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.
I have heard people of other beliefs, in chat rooms point to this verse to show that God is a God of hate, who tells us to hate. They also point to this verse:
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Again, this is a comparison. Compared to His love for Jacob, he hated Esau. These are comparisons. God wants to be loved above all. Jacob chose God and his inheritance. Esau despised his inheritance in God and sold it for a bowl of stew. In Luke 14:26, Jesus is saying that all other things and people are to be hated, in comparison to our love for Jesus. Let's look at this earlier parable in Luke 14:16-20
Luke 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
Luke 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
Luke 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luke 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luke 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
This is as Jesus calling us to be disciples and everyone has other things on their mind. They value other things more than Jesus. God must be first in our lives. To make this point to us even stronger, Jesus said you must hate the people you love most IN COMPARISON to your love for him. To tell us to hate people, is not the spirit of this scripture. Other scriptures insist that we love one another.Let's look at other verses that shows us how important our love for one another is.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Are these verses speaking opposite things? No, not if seen in their context. This verse speaks of loving as God has loved us. We are to love our brothers, if not? There is no love connection with God.
Luke 14 is a comparison of how strong our love should be for God above all others. Never are we to hate. God is a God of love. The amount of love we show for others should be the same as we love ourselves. This is a love as people love. The love we have for God should be as worship and exaltation. We do not worship people. God is worthy of all of our hearts love and affection. What can we compare to God? Should he not receive more our hearts? Who or what is more worthy?
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