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Questions Christians hate!

Sooner or later every Christian is approached by someone who asks questions they cannot really answer. This can be embarrassing and can undermine both their own faith and the faith of the questioner – if they have one! In this series I throw up questions and suggest answers designed to appeal to people of faith and no faith at all.  

·        Do you have to hate our family to become disciples of Jesus? (See below)

·         Can you prove the existence of God - rationally?

·         What was the point of the Desert Fathers and contemplative monastic traditions?

·         Do you believe in Angels?  Where is the evidence?

·         Did Jesus’s miracles really happen? How did they work? Why were they necessary?

·         Why do bad things happen to good people?

·         Was Noah’s Ark a myth or was there really a real Ark - and a real Flood.

·         Did Jesus really say on the cross “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” or “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Did Jesus’s loving Father really abandon him?

·         Why does God allow innocent children to die? 

·         Why did Jesus sometimes refer to peoples’ sins while healing them?

 

First Difficult Christian Question – and a particularly disturbing one!

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be My disciple Luke 14:26(NIV) 

This is a profoundly worrying command for most Christians.  

Firstly, this may be an issue of translation of Luke’s record of this event. The Greek word Hate (misei) can be translated ‘hate or detest’ - but also ‘love less’ or ‘esteem less’. The translations are divided. Personally, I prefer the and ‘New Life’ Bible one which reads: 

“You cannot be my disciple, unless you love me more than you love your father and mother, your wife and children, and your brothers and sisters.” 

Secondly, Luke never met Jesus. Matthew however actually lived with the Lord for the great part of his ministry. Therefore, Matthew’s version may be more accurate – and useful. 

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:37 (NIV) 

For my part I feel  that we must love God more than all the absorbing complexities of 21st Century family life – but not hate them. This is still a demanding teaching but possible – and is in fact a pillar of our faith (Matthew 22:36-39). Personally, I am with Matthew on this one. He was there. 

Do send your questions richard@2day.ws

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