wrong path is the reliance on Orthodox tradition instead of what Yahweh actually caused to be written in His Book.

Catholic orthodoxy has given us many errors. To me the biggest one is praying to Mary and the human appointed saints. As an example here is a Catholic prayer to the Virgin Mary; "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen?" Since when does Yahweh need a mother? He is eternal having no beginning or end. Mary's dead. How will she pray for anyone? Where in scripture does it elevate anyone else to the level of Yahweh that we should pray to them. Looks like praying to other Gods (idolatry) to me but, that's just my opinion.

Another is asking a priest for forgiveness. Again, no scripture to back it up. Only Yahweh can forgive us because it is He whom we sin against. And he forgives us because of the sacrifice of his son.

Another is their view the Pope is infallible. When does scripture say to accept a man's word as Yahweh's word? By His previous examples of his prophets it's very clear.

All of these positions of the Catholic church are by tradition and not scripture. DO NOT BELIEVE ME. Do your own research on the history of the Catholic church beginning in 325 AD. Read the scriptures for yourself as though you had no prior knowledge or instruction. Use various concordances as well as Hebrew and Greek dictionaries. When you have done that, if you find I'm in error please tell me. I'll want to apologize.

 

[mystic]

Yeah, I too had a problem with the Hail Mary prayer.

I also have an issue as to why the Pope or head Christian is not Jewish and why the Christian's top office or headquarters is in Rome of all places and not Israel?

 

[Mart]

Yeah, I too had a problem with the Hail Mary prayer.

I also have an issue as to why the Pope or head Christian is not Jewish and why the Christian's top office or headquarters is in Rome of all places and not Israel?

Please take this with humor and intense seriousness. The head Christian IS Jewish. He's worked as a carpenter and shook the world when he worked as an itinerant preacher. For centuries we labled the years as "the year of our Lord". Some call him Jesus and maybe he'll answer to that. Some call him Yeshua and I know he'll answer to that. As to where he lives? With his Father in His house. He will be back one day and I believe he will be stopping by Jerusalem for a while.

Rome is where the Catholic leader lives. He may or may not be a Christian but he is not the leader of Christian's. That job has been taken for over 2000 years.

 

[spiriteddove05]

because their an apostate religion!! they shouldn't be doing dat, jesus said call no man father sept ur heavenly father in heaven, Catholicism is a false religion, you wont find catholic or pope in the bible.

 

[brighthouse98]

I want to be as graceful as I can in my response to mystic.Having known many Catholics, the Priest to them is the mediator between them and Jesus. I know!! lol ( 1 Tim 2:5) But touch and feeling are a very important part of this religion. They fear a great deal usually,hence why so many prayers to the saints,( just in case kind of thing) However we know that praying to the dead is forbidden!( Deaut 18:10-14)

BUT!!!! to them there priest carry's that burden, not you they believe. Calling them father or priest,is a servant way of knowing who we are to serve in the order of that church. Hope that helps mystic.