Have you ever had a Protestant or Jehovah Witness tell you this?
As a Catholic this is easy to answer.
Here are some Bible verses proving that Calling someone Father is not against the Bible. It is actually commanded.
Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
Genesis 45:8
So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh,* lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.
Job 29:16
I was a father to the poor;
the complaint of the stranger I pursued,
Ephesians 6:1-4
"1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just.
2 Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with a promise:
3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long lived upon earth.
4 And you, fathers, provoke not your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and correction of the Lord."
1 Corinthians 4:15
"Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel."
Here St. Paul calls himself our Father in Christ through the Gospel.
Acts 7:2
To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of gloryappeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.
Acts 22:1
“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”
Romans 9:10
And not only that, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one husband, our father Isaac
What are Protestants and Jehovah Witness Talking About?
The Bible verse Non-Catholics reference when talking about call man father is Matthew 23:9 which reads:
Matthew 23:9
"And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven."
So What Did Jesus Mean?
What Jesus meant here is do not put any human or thing above your Heavenly Father, God.
In Matthew 23, Jesus was referencing the Pharisees who are being hypocrites.
He did not mean you cannot call your earthly father, father or a Priest Father. As we seen in 1 Corinthians 4:15 shows, St. Paul calls himself our Father in Christ.
If the person continues to say we shall call no man father, then they are going against St. Paul and against scripture.
The simple fact is that Protestants and Jehovah Witness follow man made traditions. They have no history as their founders are men.
The Catholic Church was founded by Jesus Christ in 33 A.D., St. Peter was the first Pope.
If a person continues to not believe the bible, we cannot force them to believe scripture. You have planted the seed with the Holy Scriptures.
