The Sky Father

 

Urizen, Blake's conception of a false god.

"whoever believes in nature, disbelieves in God – for Nature is the work of the devil" - William Blake

As noted previously in this space, atheists—and perhaps some nominal Christians—have the bizarre belief that Christians think God is an invisible old man on a cloud, a “sky father.”

This concept is not in the Bible. Jesus does address God as “Father”; but the Christian God is a Trinity, Father. Son, and Holy Spirit, and the most correct way to represent him is as the Son, because this is how he chose to reveal himself to us.

And he is not in the sky. “The Kingdom of Heaven” or “The Kingdom of God” is among us, not in the sky. Here’s how perverse that notion is: Ephesians actually refers to the Devil as “the ruler of the kingdom of the air.” (Ephesians 2:2) Demons are “the spirits of the air.” The sky and clouds are the realm of Satan.

Pondering where this notion of a “sky father” comes from, I think it is a confusion in the popular mind of God with the classical polytheistic god Zeus or Jupiter. “Jupiter” comes etymologically from the IndoEuropean “sky father.” As he is the god of thunder, he is naturally imagined as seated in the clouds. He is sometimes referred to as “father of the gods.” 

In Christian terms, he is a demon.