The enemy who hates us and hates God tells us that hatred is wrong. In Luke 14:26, Jesus Christ said that hatred of one's family and even of one's own life is absolutely necessary in order to learn from Jesus Christ. Hatred is good. Hate yourself, hate your loved ones, hate your enemies, hate everyone and everything, and start a new eternal life in Jesus Christ's forgiveness and God's love. After you have humbled yourself and exalted Jesus Christ in yourself, then you will start to know the truth, which hardly anyone does, and the truth will set you free. It's about priorities: what do you value most, and what are you able to give up in order to start the best life? The enemy uses this tactic for selfishness and subversion against his victim: "hate yourself and give me everything," he says. The enemy gives nothing back but cyclical death, the snake eating its tail to get fat, like donating to your own foundations to avoid paying taxes. God's return investment to you is eternal life and glory, far beyond what anyone can take away from you.

How is this in tandem with Matthew 12:25? Are we to allow ourselves to be destroyed? Jesus let himself be crucified for God's greater plan to give us life because of his mercy and resurrection power. Are we to die to the worldly matters? But God created us also as flesh and values life! It is good to ponder this, and the enemy uses things against our eternal life, even as he tempted Jesus yet more on the cross to save his flesh before the work could be completed.

And what about the command to esteem (honor) your father and mother? Can one esteem and hate at the same time? Hatred, then, might be a uniform personal rejection, but in what way and at what point? Both apply to children, because those are the souls Jesus called to follow him.

Matthew 19:30 explains: Jesus turns the tables on everything!