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Hate the family. - Abandon the family. - Let the dead bury their dead. - I have come to bring dissension, not peace.

Hate the family

1. One who does not hate their own family and their own life cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26.)

2. Anyone who loves their own family more than loves me is unfit for me. (Matthew 10:37.)

3. Some words of Christ seem to contradict his doctrine of love. The verb to hate in the passage above is an example. However by the time of Jesus the words “not to hate” meant “not to love less” or, still better, “to love only.” By adopting this last meaning we can rewrite the passage of Luke as follows: “One who loves only their own family or only their own life cannot be Christian.” This interpretation, which disapproves the excludent love, recovers the original thought. Indeed, many people do everything in favor of their relatives but disregard or even harm anyone else. With those words Christ condemns the group selfishness and stresses that the love someone devotes to their dearest ones should never prevent this person to be also charitable with their other siblings in God.

One who does not abandon their possessions cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33.)

The greater is someone's sacrifice for the good of others, the greater is their merit. This universal principle is present in the passage above in a superlative degree. Nevertheless, it is hard to believe that Jesus, the greatest wisdom example, could have demanded such a rigorous material condition, that is to say, possession abandonment, as a requirement for him to accept as disciples the inhabitants of planet Earth, a world of trials and atonement which is, therefore, full of imperfect spirits. But by rewriting the passage above using the words detach from instead of abandon we recover the original thought, which is: “One needs being detached from possession to be Christian.” Aligned to the balance that God expects from us, gospel apprentices, this teaching condemns property attachment but not the property itself.

Abandon the family

4. Everyone who has, for my name's sake, left properties or family will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit everlasting life. (Matthew 19:29.)

5. He said to them, They that have left possessions or family for the kingdom of God's sake will receive manifold more in present existence and eternal life in the future. (Luke 18:29-30.)

6. Another one said, Lord, I will follow you. But first let me say goodbye to them that are at my house. Jesus said to him, One who puts their hands to the plow and looks back is unfit for the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:61-62.)

Here the thought behind the words is: “We need leaving our comfort zone in order to spiritually evolve.” This meaning is in accordance with Christian doctrine, whereas the idea of abandoning one's family opposes it.

These passages of Luke highlight the merit of those who sacrifice their personal priority in order to serve others. It is important to notice that there are duties which prevail over others. They who leave family sweetness in order to defend their homeland or to do a voluntary work are recognized. Separation may be necessary for spiritual advancement. Nevertheless, true affection links are kept. Distance neither reduces the respect children owe to their parents, nor lowers the feelings the parents have for their youngs. The commandments which prescribe loving the family remain unbroken. True ties of love are immaterial, spiritual. They are durable, as even the physical death is unable to cut them, which become stronger in the spiritual life due to soul cleansing. This consoling truth helps us to withstand trials of life.¹

Let the dead bury their dead

7. He said to another one: Follow me. The other said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Jesus said to him: Let the dead bury their dead. Go and preach the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:59-60.)

8. Jesus would never censure a son who wants burying his father. This teaching is symbolic, deep and often misunderstood.

Life in the spiritual world is the real and normal existence of a spirit. The earthly journey is important, but it is transitory. Bodily life is very limited while compared to the intense activity of the spiritual world. The fleshly body is a gross covering which temporarily coats the soul and fastens it to the soil. The body perishes but the spirit is immortal. Spiritual evolution is then the top priority of reincarnation.

Jesus symbolically calls "dead" the people who live spiritually-void existences. Thus his expression "the dead" relates to those who, although physically alive and often strong and healthy, are spiritually lifeless, because they prioritize their material interest, which is momentary, more than their spiritual advancement, which is forever.

When noticing the man's spiritual potential, Jesus, who was about to leave town, invited him to physically join His group. The man was not alone with his father's body. Relatives were going to bury the corpse even without the presence of the son, who, notwithstanding, wanted accompanying the funeral. The man was undecided because he also desired joining the Christ's caravan. So, the man was urged to make a decision at that very moment because Jesus was about to go away. Understanding the man's hesitation, the Lord took advantage of that opportunity to teach the difference between the spiritually alive and the spiritually dead, and to stress that spiritual advancement is a priority higher than material interest.

The Lord's invitation remains on. Thus a Christian should bury the spiritually dead human being, which still lies inside themself, and allow the alive one, the evangelized soul, to be born and grow up.

I have come to bring dissension, not peace

9. Do not think that I have come to bring peace. I did not come to bring peace, but sword. For I have come to turn a son against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. One's enemies will be the members of their own household. (Matthew 10:34-36.)

10. I have come to bring fire on the Earth. How I wish it were already ignited! I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace? No, I tell you, but division. If there are five in one family, they will be 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 12:49-53.)

11. Taken literally, these Gospel passages would turn Jesus, the very embodiment of love, into a discord sower. But reason makes us to repel such inconsistency.²

12. Every new good idea finds opposition. No good principle grows up without fight. Resistance is proportional to the foreseen importance, because the greater is the new concept, the more interests it may hurt.

True principles are foreseen a future. They who are interested in keeping the order of things see them as a threat, and throw themselves against them. The transforming ideas tend to provoke emotion, violent opposition and persistent anger of its adversaries.

13. Jesus' doctrine undermined the very base of the abuses upon which the Pharisees, Scribes and Priests lived in that time. So they sacrificed the Lord, believing that by killing the man they would kill his teachings. The apostles also faced terrible battles. Victims were innumerable among pioneer Christians. However, the idea of loving the neighbor survives and grows because it is the truth.

14. People that are moved by selfish interest fight reason and get furious when someone shows their mistake. They know they are wrong but keep the error because it makes them profit. They fear the light which gives sight to the blind. Illusion is their partner, thus they battle to defend it.

15. Unfortunately, even the adepts of the newly-born Christianity were unable to agree one another about the words of Jesus. Because of this, numerous sects quickly flourished, each one claiming to possess the exclusive truth. Even so many centuries have been insufficient for them to reach an agreement. Charity, the most important precept, which Jesus placed as the very cornerstone of his building, has been forgotten. The sects cursed each other and cast themselves one against other, the strongest crushing the weakest, drowning them in blood, annihilating them by torture and bonfire flame. After having conquered paganism, the Christians, who had been persecuted, became persecutors. Fire and steel were used to implant the cross of the unblemished Shepherd. Atrocity and barbarism were practised under the Lord's banner.

Whose is the fault? Is it Christian doctrine's? Clearly not, because it condemns all violence. Did Jesus tell his disciples to kill, commit massacres or burn the adversary? No! On the contrary, he stresses that all humans are siblings, that we must love our neighbors and even our enemies, and that we have to pray for those who persecute and slander us. He also explained that all those who kill by sword will perish by sword. Therefore, the responsibility about committed crimes is very far from the Christian doctrine. Rather, it belongs to those who have falsely handled it, who turned it into an instrument for satisfaction of their own selfish and proud passions. Liability belongs to they who have despised the words: “Without charity there is no salvation.”

In his wisdom Jesus had foreseen sad happenings were to come. But they were inevitable, because they are inherent to the earthly inhabitants' inferior moral level, which cannot be suddenly raised. Despite all the evil committed in their name, the Christian moral teachings have remained pure. The blame has always fallen upon those who have abused or corrupted them. If Christianity were better understood, and widely practiced, intolerance would have disappeared.

16. When Jesus declared that he was not come to bring peace, but dissension, his thought was as follows:

“The doctrine of love I teach you will not grow pacifically. It will bring bloody battles wherein my name will be used as a pretext, because people will misunderstand me or will refuse to understand my words. Brothers and sisters, separated by their beliefs, will unsheath swords one against the other, and division will reign within the breast of even a same family. I have come to launch fire upon the Earth, so as to purge it of error and prejudice, just as one puts fire to a field in order to destroy weed. And I am in a hurry for this fire to start, so that purification may be quick. Truth will come forth triumphantly from the conflict. War will be succeeded by peace. Hate will be replaced by universal brotherhood, and fanaticism by enlightened faith. Then, when field is prepared, I will send you the Comforter, the Truth Spirit, which will re-establish the true meaning of my words, and will finish the fight that still separates the children of God. Finally then, being tired of useless combat, which brings only desolation into the hearts of families, humans will recognize their true interest, both in relation to this world and the other. Then all will place themselves under the charity banner. Things will re-establish themselves on Earth, in accordance with the truth and the principles of charity which I have taught you.”

17. Spiritism has come to contribute accomplishing the promise made by Christ. It opposes to pride, selfishness, ambition, greed and blind fanaticism, which try blocking moral advancement. There will be hinderance and persecution. Therefore Spiritism has also to fight. Not bloody battles anymore, but moral ones. Light will shine from all points of the globe and will open the eyes of the blind.

18. Therefore, before establishing itself, the charity doctrine will unwittingly face conflict and fight. Evil will come from humans, never from God. The Lord acts like a doctor who comes to cure, but whose medicine provokes a beneficial crisis in the sick.

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Do to others what you want that others do to you. (Matthew 7:12)
You'll know the truth and the truth will make you free. (John 8:32)
 
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