You can make fun of religion nowadays, sure, very original, or ignore the question and talk about historical accuracy, alright. But if you want an answer what is compelling and mythical about these stories, try not to take them literal. Just like fairytales, they have something psychological about them. E.g. when Jesus made the blind see, this is about depression and how it is cured. Try to cast a friendly eye on the whole topic.
this post was submitted on 26 May 2025
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What's it about when he curses that fig tree cuz I heard some stuff about the non-literal symbolism.
He was literally hangry. Immediately after he curses the out-of-season tree, he goes into the temple and has his famous hissy fit, overturning tables and shit. It's basically the ultimate Snickers commercial. Read for yourself:
12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
Figs are sweet, and in the old testament were a symbol for wisdom, especially wisdom from your teacher.
Jesus was condemning the corrupt religious mafia that was in cahoots with the Romans and Herod, and not doing its job in teaching and being a blessing to the people.
It‘s a tree that bears no fruit. Well-looking but not nourishing. It‘s traditioned literature for a reason. But reject the meaning and consume whatever you like, everyone
I'm going to claim brain fart. I'm horrified to find I had thought that it was about, like, modern Israel. Dumb.
OTOH, it sounds like you are suggesting taking interpretations like that; reading things into the text and adopting the symbols for our own purposes. Blindness wasn't a metaphor for depression. You have to insert that as a modern reader. The text doesn't fully support it and you have to creatively interpret at times. I don't think that's very satisfying.
You mean depression is not just a modern word but a modern concept (it did not exist before)?
When the original authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote their words in the original Greek, they were not imagining blindness to be a metaphor for clinical depression. Or even for feeling sad, if that is what you mean. While many people understand these passages as referring to literal blindness, blindness is often used as a metaphor in the Bible, for example for ignorance, pride, deception, and unbelief. You can attempt to take it as a metaphor for the modern concept of depression (which of course they did not even possess) but to do so, you are clearly reading into the text. And it's not clear how the message of Jesus is meant to cure your depression, the way it can presumably cure you of spiritual ignorance, unbelief, etc.
I'm trying to understand if you are advocating reading into the text intentionally, but it's not even clear if you're aware and accept you're doing that at all.
The fig tree is symbolic of the apple tree in the garden of Eden. Jesus cursing the tree to not bear fruit shows how he has come to stop original sin.
And if you buy that bullshit I just made up, you'll really enjoy church.
Nah, Jesus ate a bunch of figs, shit his brains out, then used his god powers to curse the fig tree for making him shit his brains out.
It was a typo, he actually cursed gifs because he was sick of all the memes.
Yes, yes. Very clever. Not contributing but don't you look smart.
My contribution is just as valid, unless you're looking to hear from people who read the original Aramaic.
Genuinely, that's not how literary criticism works.
Jesus was only reading the script. It was all setup by his father.
Remember if you want to be a God you need a Godfather, and I'm not talking about Pacino.
Jesus basically teached us, how fucked we are, if we're born poor.
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