“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple,” he said (Luke 14:26). Most people would not want that as the theme verse of their church’s summer children’s camp, much less written in frosting on a wedding or anniversary celebration cake. When we hear this verse referenced at all, it usually is mostly in terms of what the verse does not say, reassuring people that “hate” here does not mean hostility or disrespect but priority of affection. That’s true enough, and needs to
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