I'm going to agree with anonymous, Charles. I don't like Jesus either. He said some good things and he also said some bad things. Like 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." Apparently Jesus didn't know about "Honor thy father and mother." The bible is full of contradictions like this that show Yahweh isn't a very good editor (neither are his followers).
Thanks for the comment, Alex. I want to look at your example specifically, because I don’t think you’re assessing the same critical standard to the Bible that you do to other pieces - and both you and I would both agree that we need to examine the Bible at least at critically and even more so than other texts.Jesus was a wordsmith and orator. As he often did, in this case he used these specific words to shock his audible, to breathe them awake. Setting Jesus’ divinity aside, as a first century Jew, he was undeniably aware of how the law instructed the Israelites in treating their parents with utmost respect (in fact, in another portion of the Bible, Jesus condemns the Pharisees for choosing man made tradition over loving their parents, and this breaking the law).In this verse - and you wouldn’t know this without studying the breadth of the the Gospel of Mark and seeing the whole of Christ’s teaching rather than a tiny snippet - Jesus is telling what it means to be a follower of Christ. Look at what he says - hate your own life. He isn’t talking about actually hating your parents. By connecting that statement to one’s own life, he’s emphasizing that there’s not relationship, no love that’s more sacred than loving God. He wants lordship over our lives, not a simple “I love you” but a thorough love, a love that puts Christ on his throne where he belongs. The practical application, ironically enough, is that when we love God above all, we tend to love our families more - we come to understand them better and show more grace, even when there might arise conflict between their desires and what we desire as disciples of Christ.
The Bible is never so simple as you think. Cross references, context, prophecy, etc. demonstrate that you can never look at one verse in isolation. It would be like reading one line from any text and making grand conclusions from it. Or even picking and choosing multiple lines - you have to connect the dots of the whole story.
Alex, I’ve noticed over the years that your background with Christianity has given you some knowledge of the faith, but only enough to make you dangerous. The teaching you received may have been inaccurate, and certainly it wasn’t enough. I’m under no propensity to think you’ll convert, but so that you’ll get a better grasp of Christianity, and only if you’re willing, open, and focused on the purpose here - not defending or arguing against the faith, but learning about it - I’d like to invite you to do a simple study with me on one of the gospels that outline Jesus’ life. Let me know!
