Christians - Do you hate your family and your life?

Question

Christians - Do you hate your family and your life?

Bible (King James Version)

Let me quote Luke 14: 26-[If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.]

Let’s state a ground rule here that “hate” does not mean “less love”.

So, do you Christians hate your life and your families? It seems that if you want to follow Christ you have to hate your families and your life. It says it plain as day!

I know that these problems were not discussed in Sunday school.

So, I know it will take awhile to come-up with the “answers”. Consult your clergy if you like. I await your answers.

Answer 1

You know they conveniently ignore verses like that. Jesus said that if your eye offends you, pluck it out. How many Christians do you see wearing eye patches?

Answer 2

Hi,
I dont have time to answer this completely, so I will try my best with the time I have. The point of the passage that you point out Luke14:26 is that no other relationship is first for a disciple. To follow Jesus means to follow Jesus, not anyone or anything else.
Pulling random passages out of the bible with out reading the entire passage or without comparing them with other scriptures is not wise.
An atheist once triumphantly proclaimed " I'm right, see here the bible says 'there is no God'.
And he is correct. The bible says " The fool says in his heart there is no God"

Answer 3

Dear OMG, This is an instance where jesus Uses a Hyperbole- a statement of extreme's, in order to contrast Love and hate for emphasis sake. this is nothing unusaul of scripture, you can actully find this quite a bit in proverbs 13:24 and also in chapter 29 verse 24. Jesus tel ls us in matthew chapter 22 that the first and greatest commandment is too love the Lord our God with all of our heart soul mind and strength. Thi obviously means that as much as we love our family, our brothers, sisters, mother and father and as much as we even value our own life, there should be nothing or no one that takes precedence over our love for God in our life. This is perfectly consistnet with scripture, becase we read in The Commandments, that too place ones love of anything above God is idolatry. speaking of the Comandments, the BIble speaks of the fat that it is Gods perfect standard, the standard he will use when we give an account too him of our doings during our lifetime. The dictionary definition of "Good" is Moral perfection. and God's standard is so high, that even a lie makes us guilty. if we have used God's name in vain thats blapshmey, and he will not hold anyone guiltess that uses his name in vain. and ofcourse Lust of the heart, God sees clearly as a violation of the commandment against adultery, he declares it adultery of the heart. So when the day of acountabillity arrives and you have to own up to your thoughts words and deeds, would you be innocent or guilty? The BIble says all have fallen short of the Glory of God, there are none that are good, and the penalty for oursin is death (spiritual death which is Hell). The good news is that God has done someting so that we might be forgiven, and when he sent jesus Christ he payed the penalty for sin that you and I comitted. you broke the law, I broke the Law, But jesus paid the fine. and Now we can be saved and granted the gift of everlasting life by knowing and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. too have that gift we must confess and forskae our sin and trust in Christ fully, that he will forgive and save.

Answer 4

You cannot interpret the Scriptures anyway you like. "hate" in this context means "love less". The King James Version is written in olden english and you have to research to see the original language in Greek. Hate in this case does not mean real hate.

Ever since I come to Christ, I love my family more than when I was an agnostic. But above all, I love Christ first, family second.

I have seen many Christians who love their families, and who are family oriented. it is the satanists who destroy their families.

I give my life to Christ. I have seen the move of God and God speaks gently to me. I am delighted to pray and I have the best things in the world with Christ, even better than all the money and possessions in the world. I recognise that my life is precious and I can use it to love others.

God bless you.

Answer 5

The scripture is referring to Jewish converts that had to choose between accepting Christ as Messiah and Lord and face being disowned by their family who says Jesus is not the Messiah. This happens quite often in the modern Islamic family. If a Muslim accepts Christ as Lord his family disowns them. As far as hating your life it is referring to the love for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life which make up the worldly life that the man who follows after the flesh loves.

j

Answer 6

Where does Jesus advocate violence in this verse? Is it true that in atheist homes, there is never violence? The hatred mentioned in this verse is relative. It means to love Christ so much that people will think you don't love other people. You follow Christ instead of following other people. "Hey, why don't you go to the bar with us any more? You love Jesus so much that you can't stand to be with us any more?" The reason is that the person loves Jesus more than he loves the people he hung around with who did wrong.

Answer 7

Jesus was talking about a comparison between the way we love our family and the way we love Him. He wants us to love Him so much that our love for our family seems like hatred by comparison. He didn't mean we should literally HATE our families. In one of the epistles to Timothy, Paul says that he who does not take care of his family is worse than an infidel. You have to take the Bible as a whole and allow it to interpret itself. In the context of THAT remark, I think it is plain Jesus is not telling people to hate their families literally.

Answer 8

"Let’s state a ground rule here that “hate” does not mean “less love”."

excuse me you don't get to "set the ground rules", that may be
the version YOUR writing for a new bible but thats not what
it means in ours....

One must love God MORE than anything or anyone on the earth.

Answer 9

Unfortunately setting the ground rule of hate does not mean less love is the answer in the Strong's concordence The word is Miseo and it means to love less.

sorry but that is the way it is.

Answer 10

Jennifer is so right. Anything can be taken out of context. However, if you look at the entire message and Jesus' M.O. it wasnt to hate your family. It was to place Him first and everything else (relations, ministries, jobs, etc) would fall into place. I suspect though even though my answer is honest and accurate biblically, you might easily gloss over it. Usually people who post questions like this really want a reason to not like Christianity and/or Christians. Regardless I hope you check it out for yourself. Gods peace to you :)

Answer 11

Like everyone else said, it is about who we love more. IN comparison to how much we love God, we hate others. Fact is, if I have to choose between denying my Lord, or my family, I am to "hate" my family when compared to my Lord.