GregOrEeekBaptist's Guide To The Bible
Atheists will try to tell you that Jesus hated trees; or (at least)--FIG tress. Nothing could be further from the truth. The TRUTH is simple. Jesus LOVES trees!
Atheists (may they be DAMNED!) tell us that Jesus walked a long distance and was very hungry. When He found no figs on the tree (because it was not in season)--He CURSED the tree and caused it to wither and to die. They pretend that this reflects a primitive superstition and irrationality--and a cruel and violent temper. But let us look at what the passage actually says!
Matthew 21:18-20
"Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he was hungry.
"And when he saw a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it, but leaves only, and said to it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
"And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon has the fig tree withered away!"
Does it say Jesus was MAD? NO!
Does it say He was CRUEL? NO!
Does it say He MURDERED the fig tree? NO!
Does it say that His HUNGER had anything to do with His feelings about the fig tree? NO! The hunger is a coincidental factor that has NOTHING to do with what Jesus does to the tree.
It says He "said to it": Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever. Presently it withered away.
It DOES NOT say that Jesus killed it, does it? It was the fig tree that "withered away".
The disciples say it was "presently" and they marvelled. THe Holy Gospel of Mark (God be with him) says it was the next day "in the morning".
And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away."
This is not a contradiction. The disciples obviously came back in the morning. Matthew was using "presently" in the biblical sense of "during the AGE of Jesus".
The word cursed means: "An appeal or prayer for evil or misfortune to befall someone or something".
But this was not the meaning in biblical times and lands. It meant: To speak softly to--to SAY (as in Jesus "said to it").
So when Jesus "cursed" the fig tree it was NOT because he was hungry as it APPEARS to say in Mark (""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") and as it states in Matthew. Mark was simply stating that Jesus walked a long way to see how the fig tree was DOING. Then Jesus said unto it:
"...No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever."
This was a reference to the poisonous nature of the soil beneath that fig! See how the atheists miss the obvious! When Jesus saw that the fig tree was bare--being "out of season"--He also noticed something that only God would have known: A POISON SEEPING BENEATH THE ROOTS OF THIS VERY FIG! This is the reason that Jesus "cursed" the fig. He wanted to ensure that nobody else passing that way would be tempted by figs that could possibly cause diarrhea or even malaria or leprosy. Jesus was thinking ahead to when the tree WOULD be in season and bearing fruit! He was simply putting two and two together! As the hymn says: "Love unending"!
Bless Jesus! The atheist is refuted once again!
GregorEeekBaptist |
