by Doug Mason 10 Replies latest watchtower bible
Hi,
When I started investigating "The Temptations" at Matthew chapter 4, I had no idea that I would develop the ideas contained in my Study Paper. So it cannot honestly be said that I set out to prove the conclusions I arrived at.
It is available at:
http://www.jwstudies.com/THE_DEVIL_WHO_TESTED_JESUS.pdf
Doug
Thank you again Doug ! you have provided another very valuable work that has a place in my Library of scholarly Papers and Books.
I will read it avidly later. Looking through the list of contents it sounds as though, happily, you are going to confirm a number of my own conclusions.
The main subject of your Paper is a strange story, that always as a young J.W troubled me somewhat because it seemed so much like a Fable, whereas we were taught that the Bible was 100% true and mostly to be taken literally, how wrong that was !
Thanks again.
You are very kind, Phizzy.
I never insist that people agree with me. I only insist that people think, and that they think for themselves.
One thing I did not pursue is the matter of who would have provided the Matthew writers such detail, especially as they lived half a century after the supposed event.
Regards,
Doug
Yes, source material, probably orally transmitted, must have existed to a degree, but of course it is impossible to tell if a story found in the Gospels has some true history to it,or is simply motivated by a desire to establish the Jesus movement. I err on the side that if a story is evidently Midrash then it is probably more invention than history.
The same problem arises with trying to establish what may have been true sayings/teachings of Jesus, (whether found in the accepted Cannon or elsewhere, such as the Gospel of Thomas), and which are merely invented to boost the Myth.
Phizzy,
Thank you for pointing me in the next direction.
Where indeed did these "NT" writers get their material and ideas? I bow to superior minds who posit a source they name "Q", but there is enough speculation without resorting to that.
What were those writers' sources? They were writing in detail of events that took place decades earlier -- often contradicting one another -- or in the case of apocalypses, they write in detail of future events.
I do not think these ideas came to the NT writers "out of the blue". I have material that indicates the sources they used, and which were part of contemporary Judaism's DNA, is to be found in the books of the Second Temple Period, particularly 1 Enoch, Jubilees and the DSS. The NT writers quote from and allude extensively to those writings.
One interesting book is: "Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism", Ben Blackwell (etc.) There is more that needs to be investigated.
I wonder if it matters whether a saying attributed to Jesus is "true" or not. I think that what matters is to ask: What was the writer saying to his/their immediate community, and the reason? What was going on at the time in that community at the time they were writing?
This not unreasonable. Read any modern-day polemic and it is pitched at a modern-day community. These modern-day polemics are not being written to some community living in 2000 years time.
Doug
Though Bible writers used poor imagination in creating a setting for the temptation for Jesus, in essence it conveys a profound thought. Just like sea-worthiness of a ship is known when it is placed in the sea and survives a storm (not when it is anchored on the shore), Jesus proved his worthiness through his second “baptism by fire” (Mathew 3:11) which means he was victorious over all the temptations he encountered throughout his life as implied by Mark 1:13 when he said: “He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him” which means he tasted the life as it is with its rough and soft aspects. All those temptations can broadly be categorized in to three:
1) Tendency to use skills and talents for own benefit rather than for others (changing the stones into bread).
2) Putting God into test taking extreme risk (jumping from the top of temple) with an eye on fame through short-cut.
3) Forgetting the main purpose of life (realizing God as the father of all which helps view to everyone as His child) and getting sidetracked on to the splendor of world’s attractions (kingdoms of world in exchange for an act of worship of Satan, personification of bad qualities, which means enjoying worldly pleasures and powers through unjust means)
Thus, in details the account of temptation on Jesus carries wrong messages such as shape of earth is flat, Satan is a person, Jesus followed Satan to be tempted …etc. But in essence it conveys great truth that man can be victorious over any temptation by changing the thought as Jesus did—he did not dwell on any of them. No one can be tempted without his permission. Satan is personification of evil, and evil is absence of virtues just like darkness is absence of light. When one is tempted, he only needs to bring in the corresponding virtue which means he has conquered the temptation.
This is how religious people retrofit their religious events with the modern understanding of things
Jesus = Real
Satan = Not real. Just a Temptation
Mountain = Not real. A metaphor.
Moral of the story. Resist temptations like Jesus. Don’t take the events literally.
This is how religions survive, even in Scientific era
Phizzy,
I highly recommend the book "Crucible of Faith" by Philip Jenkins. It discusses the sources of Christianity and of that other Abrahamic religion, Islam. This is the book's publicity:
Doug
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In “Crucible of Faith: The ancient revolution that made our modern religious world”, Philip Jenkins describes how the Judeo-Christian tradition we know today was born between 250–50 BC, during the turbulent “Crucible Era”—a time when Jews grappled with overwhelming forces of Hellenization and globalization. As a result, Judaism produced new religious ideas that responded to a changing world.
The revolutionary politics of the 160s BC created an apocalyptic world-view where earthly struggles reveal a cosmic significance, a universe dominated by angels and demons. By the time of the fall of the Temple in 70 AD, concepts that might once have seemed bizarre became normalized—and thus passed on to Christianity and later Islam.
Using symbol makes it easy. How difficult it would have been If the Traffic Department were to write every road instruction in its details. Instead, they have put RED signal which we know STOP ....etc.
similarly, religious symbols give us quick reference just like Macbeth is a symbol that reminds 'greed means destruction.' Those who follow the symbol benefit themselves and others, those who do not follow, cause wastage.
Thanks Doug, for the info. on Philip Jenkins' book, I shall certainly get hold of a copy. It is exactly the area of study that has long interested me, and yet I have been lazy in actually locating material on it.
You have made it easy for me !
