When I said inferiority, I did not mean inferior in terms of status, which is most often the misunderstanding, I meant inferior in terms of quality, and/or deeds, and/or accomplishment.
See if I am right here, when you say you are a fan of so and so, you are referring to a qualification they possess that you don't necessarily have, and that qualification is independent of you (not from you, by you or for you). So you are a fan of a certain writer because of his writings, of a athlete because his athletic abilities, of a singer because of his voice, of a pianist because of his skills... This quality/deed/accomplishment is often something that you often don't have, which gives you a reason to become a fan.
Occasionally (as I said in reply to kibitzer), you also use the word "fan" in somewhat of an exaggeration, sometimes out of friendliness, sometimes out of respect, sometimes out of love, sometimes out of hypocrisy, but you always say it in reference to yourself, like, you would say "I am a fan of so and so", but how many times have you heard "so and so is my fan" in a similar context?
Out of almost 20 year experience with English, that's how the word "fan" has always been used as far as I have witnessed. And M-W dictionary apparently supports my understanding.
Now you see why I have so much trouble with this term. Because none of the good traits that we possess, whether it is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness or self-control, come from us, and we certainly cannot and should not boast such qualities to God. We are not the ones to perform any of our good deeds, we only do good deeds because of God. So what in us is worthy enough for God to be a fan of?
As I said, God is devoted to us and supports us purely because of His love, and not because of us. And even though like kibitzer, I can appreciate where caleb comes from, I still think that the expression "fan", when referring to God, carries a carelessness and thoughtlessness that borders on offensive.
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