No He doesn't. He doesn't do anything at all.
It's the siblings who have a favoritism problem. They believe that they are The Father's favorites, and claim to speak for Him.
The Father never says or does anything in the story. It's only siblings, self appointed spokesmen for God, who say and do anything.
In my story, "siblings" represent prophets. I am using the term prophet very loosely here, I mean everyone who claims to speak for God. From Samuel and Saul of Tarsus, Muhammad and the Popes, to Billy Graham and several RF members.
Lots of people claim to know more about the ineffable Creator than I do. That's the favoritism problem. Not The Father playing favorites, rather, it's limited humans claiming to be His favorites.
I am making a comparison between the Omnimax Creator that Abrahamic religionists often describe out of one side of their mouths, and the limited creature that they usually describe out of the other side.
Tom
Thanks for making this clear.
It makes such a big difference now.
So let me start from the beginning.
Tom, asks an important question, through what appears to be a closed that his father has seemingly chose to barricade himself behind.
He seems to get no answer, but then he hears his siblings talking a lot about thing he wants to know and has been trying to ask his father from behind the closed door.
Tom realizes that his siblings seems to have a huge array of answers, many of which are mutually exclusive. They all claim to know father better than he does, usually better than anyone else does.
However, Tom feels that his father never gave him answers as clear as the ones that his siblings claim to have gotten.
Tom seems to feel that his siblings, including those younger than him, wants to play the prince over him, by being an authority on what dad is like, and what dad wants etc.
When Tom try to tell his siblings that some of the things they are saying doesn't make sense, and that he don't think dad really said those things, his siblings give him stern reproof, and tell him what dad's plan of action is, if any fail to be good children - locked in a dark basement, where the rats and centipedes can get in.
They claim that dad gave them the authority to tell him these things, and that if he didn't listen, that would be his punishment.
Man this is deep.
I sincerely apologize for not giving it close attention in the first place. I actually just focused on the dad's action without giving much thought to the reason for the scenario.
However, I'll try to see if I can to the best of my ability get the proper scriptural perspective.
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Since all the children faces the same situation - having to communicate with dad from behind a closed door, then it means that all were on the same level turf - which is fair.
Since some of Tom's younger siblings knew things that he didn't, and were saying some of the same things some of the older siblings were saying, then a question, or questions arises.
Why does Tom not know or believe the thing his older any younger siblings do?
Possible conclusions -
a) His older siblings would have had information previous to him, which as time went by, could have been (1} forgotten, (2) mixed up with their own ideas, and understanding (since what their father told them may have been things that needed careful thought, and construction - not to be taken lightly - "Okay, daddy said, A B C D. Fine. Let's go play cricket now.")
So now what his sibling know, isn't exactly what daddy said, and may even be mixed with their own ideas and understanding. That may explain why to Tom, some of it sounded a bit... uh... not too right.
b) When Tom came along, after he's now grown, he asks his dad questions, but consider:
What if at that period his father had made a decision that was slightly different to when Tom's older siblings were asking?
(1) What if dad had instructed Tom's older siblings to convey information to Tom, that would answer his questions - and Tom's siblings were a bit careless.
(2) What if dad was trying to communicate this to Tom, but he wasn't listening.
Perhaps he thought his brothers were good-for-nothing annoying brats, so he paid littlecattention to them?
Perhaps he closed his mind to what his father was saying, for one reason or other - maybe thinking that his father wasn't being fair to have a door between them, or that his father was too tolerant, and should punish his older siblings for being so disgusting. Or many other reasons.
c} Tom could have reached a point of dissatisfaction, and perhaps even bitterness - having a little resentment towards his older siblings, and even his father, so that as his younger siblings came along, and was asking daddy questions, and listening to their older siblings, Tom's interest had waned, and he probably had given up trying. Everything seemed confusing.
By then the situation may have changed again, the father may have noticed that of all the children there was this one that would usually keep returning and asking, even when the others just wanted to play. This one, the father noticed would not only ask, but try their best to do, what the father wanted.
So the father was happy to tell the others that, let call him Jack, would help them understand what he meant and what he wanted. Not that he stopped communicating with them and answerng them.
So when younger siblings came along, Jack wasted no time in communicating daddy's instructions, and when they asked daddy they found that Jack seemed to be spot on.
What about Tom?
Well at this time, Tom is in total confusion. He sees his siblings bickering about what dad said, and what dad will and will not do. The older siblings, obviously jealous of the younger ones because, it seems they know more than them, and that can't be. They must be the ones that understand it better.
Poor Tom.
Tom though, is not alone. You see, Tom has a sister, one year younger than Tom, and she saw it all. She became a little depressed, and deciding she wanted no part of it, just decided to do her own thing, but she still loved her father, although she felt the family was just a mess.
She keenly observed a difference in Jack, and some of the younger ones who followed his example, and she knew that this is the kind of relationship her father wanted to exist in the family.
This got her attention, and she started associating with Jack, and communicating with her father more.
She found that she really began to understand things better, and she felt happier.
Oh, and she also learned something else. Dad had said nothing about locking anyone in the basement. He spoke about cleaning out the basement, and for the life of this girl - let's call her Jane - she doesn't understand where her other siblings got the idea of dad locking them in a basement forever. Then she thought, maybe they just wanted to scare us.
All dad wants for them is to be united in love, and be one big happy family.
Jane remembers she has something to do. She never forgot Tom. After all, she grew up in the situation and knows what it's like.
So she tries to explain what she knows to Tom.
How will Tom respond.