The entire point of the exercise is that the tree appeared as though it had suitable fruit (in season) when it did not (because it was out of season).

 That. Is. The. Entire. Point.  This is why the author of Mark went out of his way to say the tree was not in season.

The parallel between the fig tree is obvious to anyone who has read and taken the time to study the Bible.    Fruit trees are used repeately throughout the books of the Bible and especially in the Gospels.

Here is one example in Luke 13:



Here is another in Matthew 7:



Now that we have covered that, what event transpired about the time Jesus cursed the fruit tree?



O.k. so Jesus sees the Temple, you know the place where God is supposed to dwell among us (the Holy of Holies) where people are treating a place of worship as a market place, which epitomizes how Israel obeyed the laws and statutes from Moses and then drives out the money changers (starting the chain of events leading to his execution).

All of this takes palce in an entire chapter in Mark where the main theme of the chapter is Jesus fulfilling prophesy from the Old Testament (i.e. Zecharai 9 with references to  Psalm 118 and others) and you don't see the connection between  Jesus cursing a fig tree that looks as though it should have suitable fruit but does not and Israel having the appearance of obedience to God's law (the Temple, sacrifices, etc) but having none?

O.k.  So now that we have the context of Mark 11 and some examples of fruit trees being used as literary devices in other parts of the Gospels, let's look back to Jeremiah 24:



Notice anything similar or any reoccurring themes here?   Once again we have a literary device comparing a fruit tree to something else (in this case Israel)    Once again we have the parallels between good fruit and bad fruit with the bad fruit warranting judgement.    

I wonder if any of that can be tied in with the Temple.   Did Jesus ever say anything about it?   Oh wait, here's this interesting tid bit:

Matthew 24
..............................
"Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings . 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”  "
..............................

What happened when Titus sacked Jerusalem and made it all the way to the Temple?   Oh yeah, a series of events played out that were pretty darn close to what was promised to happen to "bad fruit" in Jeremiah 24.

After all of that, in your mind that story of Jesus and the fig tree just shows Jesus was pissed and he cursed a tree because he didn't get a snack before second breakfast?  

That argument doesn't even rise to the level of frivolous.  

If you don't want to study and understand the Bible, either as a religious text or a literary work, that's fine but please do yourself a favor and actually take the time to read and understand what you are arguing against before you do.

Yeah that's the tablet. Same device using it the same way.

 
It's pretty funny how the theories abound but it's right there written in plain English.


As was mentioned before, I'm sure many fakes were created over the years which is why there are so many conflicting reports.

TL;DR

Once again you expose just how little you actually know.      

You are missing the point.  



The question is where is the ark of the covenant right now?



Not who uses a fig to represent what in a parable.
 

Well you better remind Stanc of that fact because he sure seems to get hot and bothered over what he considers the be myths and stories that he either didn't read or didn't understand when he did.

As for the Ark?   Who gives a shit where it is?   By the time the Jews were defeated and exiled with their Temple torn down and their priest's eyes gouged out, the Ark no longer had any "magical powers" that people seem to think it had.

It was a wooden box with some gold ornament.   In all likelihood the gold has been melted down and the wood has been scattered to the wind.

Thanks for pointing out what I knew; I was aware that it was not the season for figs...which is why his disciples thought it strange that Jesus went to the tree looking for figs out of season. Some argue Christ did this to impress the point upon them and that they would remember it. But the GENERAL theme that the fig tree represents Israel is accurate (which Divedoc posted), and you are completely wrong for arguing against this fact. That alone shows your ignorance on the issue. I wish you the best, and pray that you find peace.

 
 

Do you honestly think your god would be tricked by the fact that you won't admit that you are using the psalm to inslult unbelievers?
Is your god really that stupid?
Also, not to mention as someone else pointed out: Immediately following your scripture with a personal attack calling someone an "ignorant dumbass" is exactly the point of the quote in Matthew that I posted.
Your intentions are clear to me, everyone else, and would be even to your god if it existed.
Might what to get a handle on your own feelings, hatred, and hypocrisy and find out what your truly believe, and what you are using as a shield to hide behind before you start judging others.
"Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at
her."






"How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of
your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see
clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Long story short: if your god happens to be real. Enjoy hell you "totally unignorant nondumass".
 

Ethiopia

Quoting this verse on Arfcom is like putting a cross in front of a vampire. It's unfortunate the hate and foaming at the mouth it produces.

Psalms 14:1.  "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God."

That comes from the same book that has a talking snake with a magic apple? And a man who lives to be 969? And floats around on a boat with two each of five million species? And a girl who gets knocked up and says she's still a virgin and a god did it?

 
Yes, that was the lesson Jesus left us with.   Care only about fellow Christians and screw everyone else.  I think that was in the book of John....






 

 
pearls before swine


keep giving Christians a bad name though, well done.

If you going to pose that it exists than you need to take in account the powers it had. People would fall dead touching it or maybe even being near to it.

Seems to me if that is true than it would be hidden and a secret passed from one to the next.  It must exist if you believe or else how is the second temple built.

 
the vast majority of atheists don't say that


They say "I don't believe in God".  Show them proof and they will believe.


Or you can just misuse scripture to insult them, that works well.

After exposure to your analogy--which of course implies that those who don't believe in [G]od[s] are fools--those of us not trapped in dogma and therefore free to view it objectively may conclude:

"The fool hath said in his heart, there is no vampire."

Aren't you too a fool?  Do you believe in vampires?

Get that logical shit out of here!

If he did it "to impress the point," why does he not say what point he was trying to make, as he did in Jeremiah 24?

The only rationale Jesus gives (in Mark 11) for his temper tantrum is to show what the power of faith can enable one to accomplish. Unlike in Jeremiah 24, he does not say anything about the fig tree representing the Jews.


What general theme? You cite ONE instance in which figs (NOT fig trees) were compared to the Jewish people. Can you cite some instances in which the fig TREE was used to represent Israel?


And I hope (no doubt in vain) that you find good reading comprehension and the capacity for logical thinking.

I have also heard this

In the words of tiny Tim. "God bless us everyone".  To my Christian brothers and AR15 brothers. :)

I have not read the thread, but is this some kind of huge ammo storage compartment dug into the side of a mountain or something?

We need a special place to post religious threads, where believers can be protected from Pagans and Heathens. We could call it "the Religion Forum".

But, but, but...if they only posted in such a safe place, what excuse would they have to whine about being mocked by pagans and heathens?

A wise man learns from his mistakes....the fool repeats those mistakes.

Yeah..the very forum you trolled and got banned over....

This has been explained to you in great detail.  

Of course you responded with "TL;DR" and if that small body of text is too long for your to be able to read and digest, it would not be unreasonable to question your ability or desire to read the longer text which contains the source material we are discussing.
   
In other words, if you are either unable or unwilling to understand the content we are discussing here, why are you discussing the matter at all?

Perhaps you should take the time to read and understand a subject before you form an opinion on the matter.  


So you openly mock a source that was posted here for making a mistake they didn't make because you failed to read and understand the text under discussion and now you question the reading comprehension of another?

That's funny.  

I think it is somewhere near the gravesites of Adam and Eve and their pet dinosaur Dino.........

I wasn't me.  The only thing I know about figs is fig Newtons.

Google Ron White, ark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGHHwUQjEYQ

Nobody knows it just disappeared from history.  There is a theory that it got taken to Africa by a group of Jewish priests.  There is even a modern tribe in Africa that claims to be of Jewish descent and this was proven through DNA testing.

There is another tribe(maybe the same one mentioned earlier), that claims to actually have the Ark.  But they keep the supposed location under armed guard and won't let anyone see the artifact so no proof.

some folks sure get all bothered when their views are challenged



where was that ark again?



 

 
I'm no dinosaur!











Besides, I've been informed by a member here that dinosaurs never existed and were an invention of the Devil, just like evolution.







 

Yeah, that's the one! Believe it or not, the consequences are your choice.

They sure do.     It's amazing to me that people who don't like, don't believe, and don't understand certain religious doctrines and texts spend so much time and effort on those things.    It's one thing if you know what you are talking about and are trying to share your position.

It's another if you don't know what the hell you are talking about and are just flailing about trigglypuff style.  

This is not limited to Christianity here.

 
There are remnants of what appears to be a large boat on a side of a hill in Turkey. Time period fits the era of Noah.

I see stanc is trolling the religious threads still.

If you assume the ark is real it would be unconvertible proof of God.  Anyone touching it would die.

It's direct proof and isn't going to be found and put into a museum.

Do you really think if "X" government knew of its existence they would leave it sitting in a run down church in a desert?

If a scientist found fossilized homo sapien remains next to a t rex skull do you really think it would be displayed?


If you're gonna say what if take it all the way.

Probably right next to the holy grail.

Hopefully they don't find it, because when they do, the Israelis will try to rebuild the temple and that will signal the end times

gonna happen one way or another.

Personal attacks