Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”
The fact that we are told to “Honor thy Father and Mother,” implies that there are native relationships that have priority over non-native relationships. This is the essence of the kinist argument for its position. It is fitting that I take special care for my kin as opposed to the stranger and the alien. Indeed, forfeiting care for my people so I can care for those, not my people is a direct violation of the 5th commandment.
Neither does conversion negate the reality of these native relationships and our responsibilities to them. All because I become a Christian doesn’t mean I no longer have a unique relationship and responsibility to my native people. We see this in Romans 9 where the converted St. Paul can still speak of his unconverted brethren
“For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my kinsmen, those of my own race…” Romans 9:3
The reality that St. Paul still acknowledges that these native relationships existed did not keep him from also recognizing the importance of his bond with those who were, with him, “in Christ.” In point of fact, he will refer to fellow Christians also as “his brothers,” thus sustaining that the family relationships are of the highest value. If being a “brother” wasn’t a special and unique bond then the word “brother” would’ve never been used to refer to fellow Christians. In the same vein Jesus said;
“For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
But because of this Jesus didn’t deny his unique relationship to his own mother providing for her, in keeping with the 5th commandment and the unique responsibility of the 1st born son, protection, and a home even while on the Cross.
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
The idea as promulgated by many of the Alienists that somehow becoming a Christian releases one from their unique relationship to their kin, clan, and nation. It is not a great deal different from when Jesus faulted the Pharisees;
10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother.
The contact point in Alienism and the passage above is that both seek to relieve themselves of the natural obligations that obtain to kin. The Alienist is often found saying that if my family isn’t Christian then they really aren’t my family anymore. This is blended brains for thinking.
Also this alienism strikes this author as nothing short of Gnosticism. Here is an example of what I am talking about in a recent social media thread I read as coming from a garden variety Alienist;
“Hopefully by “your people” you mean Christians, otherwise yes there is something wrong with that (prioritizing your blood family). God calls men from every tongue and nation, so nations are not wicked, but our true kin is those in the family of faith, those who are part of the body of Christ, not unbelievers who happen to be of the same family, nation, or ethnicity or color as us.”
Do you see the Gnosticism? The corporeal relationships that God places us in are not ‘true kin.’ Our true kin is the kin we have because we are spiritually in Christ. We are such a “new man” in Christ that the creational categories we were created with (genetics, family relationships, maleness, femaleness etc.) all are no longer real categories. The old has passed. The new has come.
This is not only Gnosticism but it is also an example of holding to the idea that “grace destroys nature,” as opposed to what the Reformed have always taught that “grace restores nature.” The Alienists consistently believe that when grace visits someone it destroys who God made them creationally in favor of who they are spiritually. They take the “new man” language, which is supposed to designate a spiritual category and they apply it to corporeal realities. It is as if they say, “I am a new man in Christ therefore all the corporeal things that were once true of me no longer need to be considered.”For Alienists, it is as if, after one becomes a Christian, all previous blood ties no longer matter. If they were consistent they would say that after conversion their maleness or femaleness doesn’t matter.
Look, I perfectly understand that there are times when a believer will have to forsake their family for the cross. I get that and agree with that. However, it is a bridge too far to routinely say that who we are corporeally no longer matters once we are in Christ and since that is so Christians no longer have to consider family ties.