CHRISTIAN HATE
Autor: Derrel Homer Santee, | Publicado: 2017-07-28T00:00:00-03:00


If
anyone comes to meand does not hatefather and mother,wife
and children,brothers and sistersyes, even his or her own
lifesuch a person cannot be my disciple.

Luke
14:26 (read 14:25-33) - NIV




These
sound like awfully harsh words to be attributed to Jesus! This would
put Him against strong family ties, and following Him would involve
repudiating family. But before we try to understand these sayings we
must first define what "following Jesus" means in the
context of Jesus’ time which is quite different from our
understanding today.




Today
to follow Jesus in the popular concept of Christians (Catholics and
Protestants) is to accept the dogmas of the church, be baptized in
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and be faithful
to the teachings approved by it. To follow Jesus is to be faithful to
the Church with all that it requires.




Historically
the Church has applied the concept of “following Jesus”
to “following the Church”. To be faithful to Jesus
we must be faithful to the Church. Being faithful to the Church has
led to aggressiveness in the form of persecutions, torture, wars,
discrimination, slavery, genocides, executions, deportations and
other violence as a part of following Jesus. Practitioners of these
acts were judged to be pious people. Even today in the United States
the leadership of conservative Christians promotes armed conflict,
torture, discrimination and other forms of violence under the guise
of combatting the evils of terrorism. Islam and Christianity have
become mirror images of each other.




When
Jesus supposedly spoke these words the Church as we know it today did
not exist. To follow Jesus today should be something much deeper than
the unconditional acceptance of a system of beliefs about the person
of Jesus and norms of behavior determined by Christianity. Following
Jesus should be independent of formal or informal ties with what we
call "Church." To be a follower of Jesus should mean the
adoption of a lifestyle compatible with his spirit, grounded in a
love which produces the fruit of compassion and mercy. By harmonizing
these words with the totality of the teachings of Jesus, to love
Jesus more than father, mother, spouse, children, siblings or self
means not to idolize them or be limited by them. It means having the
autonomy of unconditional love, not ruling over them or being ruled
by them. They are not our property to be controlled by us, but are
free to be themselves. It is to love as Jesus loved. To love as Jesus
loved means giving up our privileges and recognize that everything
around us is a gift and does not belong to us. That would be the
Christ like form of “hate”.




Jesus
said we must calculate how much such a love will cost. Practicing the
love of Jesus could lead us to confrontation of the social,
institutional and economic evils of our age. This could make us the
object of discrimination and persecution, even costing us our own
physical life. This happened to Jesus and his followers and could
happen to us.




We
do not own creation. Nothing belongs to us. We were created to belong
to the Kingdom and not the opposite. We have no control over it, or
the right to judge the others who have been placed here with us. Our
only goal is to try to love as Jesus loved. That is Christian hate.




LUKE
14:25–33 – NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV)




Large
crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:&nbsp;“If
anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a
person cannot be my disciple.&nbsp;And whoever does not
carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.




“Suppose
one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and
estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?&nbsp;For
if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who
sees it will ridicule you,&nbsp;saying, ‘This person
began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’




“Or
suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he
first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men
to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?&nbsp;If
he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a
long way off and will ask for terms of peace.&nbsp;In the
same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot
be my disciples.”