Within Tenrikyo, “divine parenthood” designates the foundational relationship between a single deity—God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto or Oyagami—and all human beings as that deity’s children. God is understood not as a distant ruler or judge, but as a loving, nurturing Parent who is at once Father and Mother to all. This divine Parent is regarded as the creator of humanity and the world, the one who brought forth human beings and continues to sustain them through ongoing providence. Human beings, in turn, are seen as children who receive life, protection, and guidance from this source of parental love.

From this perspective, divine parenthood is not merely a metaphor but a living, relational reality that shapes the entire spiritual path. God the Parent is said to provide the human body as something “borrowed” and to work constantly for human welfare and happiness, using both favorable circumstances and difficulties as forms of parental guidance. The aim of this guidance is to lead people toward spiritual maturity and the realization of the Joyous Life, a mode of existence characterized by gratitude, harmony, and mutual help. Suffering and illness are understood within this framework as occasions for instruction, calling people to purify their minds of selfish tendencies and to align themselves more fully with the divine intention.

Because all share the same divine Parent, humanity is envisioned as a single family in which all individuals are siblings. This familial bond undergirds Tenrikyo’s emphasis on universal equality, mutual care, and the rejection of discrimination or division based on race, nationality, or social status. Divine parenthood thus carries both a theological and an ethical weight: it describes who God is—an ever-present, protective, and compassionate Parent—and simultaneously defines how humans are to relate to one another, as members of one household under that loving care. In this way, the doctrine of divine parenthood serves as the spiritual and moral axis around which Tenrikyo’s vision of a world of Joyous Life revolves.