"Father-mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation." So writes Mary Baker Eddy on page 332, of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" thus stating in one simple but tremendous sentence the nature of God and the nature of man's relationship to Him.
The thought of God as Father-Mother is one that is always with a Christian Scientist; it gives him security, abundance, contentment; it equips him with the poise and graciousness which flow from the consciousness that one comes from a good family—the best, in fact: that one's background is irreproachable; that life is happified and sweetened by constant support, guidance, and protection.
In the Old Testament the thought of God as Father is expressed in the patriarchal idea of the Lawgiver, the governor. the guide and protector; in the Psalms (68: 5) some apprehension of the tenderness of God's fatherhood is expressed when God is described as the "father of the fatherless" and is said to have a father's pity for them that fear Him; Isaiah also speaks of "the everlasting Father" (9:6) and develops the idea of tenderness a little further when he speaks of God as giving a mother's comfort, while Malachi envisions the brotherhood of man.
