Jesus so cruel?

Good post, but I'm concerned that the question was taken out of context and there is always danger in it, not just in the Bible but in any book.

Here is the verse he quoted:
26″If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:25-27

It does sounds very harsh isn't . But he needs to read what was happening before that passage. Here how's the story starts. "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 17and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' 18"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'

and so on, no one was willing to come because they where busy with their other activities. Here is the image of God who prepared everything and asking people to come but they too busy for God. Jesus finishing the story was saying you need to leave everything and follow me, otherwise you are not my disciple. It doesn't' mean that I will stop calling my parents and leave my wife and children. That's the question of priorities, what's in my heart, what's more important.
In opposite Jesus elevated the relationship of Father and family. Jesus taught as to pray as to Father, and that's a very personal relationship. The Bible speaks that we are part of God's family. All those images are for the reason that we can understand that God is very personal and enjoys our communication as any good father would.

Thanks for the reply.

Luke?14:26 to 27

?If any one comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple??.

The knowledge is compared to a sword. Bhagavatgita says ?Chhitva Jnanasinatmanah?. This means that the ignorance should be cut by the knowledge, which is like a sword. The bonds with wife or husband and children are due to ignorance. Such bonds should break when the Lord in human form competes with them to conduct His test. Lord comes in human form in every human generation to preach and give His direct presence. If the Lord comes in only one human generation, God becomes partial to that human generation because other human generations are not blessed with such opportunity. To see, to touch, to talk and to live with the human incarnation, He comes down as per the prayers of the devotees. The Lord comes to preach and so He will not enter the statues or animals or birds. Veda says ?Na tasya pratima asti?? which means that God will not enter the inert statues.

Gita says ?Manusheem tanu masritam? which means that God enters the human body only because the main purpose is to preach the human beings. Gita strongly says that he who worships the inert statues will be born as an inert stone (?Bhootani yanti?). The Christians should be commended on this point who are worshipping the Holy Jesus only, who is the most powerful human incarnation of God. Veda says ?Na tat samah? which means that nobody and nothing should be equal to the Lord in human incarnation. One should leave everything and everybody for the sake of the Lord in human form. Only the bond with a new human being can break the bond with the human beings. Such new human being must be very powerful who can be only God in human form.

A new bond existing with formless God or statues cannot break the human bonds. Only the bond with another living being can cut the bond with the living beings. The bond with formless God is impossible. The bond with inert statue has no use. The above statements of Holy Jesus indicate that one should cut the bonds with his family and with the wealth. In Hindu religion also it is said that God (Datta) cuts all the bonds of family and wealth (?Dattam Chinnam?). Even the bond with the body should be cut for the sake of the God. Gita says the same thing as ?Mat Gata Pranah?. Holy Jesus says that one has to carry his own cross (death) for the sake of the Lord. This means that one has to invite his own death with his own hands for the sake of God. Holy Jesus did like this as an ideal example for others. This means that you have to cut your bonds not only with your family and wealth but also with your life if necessary.

Hanuman, a top devotee, tore his heart with his own nails for the sake of the Lord and was blessed by the Lord to be immortal. So when the devotee sacrifices his life, his life gets protected forever. The essence of this gospel is that the love is proved only by the practical sacrifice. Veda says ?Dhanena Tyage nyke?? which means that sacrifice of money proves the real love.

Money is the fruit of the work. So money is another form of work. If it is inconvenient to sacrifice the money, atleast they should sacrifice the other form of money, which is work for the sake of God. Depending on the money all the family members are attached to you. If money is not there all the family will leave you. You are also giving the money to your family only. Therefore if the bond with money is cut and if the money is sacrificed to God, the family bonds are considered as vanished, even though the family exists externally. The work of God in human form is the propagation of His divine gospel. For doing such divine work the family also stands as an obstacle because most of your energy is diverted for the family only. Therefore you do not have any energy to work for the sake of Lord.

Hence Holy Jesus wants His disciples to leave their families for the sake of God. The propagation work needs both money and work. Generally every body works to maintain his family. In the name of maintenance, several luxuries are introduced, which look like essential needs and thus there is no end for your work to earn the money for the sake of your body and your family. Your blindness increases and you will be putting more and more efforts to work and earn money for the sake of the family bonds. In such a case you can never even see the human form of God. At least you should remove your blindness by the divine knowledge if not the actual bonds. People of very high devotion only can cut the actual bonds. You are giving money to your family but you are giving words to God by prayers and you are giving mind to God through meditation.

You are giving love to your family through your work and money, you are calling the sacrifice of words and sacrifice of mind as love to God and you are fooling the God. Your real love is only with your family and not with the God. Holy Jesus tests your real love to God by these statements. The Christian Pope and fathers and the Hindu Acharya and saints left their families and concentrated completely on the work of God. Such pious souls can only be representatives of God in this world.

Rom 6:3 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.

It's more than just an example. The final goal of your writing is noble, but we can't accomplish it with our own efforts. We are doomed in sin. And there is no incarnation that will solve the problem of sin in our hearts. Also, God being completely Holy can't tolerate even one sin, therefore we are disconnected and lost.
Jesus Christ was not just an example for us how to live, but He who saved us be taking away our sinful nature, something that we couldn't do it ourselves.

One should care for his wife, children, brothers, parents i.e., his family, more than the society. Family is more important than society. The family loves you more than the society and therefore, you should love your family more than the society. Some people sacrifice their families for the sake of the welfare of society. The family is also a part of society. Infact the family is the best part of the society for an individual.

Jesus said that one should leave all the family members and must even be prepared to carry on his own cross for the sake of Jesus i.e., the human incarnation. He left His parents for the mission of the Lord. He never cared for His mother who came to see Him. When a woman shouted that His mother was sacred because she gave birth to the Lord, Jesus said that the statement was not correct. He told her that the people who follow the word of the Lord are really sacred and not His mother, who just delivered the child like any other woman. This shows the importance of the Lord over family. Jesus gave importance to the Lord who is in an energetic form called as the Father in Heaven. The reason is that He could not give importance to the human incarnation because He Himself was the human incarnation.

Small disclaimer: my goal is not to argue your statements but to provide the Biblical view.

There is no biblical reference that the family is more important than the society. In fact in Ephesians Chapter 6 relationship between husband and wife, parents and children, masters and slaves are presented on the same level.



Jesus said that everyone should take cross, no exceptions. If you are his, you have a cross of his.


It's opposite to be true, we don't find the whole account of his relationship to his mother, but out of 7 recorded statements at his crucifiction, one of them is the provision for his mother.



Please provide the Bible reference to that statement.



Jesus came to die for humans, they must be very important to Him.

Thanks for the reply

Gita says ?Eka Bhakthih Vishishyate? which means that the person having only one bond with the Lord alone is liberated. The liberation itself means destruction of all the bonds in this world. Without full liberation, one cannot have a strong bond with the Lord. Unless one is completely relieved from the world, one cannot join God. The joining report in the new institution is not possible without complete relief from the previous institution. You cannot partially join the new institution. It cannot be a side employment. Ofcourse such partial bond can be treated as the intermediate stage and is better than no bond. But the aim should not be such partial bond. If you aim at 100 marks, you may get 40 marks and pass. But if you aim at 40 marks only, you will fail. Therefore, let the aim be total liberation from the world and single bond with the God.

The bond consists of three parts. The service in terms of sacrifice of work and fruit of work comprises ninety-nine paise. Love with mind consists of 2/3rd paise. Remembering through words consists of 1/3rd paise. If you take the case of Sankara, he has donated the whole rupee to the Lord. His love for his mother, words to praise mother and service to mother are diverted towards the Lord. He left his mother for the sake of the Lord. He has donated all the one hundred paise to the Lord. He is the top most beloved of the Lord. He should be our aim. In the beginning stage you cannot divert your work, which is called duty and mental attachment, which is called love to the Lord. At least make a humble beginning by donating the words to the Lord. Go on reading spiritual books and go on chanting his songs. By this you have donated 1/3rd paise to the Lord. Remember that you cannot purchase any item from any shop with 1/3rd paise. Therefore, do not aspire any thing in return from the Lord, for this 1/3rd paise. In the next stage you try to divert your mind towards the Lord, which is 2/3rd paise.

Do your duties to your family members, but without mental attachment. Such mental detachment has several added advantages. If one is mentally detached from the family members, he will not be hurt if they insult him in future. He will not be disturbed when their behaviour is not correct. He will not suffer if death attacks them. Such mental detachment brings full peace and balance of mind. Due to this he will be always energetic with good health. Therefore such mental detachment is needed even for an atheist. The detached mind cannot keep silent because it is habituated to the attachment. Therefore, attach the mind to the Lord. Such attachment will always give infinite bliss in the life. When you are successful in attaching the mind to the Lord, you are called as devotee. But a devotee can be disturbed. The devotion becomes firm if his intelligence takes a firm decision through knowledge. Therefore, Knowledge gives firm decision to the intelligence (Buddhi) and this makes the devotion of mind (Manas) to be firm. Therefore, Gita started with Buddhi Yoga or Jnana Yoga in the second chapter.

When the mind is fixed on the Lord with the help of the knowledge of the intelligence, the work will naturally change and will follow the mind. The mind is like the king. The words are like his ministers. The intelligence is like his preacher or Guru. The work is like his army. Therefore, with the help of the words the mind should be diverted to the Lord and it is fixed with the help of the intelligence. The words divert the mind, whereas the intelligence fixes the mind. Therefore, when you have donated words and mind to the Lord and when you are strengthened by the spiritual knowledge your duties and responsibilities, which form the work, will naturally be diverted towards the Lord. The work is always inert item and is controlled by the mind and intelligence.

That's what the Bible says about the relationship to the family "If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." 1 Tim 5:8

You have not understood the basic principles of salvation. When Jesus spoke to the public He spoke about Justice, because when He came the generation of people were so downtroden that even Justice is disturbed in the society. Even after the death of Jesus, people in that part of the world were of such a low level first His disciples has to teach about how to behave in a society to the people, i.e. Justice. Even that they are unable to follow. Then to such low level people how to preach about Liberation and Salvation!! People were not understanding even parables!

Prostitution, killing, lending money at high interest all these things were the order of the day in the west. In such situation, Lord cannot preach that you should leave everything for Me and follow Me right now! Such preaching of Liberation cannot be told to enmass.

Thus Lord Jesus limited His preaching of Liberation or salvation (Nivrutti) to His limited disciples to them He preached. To those who love Him He preached that

Luke?14:26 to 27

?If any one comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple??.

The above statement cannot be generalised. It cannot be announced on a big dias to all the people. God in human form will not preach path of liberaiton to all the public who are low level and selfish. He preaches to those who have a drive and who have certain level of maturity in spiritual matters. Who have really thought of pleasing and reaching to such peoople alone that too secretly Lord preached about who to love Him who to surrender Him how to give more importance to Him that all other worldly bonds in this world. To eligible candidate only He preached the path of liberation. To other the path of justice.