HATING MOTHER AND FATHER?

One thing I stress over and over again is that the Bible means just what it says. And, because it means just what it says, if you want the truth you need to forget all of the interpretations men have dreamed up and look at what the words actually say (2Peter 1:20). If you were reading a medical textbook, and encountered a statement that you did not understand, it would be foolish to assume that what was being said was all a matter of opinion. Yet people do just that when reading the Bible. If you want to understand a medical textbook, then you need to let the statements that are easy to understand explain the ones that are hard to understand. And, the Bible is no different. We need to let the clear passages explain those we find difficult to understand.

Once, when I was trying to explain this I was asked, “What about the words, ‘If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple’”? (Luke 14:26) The person asking that question assumed that I could not take those words at face value and would have to explain them away. However, he assumed wrong! What he failed to see is that the problem does not lie with the words of Christ. Those words mean just what they say. The problem lies with the conclusions that men want to draw from those words. If we wish to understand those words in a Biblical way we do not explain them away, instead we reject as false any conclusions that contradict what the Bible says elsewhere (Isaiah 8:20). Conclusions that contradict what the Bible says about love, respect for parents, etc.. Once those conclusions are eliminated we are left with situations in which love for our family (or our own life) is opposed to love for Christ. In such cases Christ must take precedence. Therefore, you may be interested to know that over the years I have read the testimonies of several converts who have been accused of hating their family. These accusations have come from Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist families but the accusation is the same. Christ’s words in Luke 14:26 are His answer to that accusation.