In the Apostles Creed, we say, I believe in God, the Father Almighty - the Maker of heaven and earth. This is what we believe in. If we say we believe in this, we must believe every word in the creed otherwise, we will be lying. So when we say that we believe in God the Father we mean it. We call God Father. Not mother or parent. I find it quite distressing when I see preachers having problems calling God a Father and instead, calls him Mother, Parent, Creator or plain God. I find it in fact, very distressing about a move to take away all masculine reference to God. There may be instances when he compared himself to a mother but that does not mean that he is a mother. When Jesus said, How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! does this mean that he is a hen? He was comparing himself to something to better drive the point. In John 14, Jesus old his disciples that in my Fathers house, are many rooms. If it is not so, I would have told you. Jesus meant every word he said here. That his Father has a house with many rooms. He himself said that if any of these words are not true, he would have told us. If God were a mother, he would have told us. For me, when Jesus says God is a Father, that is good enough for me God is a Father. In scripture specially in the New Testament, the Father is often referred to as God. So when we read God in the New Testament, the writer is actually referring to the Father.
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