Morality in Bible stories that you don't understand

[Swammerdami]

The fig tree story is what motivated me to research the Bible...for hidden meaning...I still have a lot of questions...
What is happening in Israel now might be related to this little story after all...

Bishop Spong discusses the fig tree in some of his books. (He wrote more than a dozen; I've read only one.)

In the synoptic Gospels the triumphant Palm Sunday occurs one week before the Crucifixion. Spong thinks this chronology is wrong, and that the triumphant Palm Sunday coincided with the Feast of Tabernacles in autumn, not in spring. (Sayings cited in the relevant Gospel accounts are associated with the Feast of Tabernacles.) In particular he places the triumphant Palm Sunday several months AFTER the Crucifixion: It is the triumph of the Resurrection which is being celebrated. Simon Peter et al mourned Jesus for some months, then returned to Jerusalem in triumph when they discovered the Resurrection.

(Note that John's Gospel (2:13ff) places the rampage in the Temple immediately after the wedding with wine, early in the ministry rather than a week before the Crucifixion. This further suggests that Mark's chronology is distorted.)

I don't understand what Spong thinks of the fig tree (and he doesn't mention "nodules" as the YouTube does), except that figs WERE in season in the revised Palm Sunday chronology. (But is "not in season" a cryptic clue to the correct chronology? Unlikely?)

 

[excreationist]

(But BTW I've never really understood the "Shame of Nakedness", e.g. the story of Ham and Noah. I avoid displaying my own member, but that's for conformity and because it seems pathetic in its non-erect state.)

When I was in primary school I avoided camps for a while because I heard that sometimes other people could see you having showers. When I had my first manic episode I still had strong inhibitions about being seen in the nude. Later when I was at some markets I was alone with a daughter of my friend's girlfriend. She was maybe 3 and didn't mind being nude. I told her off and she learnt the shame of nakedness.

 

[DrZoidberg]

The fig tree story is what motivated me to research the Bible...for hidden meaning...I still have a lot of questions...
What is happening in Israel now might be related to this little story after all...

Bishop Spong discusses the fig tree in some of his books. (He wrote more than a dozen; I've read only one.)

In the synoptic Gospels the triumphant Palm Sunday occurs one week before the Crucifixion. Spong thinks this chronology is wrong, and that the triumphant Palm Sunday coincided with the Feast of Tabernacles in autumn, not in spring. (Sayings cited in the relevant Gospel accounts are associated with the Feast of Tabernacles.) In particular he places the triumphant Palm Sunday several months AFTER the Crucifixion: It is the triumph of the Resurrection which is being celebrated. Simon Peter et al mourned Jesus for some months, then returned to Jerusalem in triumph when they discovered the Resurrection.

(Note that John's Gospel (2:13ff) places the rampage in the Temple immediately after the wedding with wine, early in the ministry rather than a week before the Crucifixion. This further suggests that Mark's chronology is distorted.)

I don't understand what Spong thinks of the fig tree (and he doesn't mention "nodules" as the YouTube does), except that figs WERE in season in the revised Palm Sunday chronology. (But is "not in season" a cryptic clue to the correct chronology? Unlikely?)

deleted

 

[Thomas II]

 

[Jarhyn]

The one thing Jesus had to say about anything culturally analogous to gender transition was Matthew 19:12, in which he said "eunuchs are a thing, let eunuchs be as they are, maybe consider becoming one yourself."

Jesus preached love for the refugee, acceptance of the foreigner, generosity to the poor, forgiveness of debt, treating sex workers like everyone else, and acceptance of the gender-nonconforming.

The modern churches of the US teach hate for the refugee, rejection of the foreigner, enforcement of inescapable debt, 'bootstraps logic', treating sex workers as criminals, rejection of gender-nonconforming persons.

The modern church is as much a church as the DPRK is a democracy for the people.