ABOUT MY BOOK… NO, ABOUT BIBLIA… NO, ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT BIBLIA

ABOUT MY BOOK… NO, ABOUT BIBLIA… NO, ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT BIBLIA

I used to start my book about the Bible by saying that everyone thinks they understand the Bible. Everybody has an opinion about it, like they have an opinion about politics or football. But it’s not really the Bible they are interested in, it’s what they think about it. You can be a believer, you can be a heretic, you can be stupid, you can be a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, you don’t understand what it is about.

I will tell you a sad but instructive case.

Bertrand Russel, one of the greatest scientists, philosophers and peace-activist of the 20th century, wrote an essay entitled Why I Am Not a Christian. The paper analyses his rightfull reservations about religions, especially Christianity, in a way befitting a philosopher, but overlooks the details in a way unworthy of a scientist.

In the Gospel, there is a scene in which Jesus, when he sees the time has come to arrange his own execution, curses a fig tree on his way to Jerusalem. It was on Monday, and that was a day of fasting. Russell uses this scene as the main argument for his refusal to regard as the Son of God such an egotistical person, who is worse than the average polluter today. Except that he overlooks what the description implies, although he refers to it, but fails to resolve the contradiction. He himself writes that he did not understand.

„You remember what happened about the fig-tree. ‘He was hungry; and seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, He came if haply He might find anything thereon; and when He came to it He found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it: “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever,” . . . and Peter . . . saith unto Him: “Master, behold the fig-tree which thou cursedst is withered away”.’ This is a very curious story, because it was not the right time of year for figs, and you really could not blame the tree. I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above Him in those respects.”

But if he had treated the question as a scientist, he would have wondered about the contradiction. Perhaps the gospel writers made a mistake in excusing Jesus? That would have been an own goal, not Jesus’ fault, and hardly supports Russel’s argument. Or was Jesus in such a “special state of consciousness” that he was talking nonsense? This, based on the text, would be more true of the Gospel writer.

It would seem that Jesus was “speaking in parables” here too, i.e., he was sending a message. This makes a scholar wonder. What does the fig tree represent? The common misconception today is that it is the Tree of Knowledge. I don’t know how long ago the idea that the Tree of Knowledge was an apple tree was first conceived, but if you look at medieval artwork, you can see that Adam and Eve covered their nakedness with fig leaves. And it’s written in the Bible. So the Tree of Knowledge was also the Tree of Atonement. In addition, there is a sentence in the quotation above about “the time of ripening is not yet come”, that is…

I now leave it to the gentle reader to see what he thinks Jesus was saying by cursing the fig tree.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles. (Genesis 3:6–7)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell

[embed]Why I Am Not a Christian - Wikipedia Why I Am Not a Christian is an essay by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Originally a talk given on 6 March…en.wikipedia.org

My book available: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1692991