Jesus mentioned it so it MUST be true... ?

by LtCmd.Lore 12 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  LtCmd.Lore

  Something I don't get... when discussing the accuracy of the flood myth, and the story of Jonah, Bible believers, Dubs for example, will claim that it MUST be true because Jesus mentioned it.

  Here's what I don't get: Isn't it possible that Jesus was simply refferencing a FICTIONAL event that everyone around him would be familiar with?

  I do it all the time! With my family I will make reference to events in Star Trek, MASH, or whatever as if they actually occurred.

  Like: "Hey I just met someone at work, he was JUST like Frank Burns."

  I don't SPECIFICALLY STATE that Frank Burns was a fictional character, I talk about him as if he was real simply because it would be akward to constantly point out his non-existance:

  Like: "Hey I just met someone at work, he was JUST like the non-existant character Frank Burns from the MASH fiction would have been if he were real. "

  So if Jesus is talking about Jonah as if he REALY existed, isn't it possible that he simply assumed that his audience would realize that Jonah was a character from a story?
  I just don't understand why his refferencing a story makes people think that he actually believed it occurred.
• 

  ThomasCovenant

  Exactly my thoughts too.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/132772/1.ashx

  Thomas Covenant
• 

  Caedes

  It all makes so much more sense when you don't assume every word in the bible is literally true!
• 

  WTWizard

  That is a big mistake. Jesus taught in parables, because the people there were bicameral. To them, Jesus' teachings made perfect sense and they were very helpful in getting them to think on their own. However, to us, they need to be properly decoded so we will not make the same mistake.

  It is blatantly obvious that the Washtowel Slaveholdery would like to return people to that bicameral mode of thinking. They see a command, they obey it. That way, the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger becomes an indispensable entity (explaining the number of people that leave only to commit suicide or that go back). Without the Washtowel, those bicameralized people are totally lost because they lost the ability to think for themselves.

  Interesting, both Jesus and Satan promoted independent thinking.
• 

  LouBelle

  Jesus used many parables - why couldn't they see that he was perhaps doing the same thing when speaking about the flood??
• 

  parakeet

  Westerners have trouble understanding present-day Islam and Middle East beliefs and customs. Throw 2,000+ years into the mix, and you have an almost incomprehensible mix of ancient "history," parables, miracles, etc.
  
  There's no way to be absolutely sure of what did or did not happen, or even whether the people mentioned actually existed.
  
  And millions of modern-day people base their entire lives on an shaky interpretation of those writings. Amazing .... and sad.
• 

  BluesBrother

  (Matthew 24:36-38)

  Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. 38 For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark;

  Today we might say, "Just like that disaster movie, nobody took notice" ....

  I have often mused the same thought as this thread, but never articulated it ...The Borg sometimes fall into the same trap as the Pharisees who put "the law on their heads",and take as literal things that may not be intended to be.
• 

  darth frosty

  Frank Burns?

  You really went back to Frank Burns?

  I did use to love M*A*S*H. Good point.

  Of course I believe Jesus was a fictional character also, so its akin to frank burns referencing ward clever.
• 

  Narkissos

  Good points.

  Actually we should not expect a first century character (be it a "historical Jesus" or the Gospel writers) to make the sharp difference we (modern Westerners) make between "fact" and "fiction," "history" and "myth" or "legend". So the very question whether "Jesus" referred to the flood as fact or fiction is probably pointless. But ironically the assumption that he did mean fact, vs. fiction, is one on which (mostly American) fundamentalistic Bible apologetics and criticism tatictly agree: while the former say, "if Jesus mentioned the flood it MUST be true," the latter proclaim "since Jesus mentioned it he was WRONG" -- based on the same culturally anachronistic premise.

  Theologians of most mainstream confessions have long dropped this kind of reasoning. Even an "orthodox" doctrine of Jesus' "deity" doesn't make the human Jesus a modern physicist, or historian... He must have been a man of his age and culture...
• 

  Burger Time

  Yea, me and my Mom had a big argument about this where she kept up the "it must be true" argument. I kept countering with "what does it matter?". Obviously I got nowhere.