Reason's Greetings

²⁶‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.’

(NRSV)

Well Jesus, you’re right. I can’t be your disciple, because I happen to really love and appreciate the life I have right now, the life that is in the first place extremely unlikely, the life that is privileged to be able to comprehend some of the deepest mysteries of the cosmos, the life that I am experiencing and contemplating about every day right now. 

And I cannot and will not hate father or mother, wife or children, or brothers or sisters for the same reasons. They are and will be incredible people with incredible potential and value. I cannot and will not treat death as if it is some arbitrary mid-point on the way to eternity, because I see no evidence to believe that that eternity exists, and rather have every reason to believe that death is the end, the final point in time of my life. 

I can’t believe sometimes the degree to which I have come to detest the very book that gave my life comfort and meaning not even 2 years ago..