[ Article crossposted from alt.atheism.satire ]
[ Author was Gene M. Kasmar ]
[ Posted on Sun, 12 May 1996 08:12:40 -0500 ]
X'IAN FAMILY VALUES
The Old Testament stance on family values could well be captured in
the familiar passage "Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by
their father."(Genesis 19:36).
The New Testament has Jesus defining a updated set of family values
including "And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is
no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with
persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."(Mark 10:29-30,
Luke 18:29-30, and Matthew 19:29).
Not satisfied that he has provided sufficient basis for the causes
of violent agitation within families, Jesus goes farther with "And the
brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the
child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause
them to be put to death."(Matthew 10:21, Mark 13:12, and Luke 21:16).
All family considerations are influenced by Jesus' selfish demands to
potential followers in "And he said unto another, Follow me. But he
said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto
him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom
of God. And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me
first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus
said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking
back, is fit for the kingdom of God."(Luke 9:59-62 and Matthew 8:21-22).
Additional family values are contained in "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."(Luke 14:26----the Greek 'miseo' translated 'hate' means
'detest', 'despise', and 'abhor').
Jesus details further in "Think not that I am come to send peace on
earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a
man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's
foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me."(Matthew 10:34-37 and Luke
12:51-53)
Jesus' curt rudeness to his own parents is revealed in "And he said
unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be
about my Father's business?"(Luke 2:49) and to his mother "Jesus saith
unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet
come."(John 2:4).
The importance of family to Jesus is revealed in his rejection of his
own immediate family in "...they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and
thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them, saying, Who
is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which
sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For
whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my
sister, and mother."(Mark 3:31-35, Matthew 12:46-50, and Luke 8:19-21).
Yessir...for anyone desiring to learn about X'ian Family Values, one
need only turn to that GREATEST of all holy books, the Bible.
Original file name: FAMVAL
This file was converted with TextToHTML - (c) Logic n.v.