(Abi'ad, "Everlasting Father", as found in Isaiah 9:5)

A year ago I had this thought: the core conflict between humans and god(s) in ancient mythologies and later in Christianity: autonomy. Humans would always meet punishment after turning away from god(s), declaring themselves free and big enough to be their own masters. Prodigal sons leaving their father...

However, that's what nature teaches us! Fathers care for us and educate us, until we get independent and they grow old, in turn needing our care, and ultimately die. Nature served as model for wisdom and cultures, which teach us to respect fathers, but also to take over from them as we become fathers ourselves, and then do without them as they slowly leave the stage.

If this is the natural model, why isn't God like this? Why are we supposed to behave like dependent children forever?

Maybe the natural model was not meant to be so. In the myth of genesis, humans were first immortal until the first sin. Maybe fathers were supposed to live forever, growing wiser and wiser, always being a reliable source of authority for their descendants. Hmmm... so the whole culture about growing independent would be wrong?