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> That is to say, do we get the Zen monk-style Jesus from modern Western media or do we get the anger-issues Jesus from the Bible? Both of those are your inter
by WoodenChair 5y ago
> That is to say, do we get the Zen monk-style Jesus from modern Western media or do we get the anger-issues Jesus from the Bible?
Both of those are your interpretation of others' interpretations, and I question whether either of those is a widely held view. Personally, I don't see the media as depicting him as zen-like and I definitely don't read him as having anger-issues in the Bible.
- Causality1 5y agoGive it another read. He gets pissed off all the time and for the most bizarre reasons, like the time some people he was teaching don't understand his parable and he's asked why he teaches in parables if people have trouble understanding them and he throws a shit-fit.
- xedrac 5y agoI understand how someone could come to this conclusion, especially if you read the Old Testament and believe that Jesus and Jehovah are the same being. But I do think The Chosen has successfully captured the essence of the Gospels and made them much more relatable.
- EdwardDiego 5y agoThat time he cursed the fig tree, was used to great humour by a web comic. https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/biblical-literalism https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/biblical-literalism
- secondcoming 5y agoThat's quite funny but I assume the fig tree was a metaphor
- HarryHirsch 5y agoMan, that webcomic was supremely thoughless - no willingness to engage at all with the text, unlike Life of Brian. That passage appears in the context of Jesus and his disciples making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate Passa, which takes place in April. Just after the fig tree incident comes the purification of the temple. Everyone who has a fig tree in the garden knows that some varieties bear an early crop, which is what Jesus was hoping to find. And no one swears at trees, as the webcomic helpfully points out. The only possible interpretation is that that tree wasn't a fruit tree at all but some random wild tree from the fig genus that doesn't bear edible fruit. The Jesus that appears in the gospels is averse to showy and thoughtless practice, and this is yet another instance.
- throwawaygal7 5y agoI think it's clear in context that the fig tree is symbolizing the kingdom of Judah, who's leaders Jesus is very critical of. In the gospels, he says they will be disowned and their kingdom given over to another. The fig tree is a symbol of the kingdom of Judah and it really works in context.
- EdwardDiego 5y agoI generally don't look to webcomics for quality exegesis.
- HarryHirsch 5y agoYou'd like to see a willingness to engage. "You are all dumb" never was a good argument, you get many more points for "Dogma X is outrageous". You can make fun of the anti-homosexual tendencies of evangelicals as much as you like and they'll just reply that queers are gross and the bible says it. But if you point out that the prohibition of homosexuality appears in the context of cultic practices you meet them on their own ground and imply that they don't understand their own foundational text.
- EdwardDiego 5y agoFunnily enough, I've seen similar arguments to "proof by mortification" in apologetics around historical Jesus - basically, if you were going to invent a Messiah, you wouldn't do it like this e.g., the first witnesses to the resurrection being women, in a very patriarchal world.
- Causality1 5y agoWhy is it the moment people realize something in a religious text is a bit nutty it becomes a metaphor?
- throwawaygal7 5y agoit's a symbol of the kingdom of judah..