EisenFaust wrote:
Luke 14:25-26 wrote:
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.
Spread Jesus' message of hate bitches!
Niklas Kvarforth is pretty much living the above quote every day, so I'll propose Shining. Also Antaeus might be suitable.
I think we need to look at the context this verse is in.
Here, Jesus is speaking to those who are following Him, seeking to become a part of the small group of disciples. At this point, the disciples had not all been persecuted, but the persecution was coming. It would not be long before the apostles would all be martyred. Jesus is not looking for people who will join up with Him for a season. Rather, Jesus is looking for people who will be willing to stand with Him through whatever may come. When Jesus spoke these words, He knew that the full force of persecution would come from the Roman Empire (and later, the Roman church). He knew that those who associated with Him would be boiled, crucified, stoned or exiled. Knowing this, Jesus did not want people to follow Him who were not willing to make such a sacrifice. I think he was suspicious of his followers intentions and He knew he was a "pop" phenomena and many people were following Him because He was the "hot" item those days.
So i think he said that to shock and to separate the "chaff from the wheat" so to speak. He did follow up with other parables illustrating the cost of being a disciple. So do i really think he wanted us to hate our family? No, there are several other verses telling us to provide for our family and respect our parents (the fifth commandment)