Quote:
Originally Posted by refridgerator
In my catequesis classes I was taught that "to hate" in this context meant "to love less". We conclude that the verse means love your family less than God.
|
Dear sinner,
Let us go through this with
Biblical Skepticism. It is the method that
Creation Science uses when it encounters allegations that seem to be too good to be
True™. Unfortunately, secular science has hijacked this method and, thus, it has become less and less popular among
Bible Students.
Are there data that do not yield support for your claim and, if there are, are they of such importance that your hypothesis should be dismissed?
The verse in question:
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.- Your hypothesis: "Hate" means "love less".
As silly as it may seem, we have to turn to
Greek here. Before American became the most important vernacular on Earth, God used Greek to communicate
His Will. The word we're examining is
μισέω. It occurs about 40 times in the New Testament and more in the LXX.
The root is a substantive
μῖσος ("hate, hatred"). Let us see how this fits the verse we're about to discuss:
Hypothetical Luke 14:26
If any man come to me, and love not his father less, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Εἴ τις ἔρχεται πρός με καὶ οὐ
μισεῖ [active indicative present, third person singular] τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ τὰς ἀδελφάς, ἔτι τε καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ, οὐ δύναται εἶναί μου μαθητής.)
Less than
what? Less than
previously? It does
not state "less than Jesus". Would
God have been so
ambiguous? Your claim is charming and alluring as
it demands less from us than total obedience to
Jesus would. Your version makes the verse extremely
complicated and messy requiring thousands of pages of commantaries - which is
exactly what the false Churches want to do. Next, we examine how well this alternative translation of yours fits some
other occurrences of the verb μισέω.
Hebrews 1:9
Thou [referring to God] hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην καὶ
ἐμίσησας [aorist active indicative, second person singular] ἀνομίαν· διὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέν σε, ὁ Θεός, ὁ Θεός σου ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου.)
Here we have an actual comparison between two things, so
grammatically we can use your suggestion here
better than in the Luke example. Let us see:
Hypothetical Hebrews 1:9
Thou hast loved righteousness, and loved iniquity less; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
No way! This would mean that
God loves righteousness but He
also loves iniquity (lawlessness) -
He just loves iniquity less but still holds it dear. Perhaps the
Gospels will save your hypothesis?
Everyone loves John 3:16. That chapter also contains an example that we can examine.
John 3:20
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (πᾶς γὰρ ὁ φαῦλα πράσσων μισεῖ [present active indicative, first person singular] τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ·)
Light, obviously, is
Jesus (John 1:4).
Hypothetical John 3:20
For every one that doeth evil loveth the light less, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
This is
exactly what the
false prophets (
i.e.,
false Christian teachers) would like us to hear (Matthew 7:15)!
Now we can see that we have reached the roots of this "alternative translation". This verse in its hypothetical form would tell us that
the evil-doers actually love Jesus but they only love Him slightly less than regular Christians™. This is the doctrine that everyone "gets into Heaven" with some light entertaining Repentance followed by more evil-doing as "they love Jesus
in their own way". This is the doctrine that
makes the Bible unnecessary by
distorting its message deliberately.
Finally, we can look at the
LXX to see how well your suggestion fits the OT.
Jeremiah 44:4
Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. (καὶ ἀπέστειλα πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοὺς παῖδάς μου τοὺς προφήτας ὄρθρου καὶ ἀπέστειλα λέγων μὴ ποιήσητε τὸ πρᾶγμα τῆς μολύνσεως ταύτης ἧς
ἐμίσησα [active indicative aorist, first person singular])
And the
hypothetical Jeremiah 44:4
Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I love less.
This section begins by
quoting God, so it is
God speaking in verse Jeremiah 44:4. This would mean that
God loves the abominable things but just
less than nice things. While Isaiah 45:7 yields
some support to this view, it is still a bit
far-fetched, isn't it? Please keep in mind also that the translators of
LXX used
their own living vernacular to choose the suitable words for the
Hebrew vocabulary, Hebrew that was not any more actively spoken at the time but that still was connected by an unbroken line to the days when
Moses wrote down God's original musings.
Conclusions:- Your hypothesis of replacing "hate" with "loving less" thus hits insurmountable contradictions and obstacles. It is best that we dismiss it. Jesus really requires a lot from us. He wants us to hate our siblings and progenitors and spouses. On the other hand, why should the VIP pass to Heaven's Backstage come cheap?
- Your catechism classes fail. The actual Bible takes precedence. This is what Skeptical Creation Science is all about! Examine your most beloved ideas against the evidence of the actual Bible and you'll be surprised.
Yours in Christ,
Elmer