by cameo-d 104 Replies latest watchtower bible
I felt this subject deserved it's own thread.
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Quote:
This Jesus character is recorded in two books of the Bible as vandalising a fig tree for reasons that make absolutely no sense to me at all.
I have mentioned this stupidity a couple of times on this forum and the only attempt anyone had at explaining his actions completely ignored grammar and context.
Cheers
Chris
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To be continued........
Have you ever seen a Strangler Fig?
I suspect the "curse of the fig" was another parable.
Con.'t......
I always thought this was a strange. Especially as it wasn't even the time of year for figs. If I was one of his disciples I would have been freaked out by that incident.
Strangler figs grow bottles of beer?
COOL!
The only "reasonable" explanation your going to get is going to be several pages long with no paragraphs and as obtuse as anything the society has ever written.
Cantleave: "I always thought this was a strange. Especially as it wasn't even the time of year for figs"
It may not have had anything to do with the time of year.
Figs are asynchronous in their fruit ripening.
Gk. "asyn" meaning "not with" and "chronos" meaning "time"
Many plants are asynchronous, which means they bear fruit in an inconsistent pattern.
This chronological anomaly seems to occur in many species that bear animal-dispersed seeds.
Biologists have several hypotheses about these kinds of plants though the evolutionary cause remains unsolved.
Some believe it is a natural adaptation to insure the success of the survival of the plant.
Inconsistent fruit bearing may increase the diversity of animals that take the fruit because it may be available when other foraged foods are not.
Animal migration patterns may coincide with an irregular fruiting.
In some plants, fruits may stay on the plant over a long period of time without ripening. This could be due to sensivity of changing weather patterns.
You can read more of the hypotheses of this type of unique adaptability at: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2443610
Propagation of the Strangler Fig
The Strangler Fig is a parasitic botanical boa constrictor with vine-like aerial roots.
When it does bear fruit, the tiny sticky seeds are deposited high in the tree by animal droppings. The seeds stick to the tree branches, or decaying leaves in the crook of a branch. The seeds are not affected by the animals digestive tract and soon germinate.
Each seed that sticks begins it's life as an epiphyte high up in the tree canopy and sends out snaking aerial roots toward the ground. The host tree supplies the necessary nutrients for the growth of the fig. Because the seed starts its life high above ground, there is ample sunlight.
The roots begin to fuse and the growth is aggressive. Eventually the aerial roots reach the ground and begin to send nutrients back up into the fig plant which has simultaneously been sending branches and leaves upward to the sunlight.
Eventually, a tree as tall as 150 feet can be encased in the strangler and killed. It's serpent tendrils are none too soon in reaching the ground because the strangler fig completely replaces its host when the dead tree has rotted away inside of this life sucker. And the strangler fig lives on.
What sort of parable could Jesus have been trying to illustrate using the metaphor of this strange tree?
Thanks for posting the link - fascinating stuff.
Interesting thread. Very interesting.
I do not know the answer but I always assumed it was to let us know not to piss off a saint.
God Hates Figs!
