When Father Is A Bad Word

A spiritual guidebook that focuses on the parental role of the Christian God.

The core relationship of children to their fathers takes center stage in Kuiper’s thought-provoking debut work of Christian apologetics. In it, the bond between children and their human fathers is seen as the template for a relationship with the head of the Trinity. Kuiper uses this comparison as a kind of baseline for better understanding one’s faith. “Misconceptions about God can be devastating,” he writes, later pointing out that “[f]athers shape us physically, emotionally, intellectually, socially, psychologically, economically, behaviorally, and relationally.” When people have unbalanced or unhealthy relationships with their human fathers, Kuiper writes, they often mistakenly allow that poison to seep into their relationships with their Creator. This is not only harmful but ironic, he says, because one’s relationship with God is the only one that can fix the damage in all the others: “[W]e separate ourselves from precisely what we’re looking for—a growing, trusting, loving, saving relationship with a Father who truly wants what’s best for His kids.” Kuiper underscores his points with honest, affecting stories about his problematic relationship with his own father, an abusive alcoholic who terrorized his family. The long shadow cast by that relationship adds poignancy to his faith-based descriptions of how supportive and sustaining a relationship with God can be, and he adds to that dimension by providing many other stories of parent-child dynamics. There are also a great many personal passages in which Kuiper imagines himself as the child of a supernatural Father, and these stories are aided by the author’s knowledge of Scripture—especially, of course, the parable of the Prodigal Son.

An easygoing, accessible personal manual of faith that focuses on the eternal father-son bond.