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."
Since JESUS taught that we are to love our enemies, it becomes quite clear that the word hate in this Passage of Scripture was being used by JESUS to bring home a very powerful point, that to be a true disciple, our commitment to Him must be greater than our commitment to our father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters.
There can be little doubt that the most important thing to the Lord is His truth. Truth is the very foundation of the Christian faith. Without truth we have nothing. JESUS said that "I am the way, the truth, and the life." JESUS also states that God's Word is truth. One of the Hebrew names for God in the Old Testament is EL EMET - The God of truth.
The present-day "traditional" Institutional Church System is functioning under a number of man-made doctrines that it claims to be Biblical, but are not Biblical in any sense of the word. Biblical doctrines are of extreme importance to the Christian Church because the whole purpose of the Lord giving us Biblical doctrines is for the purpose of functioning in Biblical truth.
Now let us examine more closely what defines true commitment to the Lord. Many Christians when presented with a Biblical truth that contradicts what they have been taught and believe, will choose to ignore or reject that truth rather than search the matter out by digging deep into God's Written Word to discover the truth for themselves. Because:
1. They are very comfortable in the present-day "traditional" Institutional Church System and it's teachings, and do not want to get their feathers ruffled up. In the 7th Chapter of Mark, JESUS told the religious leaders of Israel "You reject the way of God, that you may keep your own tradition." 2,000 years later, the same still holds true. Our present-day "traditional" Institutional Church System is living proof.
Religious tradition in the Church has been and still is the single greatest blinding factor which influences people to reject truth.
2. They do not want to humble themselves and admit that they did not have the proper Biblical understanding that they thought they had.
3. If they take a stance against a number of man-made religious doctrines, they realize the very likelihood of being rejected or being accused of heresy and becoming an outcast from the Church, and from family and friends. Not many Christians in America are willing to pay that kind of price to stand up for the truth.
Because those in Christian leadership positions and theological professors are regarded as having a good understanding of the Scriptures, it even becomes more difficult for them to humble themselves and admit that they have discovered that they have been teaching doctrine that is not Biblical.
In Luke 14:26 JESUS makes it very clear that to be a true disciple, our commitment to Him must be greater than our commitment to our father, and mother, and brother, and sister, and spouse, and son, and sister.
Once we have discovered the truth of certain Biblical doctrines that previously we did not have the proper understanding of, if we then do not stand up for those truths, which oftentimes will result in rejection, then we are not really committed to the Lord. Thereby, bearing witness to the fact that "we are not true disciples" of CHRIST.
I am mainly speaking of major Biblical Doctrines that have the ability to affect our Spiritual lives greatly.
The Lord states in Jeremiah 9:3 that His people were not being valiant for the truth. If we are to be true disciples of CHRIST, then we must be valiant for the truth regardless of how much we may have to humble ourselves in admitting that previously we were lacking in our understanding of certain Biblical truths, and regardless of how much rejection that we may receive from the Christian Church, family and friends.
I have written and posted on this website a number of articles that address the Institutional Church System and it's man-made doctrines that are being taught today. I use to have a completely different viewpoint on the doctrines that I address in the articles.
In these last days the Lord is revealing more and more of His revelation truth from the Scriptures of the Bible to those who have hearing ears.
The Lord makes it very clear from Scripture, how much HE hates pride. "Pride" hinders our receiving Spiritual revelation from the Lord with understanding because pride will plug up our ears which will keep us from having hearing ears.