And then Christians will be hated and betrayed by their own parents, brothers and sisters.
When you have become Christians have experienced thus?
Or only when you have become Christian, will experience these?
2006-09-20 16:10:59 · 11 answers · asked by Philadelphia 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The statement you quote from the scriptures is a comparative one. We should love God so much that our love for others pales in comparison.
Our love for God makes our love toward others look like hate.
It's about obeying the commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
2006-09-20 16:15:54 · answer #1 · answered by Bob L 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Good question. The word that is translated as 'hate' is a bit misunderstood. The word does not have the connotation of emotional 'hatred.' Instead, the word carries more of a meaning of 'disrespect.' Such disrespect would have been interpreted in the ancient world as hatred, since to disrespect someone would cause a lot of shame and loss of status in their respective communities - respect that was not easily won back.
For a person to follow Christ in those days would most likely mean that the person would have to break away from the religion of their family of origin, which would have been viewed as disrespectful, especially if the religion of their parents was Judaism. Add to this the fact that the man they worship was died a criminal's death on a cross and the scandal is magnified even more.
I am a liberal Christian, and I do find that hatred is thrown at me from my more conservative brothers and sisters. So it is somewhat true in that respect.
2006-09-20 17:58:50 · answer #2 · answered by Tukiki 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hate here is about our sinful nature.
We hate our own sinful nature, thus the " his own life". We are to hate the sinful nature of others including our family.
We do not hate the person because God loves each and every one of his creation, including us, but he hates sin and so should we.
Betrayal is many different things, not just one definition. Betrayal can be pretending to believe and not yet really believing. Some do this to get along and it is a betrayal to find out that they were untruthful about something so important to us.
I, as a Christian experience this about myself very often, I find myself going against what I know is true and what God wants and I am ashamed and I hate what I have done. I wish at times that my sinful nature was gone and that I had no free will to disobey God, but I have to remember that God knows my heart and my heart belongs to him and him alone.
2006-09-20 16:32:46 · answer #3 · answered by cindy 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have to read that passage in it's historical context. First of all, Jesus wasn't saying to actually "hate" anybody because how could He tell people to love their enemies and not to honor their father and mother. What He was talking about was that fact that many Jewish people of his time would not recognize Him as the Messiah and that people who followed Him would be ostracized from the Jewish society. He was making a point about setting priorities in life and not valuing the approval of relatives over being approved by God.
My family isn't Christian and they don't persecute me or anything like that. However if I belonged to a Jewish family there is a good chance that as a Christian I would be considered the "black sheep" son in the family and might face all sorts of criticism and ridicule and my parents might even disown me.
2006-09-20 16:37:44 · answer #4 · answered by Martin S 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Luke 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
What this verse is saying is, we are to love Jesus Christ more than anyone else. This includes our father, mother, wife or husband, children, and brethren and sisters.
We must always put God first in our lives.
2006-09-20 16:39:04 · answer #5 · answered by CEM 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I seriously hope people understand this is hyperbole. The Buybull is full of this kind of stuff, yet fundaMENTALists will ignore all such colerful interpretations except when it causes them grief. Then, suddenly Jesus flying off into the sky to get to heaven (which isn't in the sky), becomes metaphor, even though there is no literary reason to suspect it was not meant literally.
2006-09-20 16:15:07 · answer #6 · answered by lenny 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In the translation (Original text)
It is to love less!
And in the last days Many will betray unto Satan thinking he is Christ!
It is to be expected! Know how it was in Germany, It may be as bad!
2006-09-20 18:54:34 · answer #7 · answered by Grandreal 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And then there's the commandment to honor your mother & father, a Christian contradiction I would say. So confusing. Religion makes you dumb your mind down & this is supposed to be good they say.
2006-09-20 16:28:51 · answer #8 · answered by Bronweyn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not all Christians will experience this, I believe Jesus was talkin about the times of persecution when his followers would not give up their faith for anything.
2006-09-20 16:22:58 · answer #9 · answered by Sky_blue 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that most Bible scholars agree that what Christ meant was that you shouldn't put anything or anybody before God.
It is clear from reading other passages of the Bible that we are to love our parents.
2006-09-20 16:14:04 · answer #10 · answered by David S 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋