He Makes Difficult Requests

[whirlwind]

How have the members here treated the following.....

Mark 10:28-30 Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

Matthew 10:36-38 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. 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. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.​

Are we asked to literally walk away from family and home? I don't think so for that would be to counteract other instructions. But, He must be placed above all else...no matter how precious that "all else" is to us.

 

[aspen]

I think Jesus is asking us to examine the beliefs, expectations, and judgments we grew up with - we do not need to hate our parents or family, but we do need to develop our own faith in God, not simply take on our parent's faith. If you have ever worked with children in the concrete-operational stage (right before adolescence) they sound like mini versions of their parents. This is great for kids because they need to imitate their parents before they can test ideas out in the world, but it is really bad for adults to simply take their parent's beliefs without examination - my parents did this and now their parents have died and they do not know what they believe - politically of religiously.

Peace