Some people care, so they say, about family above all, even reason and morality. This is irrational: if something should not be done, it should not be done for the sake of family, yet I have encountered many who seemingly pride themselves on being willing to do anything for family. Moreover, if a family member directly denies reason itself, they cannot be in the right, for reason is true in itself as the most foundational part of reality, and only fools attempt to deny or ignore it; they could therefore not deserve to be treated as rational. This sort of prioritization of family over righteousness is also contrary to the Biblical doctrines some of its adherents also claim to hold to--see Deuteronomy 25:11-12, for instance, in which a woman does something sinful to help her husband is prescribed punishment--especially since morality is tied to God.
All family members should be in some ways disregarded if they sin, at least by committing capital sins, sometimes against their own family (see the likes of Exodus 21:15, Leviticus 20:1-5, and Deuteronomy 21:18-21, for instance). Similarly, familial relationships should be actively prioritized less than God in all circumstances, as indicated in a handful of New Testament verses I will focus on soon. As for how the Bible says to treat family that commits capital sins, Deuteronomy 13 commands people not to shield them from what justice requires:
Deuteronomy 13:6-10--"If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, 'Let us go and worship other gods' (gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), do not yield to them or listen to them. Show them no pity. Do not spare them or shield them. You must certainly put them to death. Your hand must be the first in putting them to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone them to death . . ."
Far from "correcting" the alleged injustice of the moral ideas espoused in Deuteronomy 13, including the moral nature of the prescribed punishment for enticement to worship other gods, Jesus makes some controversial statements about the real value of family compared to matters of grand truth, such as one's devotion to God. There is also an emphasis on gender equality in the above passage and those below, so it is not that relationships with female or male family members are to be sacrificed in tiers of gender-based priority (and this would not follow from an absence of references to family members of each gender). There are also to be no exceptions based upon whether a family member is one's parent, sibling, spouse, or child:
Matthew 10:34-37--"'Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--a man's enemies will be the members of his own household." Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.'"
Luke 12:51-53--"'Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.'"
Luke 14:25-26--"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple.'"
To start with, Jesus is not saying in Matthew 10 and Luke 12 that he came to bring about division only for the sake of division. While opposing relational conflict could not possibly be rational or righteous when one does so for any philosophical truth (or probable truth, like Christian doctrines), it is better for all people to be in alignment with truth and morality and for there to thus be no basis for conflict. In Matthew 10:35-37 and Luke 12:52-53, Jesus is only describing in a pragmatic sense what might sometimes happen when one person in a household follows him but not the rest. Whether true or false, philosophical ideas are controversial, and it is all but inevitable that some amount of conflict will arise when people do not share the same worldview. There is certainly no articulated hostility towards the general idea of conflict, as he actually says he did not come to bring peace (Matthew 10:34, Luke 12:51).
Luke 14 is far more aggressive in the wording. All the same, Jesus elsewhere particularly acknowledges the obligation to honor one's father and mother (Matthew 15:3-6, 19:16-18, Mark 7:9-13, 10:17-19), so he is not talking in Luke 14 about a person having a baseless, default hatred of their parents as if it is a prerequisite to following him. As with divorce in Matthew 19:1-9, he is speaking in hyperbole that is exposed as such by the broader context of his own statements (Matthew 5:17-19; in this case, contrast Matthew 19:9 with Exodus 21:10-11, 21:26-27, Deuteronomy 21:10-14, and 24:1-4). True hatred does not even logically exclude loving someone or honoring them in one's actions, but you cannot honor your parents and hate them by default for simply being your family member, something that a person cannot change at will anyway. In light of the other more direct things Jesus says, Luke 14:26 is all but very obviously a highly dramatic exaggeration to shock the audience. The verse indeed accomplishes this today.
If your spouse, your children, your siblings, and even your mother and father whom are singled out for deserving respect simply by virtue of being your parents should be tossed aside by comparison to God and Christ (who are absolutely not the same entities [1]), then there is no room for allowing love of family to deter one from adhering to truth and justice. Familial ties are not inherently more important than friendships, and either way, Yahweh and morality, both of which could only in turn be dependent on the necessary truths of reason, would be more important than any affectionate bonds of human sociality. Whoever is unwilling to shun their human relationships to serve God if needed, as in the case of Deuteronomy 13:6-10 since morality calls for showing family and friends no pity in administering justice, is not worthy of God and Christ.
[1]. For instance, see here for more elaboration:
No comments:
Post a Comment