QUES. 1.-I have been puzzled about the word "hate "or "hateth" as it occurs in different passages in the Bible, and I have been unable to reconcile Luke 14:26 with 1 Jno. 3:15; also ninth and eleventh verses of the second chapter.

In Rom. 9:13, the word occurs again, and I have difficulty in thinking that the Lord used the word "hate" in the sense that we use it now.

ANS.-Undoubtedly the Lord used the strong expression "hate," not absolutely but in the way of comparison. One must be prepared for His sake to renounce father, mother, sister, brother. "He that loveth" any of these more than Him, is not worthy of Him. We are in this way to hate our own lives also. The meaning is evident. The strength of the expression is to arrest the attention. The Lord's claim is absolute.