Do you call God "Dad" or "Daddy" when you pray?

[Akibahara]

I call him Dad when I pray. More specifically "my Heavenly Dad" or just simply Dad... Because that's what he is to us believers... Our Dad!

How about you?

 

[graceandpeace]

No.

 

[ViaCrucis]

When praying I refer to the Father as Father. I don't think it's wrong to call the Father "Dad" exactly, but it's not how I pray. I call my biological father "Dad", but the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ I call Father, God, Lord, King, etc. But my private prayer life tends to be more "formal" then how I'd pray with family or friends where they'd give me a weird look if I prayed something like the Gloria Patri.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[abysmul]

I don't but I'm pretty sure He has your back.

 

[ChristsSoldier115]

I prefer to call God in the highest wordplay that shows the most reverence I can possibly can. For me, "father" shows greater respect than "dad" or "daddy". God is a personal God, but He is still God none the less. I don't like to view God as my buddy or best friend, but as my Savior, for whom I am ever indebted to.

 

[South Bound]

I call him Dad when I pray. More specifically "my Heavenly Dad" or just simply Dad... Because that's what he is to us believers... Our Dad!

How about you?

Of course not. God is far too Holy for me to address Him so casually.

 

[seekingsolace]

I'm still waiting on a new age cult that adopts 'pops'.

 

[abysmul]

It's a word, don't let people get you down about this, God knows what is in your heart and how you are approaching Him.

 

[Akibahara]

Of course not. God is far too Holy for me to address Him so casually.

Not when he's our father! We're instructed to come to the throne of God boldly because we're sons of God... and as a son of God I call Him Dad. That's my reasoning anyway. Even Jesus calls God "Abba Father" which can be translated as "Daddy."

Read this: What does it mean that God is our Abba Father?

I'm still waiting on a new age cult that adopts 'pops'.

I don't see why not!

 

[South Bound]

Not when he's our father! We're instructed to come to the throne of God boldly because we're sons of God... and as a son of God I call Him Dad.

That's between you and God. I'm not doing it.

That's my reasoning anyway. Even Jesus calls God "Abba Father" which can be translated as "Daddy."

Thanks, but I prefer to read that passage in context.

 

[James Is Back]

I call him Heavenly Father.

 

[brinny]

I call Him Father/Abba.

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." ~Romans 8:15

 

[ViaCrucis]

Not when he's our father! We're instructed to come to the throne of God boldly because we're sons of God... and as a son of God I call Him Dad. That's my reasoning anyway. Even Jesus calls God "Abba Father" which can be translated as "Daddy."

Read this: What does it mean that God is our Abba Father?

It's common misconception that "Abba" means "Daddy", "Abba" is is the Aramaic cognate of the Hebrew Av, meaning "father". It's an affectionate way of saying "father", but it's going a bit far to say it means "daddy". It was a respectful, mature, and also affectionate form of address to one's father. As such it's probably close in meaning to the Greek and Latin Papas/Papa, the origin of the English word "pope" and entered into church usage as a term of endearment for all bishops early on in the history of the Church (today, generally, only the bishops/patriarchs of Rome and Alexandria have retained this form of address, and hence the Popes of Rome and Alexandria). Likewise the term "Abba" was retained among the Syriac and related Eastern churches where venerated monastics have been termed "Abba <Name>" and it is also the origin of the English "abbot" the head of a monastic cell, and from this "abbess" as the feminine form.

The invitation to know God as "Abba" is the invitation to know God as Father. That in our union to Christ by the grace we have received in the promise of our Baptism we are indeed truly children of the Father, and if we are children then indeed He is Abba, Father. Because we have been graciously been given the glory of knowing the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ even as He, as the eternal Son and only-begotten, has known Him, and to share in and with Christ the Sonship that He has had for eternity by adoption and grace.

It is on this account--that is to say, on Christ's account--that we may boldly come before the throne of grace. For we stand freely justified in Christ and His righteousness. But we do not forget before Whom we stand, He is Almighty and All-Glorious God, before Whom the people of Israel trembled when He but spoke from the mountain. He is the God before whom no man can stand and live. And it is only by His kindness, love, and grace condescending to meet us in Jesus, and coming to us by His Word and Sacraments that we receive grace and fellowship with the Father in Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit. For we remain, even now, wretched sinners who stand naked and accused in our sins before the fearful Law of God; it is only by grace, it is only by the mercy of God shown us in Jesus by His death, resurrection, ascension, and coming again that we might stand at all.

He is our Father, because Christ has shown Him to us as Father--His Father, and now our Father on Christ's account. So yes, we can boldly come before Him and call Him Father; to come before the Most High, the All-Holy, the Eternal One blessed be He is a most fearful and terrifying thing, but Christ brings us in and shows us His Father and tells us to pray, "Our Father who art in Heaven..." that is the grace and beauty of the Gospel. That we sinful mortals have been granted the unfathomable gift to know He who set the stars in the sky as our Father.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[topcare]

I call him Dad when I pray. More specifically "my Heavenly Dad" or just simply Dad... Because that's what he is to us believers... Our Dad!

How about you?

I could never do that. I say Father, but very reverently never in the familial sense

 

[abysmul]

Daddy Synonyms, Daddy Antonyms | Thesaurus.com

Daddy | Definition of daddy by Merriam-Webster

 

[RDKirk]

"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." - 1 Corinthians 13.

When I was a child, I said "daddy." When I became a man, I said "father."

 

[Meowzltov]

I couldn't answer your poll, as there were no options I could identify with.

I don't personally use the word Dad/Daddy. I use the word Father, as Jesus did. I don't think the word Dad is wrong, since it's kind of a translation of Abba, but it's not in the Bible and it's not part of Christian tradition and I wasn't raised with it, so I'm not comfortable with it. Not a big deal.

 

[sunshineforJesus]

Of course not. God is far too Holy for me to address Him so casually.

same here

 

[Blue Wren]

Strange poll options. A simple No as a choice, is what I would have chosen

 

[ViaCrucis]

I couldn't answer your poll, as there were no options I could identify with.

I don't personally use the word Dad/Daddy. I use the word Father, as Jesus did. I don't think the word Dad is wrong, since it's kind of a translation of Abba, but it's not in the Bible and it's not part of Christian tradition and I wasn't raised with it, so I'm not comfortable with it. Not a big deal.

Yup. It's not that it's "wrong" per se--it'd be pretty moralistic to say it's just flat out wrong--it's just that it's not exactly in keeping with the history and tradition of the faith. And there is far more beauty, and far more wonder--I'd argue--in that we call Him "Father" as Scripture tells us.

It is worth pointing out how Christ Himself addresses His Father, with a profound respect and reverence, and He is Himself very and true God, the Eternally begotten Son, there could exist no man more intimate with the Father than He who having His eternal generation of the Father become flesh and dwelt among us.

-CryptoLutheran