Bible Questions Answered:
“Why did Jesus
tell people to hate their mother and fathers, so to follow him?...”
Eriko/ Caracas,
Venezuela S.A.
Bible Answer:
Bible Texts:
Luke 14:26 KJV
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.
John 12:25 KJV
He that loveth his life shall lose
it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life
eternal.
Hyperbole:
An extravagant
statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally,
as “to wait an eternity.”.
(Dictionary.Com)
Translation:
Matthew 10:37
KJV
He that loveth father or mother more
than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more
than Me is not worthy of Me.
Hyperbole:
Example: "Its
raining cats and dogs."
Translation: We've
had so much rain, its a wash out.
Did our Lord use
hperboles in His speech, yes. Why did He do it, He wanted to make a
point, that would not be underrated , or misunderstood.
Luke 14:26 KJV
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.
John 12:25 KJV
He that loveth his life shall lose
it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life
eternal.
Translation:
Matthew 22:37,38
KJV
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou
shalt love The Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great
commandment.
Our Lord was not
teaching hatred, instead, He was showing just how important it is to
make The Lord, the most important of all, in our life..
Biblical
Hyperboles (some
- not all):
Deuteronomy
1:28 KJV
Whither
shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The
people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled
up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims
there.
The Spies, Moses sent out to check out the promised
land, said there were giants in the land and that the city had great
walls up to heaven, an obvious hyperbole.
- -
- - - - - - - - - - -
Job
29:6 NLT
My
steps were awash in cream, and the rocks gushed olive oil for me.
Job was speaking of his great wealth, and abundance.
-
– - – - – - - - -
Proverbs
13:24 NLT
Those
who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who
love their children care enough to discipline them.
Do those who spare the rod, hate their children?
Certainly not, but they should have great concern if an unruly child
is not corrected, for his own benefit!
- - - - - - -
Matthew 23:24
NLT
Blind guides! You strain your water
so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a
camel!
Jesus was speaking
to the Pharisees, did they actually swallow camels? No this hyperbole
was meant to show that...
Matthew 23:23
KJV (The explanation)
“What sorrow awaits you teachers
of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful
to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you
ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy,
and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect
the more important things.
- - - - - -
Mark 9:43-48 KJV
(Matthew 5:27-30)
43 And if thy hand
offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life
maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that
never shall be quenched:
44 Where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched.
45 And if thy foot
offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into
life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that
never shall be quenched:
46 Where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched.
47 And if thine eye offend
thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom
of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48 Where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched.
Is the hand, the
foot, or the eye, sinful? No, The Word tells us sin is in the
heart and mind of man.
Jesus, again was
using an hyperbole. (Again, Jesus used a hyperbole to raise concern
over sin.)
Matthew 15:19
KJV
For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies:
Proverbs 23:26
KJV
My son, give Me thine heart,
and let thine eyes observe My ways.
Romans 12:1,2
KJV
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.
2 And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
– - – - - - - - – -
John 12:19 KJV
The Pharisees therefore said among
themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world
is gone after Him.
The
Pharisees, in their use of a hyperbole, said that “the
world is gone after Him” meaning
Jesus.
Did the Whole World
follow after Jesus? No, but large crowds of Israel did.
- - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -
Matthew
11:23 KJV
And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the
mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
Capernaum, never
was in heaven or hell. Jesus had done many mighty miracles there and
they were full of pride. The major trade routes going to the city
were changed, and it became without people and turned to dust.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Mark 1:4,5 KJV
4 John did baptize in the
wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins.
5 And there went out unto him all
the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all
baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
Did John the
Baptist, baptize everyone from Judea, and Jerusalem, no. But this
hyperbole emphasizes the fact that John was very popular.
- - - - - – -
--- - – – - -
John 3:26 KJV
And they came unto John, and said
unto him, Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou
barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to
Him.
Jesus baptized no
one, His disciples did, and did all men come to be baptized by them,
no. It meant that many were going to Jesus, even those of John's
disciples.
- - - - – --- -
These are but a few
cases of the use of hyperbole's.
The only thing, our
Lord taught His followers to hate, was sin.
Matthew 5:43-45
KJV
43 Ye have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven:
