Rouslan, I’d agree with you on that assessment that the Christian God is a parent. If you read the New Testament, God is referred to as a “Heavenly Father.” It’s no longer just being a follower, as in the Old Testament, but about sonship: (”Beloved, now are we the sons of God”, I John 3:2). The goal is to foster a father-child relationship with God. We are first encouraged to be followers of Paul (”be ye followers of me”, I Corinthians 4:16), then of Christ (”be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ”, I Corinthians 11:1), and ultimately of God directly (”Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children”, Ephesians 5:1).
However, I don’t think that’s the sole reason for the happiness of a Christian person. There certainly is comfort in the idea that a God is always watching and taking care of you, but at the same time I know plenty of people that would rather they were independent of a parent who is constantly looking over your shoulder. At the same time, the Bible encourages maturity (”that we may present every man perfect [in the Greek, mature] in Christ Jesus”, Colossians 1:28; “that ye may be made perfect [mature] and entire, wanting nothing”, James 1:4) rather than blind followership.
I’d point to a few other things that would contribute to a Christian’s happiness: grace (”Being justified freely by his grace”, Romans 3:24), peace (”Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God”, Romans 5:1), love (”Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us”, I John 3:1), freedom from guilt (”There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus”, Romans 8:1), among others. You could certainly argue that some of these stem from God as a Father, but they certainly aren’t limited to that context.
It’s definitely an interesting point you bring up though: if the Christian God weren’t a father/parent figure, would this change the foundational happiness of a Christian? I’d have to think about that one.
