# "Your father is your model for God" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102 "2004-05-14T12:41:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/21 "2004-05-14T23:45:55Z")
Jeez, I’ve been told my mom is Hitler. Now my dad is god? No way am I _that_ screwed up. Still glad I’m an atheist. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/22 "2004-05-15T00:28:44Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Eerie. No kidding. I stopped talking to my asshole father and began cutting him out of my life at about the same time I started slowly admitting my atheism to myself. Neat! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/23 "2004-05-15T01:42:48Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > “Nutbar Tyrant” I’m sorry, I had to say it - BAND NAME!!! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/24 "2004-05-15T02:19:52Z")
I’d have to say yes. Quiet, strong, loving, knowledgeable in the things that matter. Guided me in the right direction even when I was a schmuck. Kicked my ass when I needed it. Hugged me when I needed it. Good taste in music and cars. ---
**Author:** ![Necro\_Romancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Necro\_Romancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necro_Romancer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/25 "2004-05-15T02:27:56Z")
I hope God drinks less. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/26 "2004-05-15T03:10:37Z")
Dad: Started my car for me on cold mornings. Loving if a bit distant. Taught me all the good things that I know like “don’t pick your nose” and “don’t scream if you’re not being murdered” and “say excuse me every time you belch”. God: Not entirely sure he exists. Hmmm. I’m much more likely to rely on Dad than God. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/27 "2004-05-15T05:28:15Z")
> [@Necro Romancer](#): > > I hope God drinks less. Who was it that said “there’s no devil, only God when he’s drunk”? Tom Waite lyrics or something? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/28 "2004-05-15T05:42:13Z")
God must undo his pants and fall asleep in front of the TV an awful lot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/29 "2004-05-15T05:43:12Z")
I really don’t think God could possibly be that interested in satellite television. Until recently, there were six televisions in the house. There are only eight rooms. I mean, I suppose the snake could have in fact been coaxial cable, but that doesn’t really fit, does it? Though it is tempting to refer to my siblings and I as the Christ children. Hmm, conundrum, conundrum. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/30 "2004-05-15T05:44:02Z")
So God likes football, and after a few beers He starts telling mildly risque jokes? Man, I gotta start going to church again; sounds like things have changed. At least the music will be better. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/31 "2004-05-15T05:45:18Z")
> [@lillalette](#): > > I really don’t think God could possibly be that interested in satellite television. . Are you kidding?? God watches us all 24/7. WE are his satellite TV system! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/32 "2004-05-15T07:32:58Z")
**spooje** , yeah, I’m pretty sure that was Tom Waits. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/33 "2004-05-15T10:21:32Z")
Nah. If my dad were God, we wouldn’t have diseases like AIDS or cancer, just something that would make your nose turn bright blue every time you did something stupid. Tidal waves would stop just short of the shorline and we’d hear a voice boom out: “Whoops, don’t want to get wet now, do you?” Hmmm… God as a French atheist who likes cowboy hats. I guess I could go for that. ---
**Author:** ![zephyrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/35a633/32.png) [@zephyrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephyrine)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/34 "2004-05-15T11:43:37Z")
If God was more like my father, I wouldn’t be an atheist. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/35 "2004-05-15T12:00:57Z")
Possibly, although I am hoping God doesn’t wear those black socks with those shorts. And could God himself BE an atheist? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/36 "2004-05-15T12:58:49Z")
One of my early memories is being told that God is a “heavenly father” who watches our every move and judges and controls everything. I was probably 4 or 5 at the time. I had certainly never heard of a computer (this would have been around 1961 or '62), but I pictured a man sitting behind a giant console with lots of screens on which he watched everyone. I didn’t stop to think of how many monitors it would take to keep track of us all, or where the cameras would be, but I assumed that real fathers took turns serving as God. I wondered when it would be my dad’s turn. It never really occured to me that it might be a supernatural being. Even at 4 or 5, I just couldn’t conceive of that. Although in later years I tried really, really hard to believe in God, I suspect that I never really did. But yeah, my father would make a pretty good model for what I later tried to believe in. Basically good, but demanding, capricious, vengeful, self-righteous, and impossible to get along with. And yes, it was Tom Waits, from the song “Heart Attack and Vine.” ---
**Author:** ![janiejungletemptress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@janiejungletemptress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janiejungletemptress)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/37 "2004-05-15T14:22:08Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > That’s the quote, pretty much, from _Fight Club_. I enjoyed that film, but that quote stuck with me. I guess because, for me, it’s true. > > To me, God is aloof, distant and completely disinterested in me. Exactly like my father. > > Does your idea of God share the perceived qualities of _your_ father? I believe that we do gain an ideal of who God is by how our fathers are. In my case I have a child molesting, philandering, gambling and drug addict father. I have learned about God. I have a pretty decent relationship with Him. Therefore I know that God is the model for my father, not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/38 "2004-05-15T15:13:50Z")
Unless God is a fairly nice guy with a wry sense of humor, has stringent right-wing beliefs(hmmm…maybe he does!), has a strange openess to the paranormal, and is fun to watch movies, Buffy and Joan of Arcadia with, I’d say no, God and Dad aren’t much alike. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/39 "2004-05-15T16:12:31Z")
Aloof and distant? Heh, far from it, but if Dad was a god it would explain the half finished, occasionally disastrous, with some gems of brilliance appearance of the world today 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102/40 "2004-05-15T16:33:38Z")
That must really mess people up. Priest presiding at marriage: “O Lord, we beseech thee to bless this our wedding ceremony and show Your divine approval for the consecrated bonds we are about to…” Booming voice: “Ask your mother.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-father-is-your-model-for-god/245102.md?page=3)