Why do Christians often explain God's behavior in a "parent/child" metaphor?

Question

When you punish your child, it is to teach them a lesson, so they will do things differently next time. God, as you explain it here so often, only punishes you after you are dead, and there is no "next time, " and he sends you to a Lake of Fire for all eternity. So, when your child misbehaves, you send them to their room, with no desert, forever and ever?

Answer 1

h**l is a bad translation.  Not all christians believe in eternal punishment

Answer 2

Unbelievers are not children of God.  That's what the Bible says.  So God isn't sending His children to h**l.  He would never do that.  He is sending unbelievers to h**l.

Any unbeliever can become a child of God at any moment by believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is this:  The truth is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven and avoid being sent to eternal h**l is by believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe this and you are saved!

Please pray now: "Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and You rose from the dead. Thank You for eternal life!" You will be in heaven with Him forever when you die.

Answer 3

As a Christian, I find this explanation of the nature of God to be overly simplistic. However, some people do choose to invoke a parent/child scenario for understanding the ways of God, and it makes sense on an elementary psychological level. The parent/child relationship is archetypal. It is something that most human beings can easily understand. Because of this, some people use it in an attempt to explain their spiritual beliefs, or the relationship of God toward man.

Answer 4

Because most of them don't understand the true nature of God or their relationship with Him.  To them, God is a mysterious, amorphous, terrible thing who "loves" them but at the same time is willing to torture them for all eternity at the slightest provocation.  It boggles the mind that people can accept such a nonsensical idea of our Heavenly Father.

Answer 5

Because God is our father because he created us. Unfortunatly the punishment for sin is death but he does give us a second chance when we ask for forgiveness which is why he had to die on the cross for us. But he can only forgive us if we ask him into our hearts and ask him to wipe away our sins. If we turn our backs to him and deny him we have ot go to h**l because sin separates us from Him.

Answer 6

According to the bible, God chastises people.

h**l is a punishment for sin(rebelling against God). However, Jesus came so that won't happen. Those who do not accept Jesus are still held down by their sins. We are in debt to God, Jesus came to pay the debt, you don't accept what he gives you; you'll still be in debt. In fact, if we obeyed the creators rules, Jesus would of not been needed. Nor would the harsh law of the torah been necessary.