You think it is bad to leave family members who do not live according to God's will?
No, that's not what I said. See below:
I do think it's wrong to forsake ones commiment to family and children for a hundred-fold reward and eternal life.
Matthew 19:29 promises eternal life and a hundred-fold reward for breaking their commitment to family and children. Jesus is not quoted as appealing to follow the will of God here. In fact he neglects to cite the first few of the Ten Commandments which prohibit serving idols and worshipping other gods. Instead he tempts people with a hundred fold reward and the god-like power of immortality (eternal life)
The Christian bible often uses the promise of eternal life, as a motivator, temptation. To see them look at the lexicon for 'eternal (
Strong's Greek: 166. αἰώνιος (aiónios) -- 71 Occurrences). My personal opinion is that this tactic is very similar to the tactic used by the serpent in Genesis 3:5. The serpent tempts Eve to break her commitment saying: "when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God." The promise of eternal life is the promise to "be like a God". The conclusion I make is that if Eve would have been better off ignoring the serpent, then as Jewish person I am better off ignoring the temptation of eternal life made by Christians and the Christian bible.
In the Torah, the reward for following the commandments is more down to earth. We are not tempted to be like a god. The rewards are described in Deuteronomy 28. The nation will be elevated, our children will thrive, food will be ample, our enemies will be defeated, etc.
If you want to know which I think is better, I think the Torah is better. When the Christian bible offers eternal life it sounds like snake-oil to me.
Take a look at what the Law of Moses says about this:
5. Mo 13:8-12 "If your brother, your mother's son, or your son, or your daughter, or your own wife, or your friend who is like your soul, incites you secretly and says: Let us go and serve other gods, thou shalt not will him, nor hearken unto him; neither shalt thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou have mercy upon him, nor hide him: but thou shalt surely slay him. Thine hand shall be first upon him to slay him, and afterward the hand of all the people; and thou shalt stone him to death. For he hath sought to turn thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And all Israel shall hear it, and fear, lest any more such iniquity be done in thy midst."
Jesus says: Just leave them.
The law of Moses said: Kill them.
Which is more loving? The grace of Jesus or the fiery law of Moses?
Correction:
Jesus says: Leave them and follow me for your personal gain.
Moses says: Kill them if they secretly incite you to follow other gods and serve them.
You are asking which is more loving?
What Jesus is saying is self-centered and glorifies himself. I suppose that's a version of love.
What Moses is saying is cruel and dreadful certainly not loving in the conventional sense.
But that still doesn't motivate me to accept Jesus or his grace. I simply wouldn't follow this commandment literally. There's at least one other example of a commandment that has never been followed. Instead it is understood to be a commandment to fear God. Even if this commandment is not followed literally, it is clear that the prohibtion against idol worship and serving other gods is tantamount in Judaism. Worshipping a human who is god incarnate is not part of the Jewish religion as evidenced by the verses you brought. Even if God is incarnate in people, trees, the moon, and the stars. In Judaism we are devoted to the supreme God of Gods, the All-mighty creator of Heaven and Earth. We do not worship or serve the others. Doing so is not part of the Torah.
Jesus' grace sounds like a loophole to me. It weakens the relationship that I have with God (
Jeremiah 31:36) . It's clear to me that accepting Jesus as savior is prohibited by the Torah which is the revealed expression of God's will for me as a Jewish person.
