by Jim » Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:17 pm
Hilarity is inspired when the “professional religionists” try to make the Bible say what they want it to say no matter how contrary to the printed word. This may be traced back to bonehead seminary professors who brag (so do preachers) of their ability to read in Greek or Aramaic when they have trouble positing three grammatically correct English sentences consecutively. A good example: accounting the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah as a lack of hospitality, which cannot be called a sin even today, but mod/lib preachers still insist upon this nonsense. Jesus was in Jerusalem the year before the crucifixion (A.D. 29) for the Feast of Tabernacles and probably a number of other times and just as probably did the same number (cleansing) on the crooks in the Temple, who this time were probably selling tents/spikes and food, for instance, necessary to the observance, which was a family thing including a lot of fun. He went in secrecy because he was a target of both the synagogue Ph.d's (sometimes called Pharisees) and the Roman soldiers. Indeed, the Pharisees ridiculed the soldiers for not having either the brains or the guts to assassinate (or at least arrest) Jesus. Jesus preached in the Temple and at the Mount of Olives (actually argued probably quite vehemently) to the elitists, who accounted him as a country-bumpkin, though dangerous nevertheless. John 7-9 reads like a novel of intense intrigue. The hangup of today's elitists always has to do with Christ's use of force, verbal and physical, anathema to the “gentle, kind” souls populating current pulpits and trying to interpret the scripture as normalizing a marriage between two men while their denominations are rotting inside-out. Naturally, John told it just like it was—violence and all—and let the chips fall where they may. He also was the only disciple recorded at the foot of the cross. Ask Peter if this took guts. Like Jesus, rough John the calloused fisherman was a man's man, who stared down the Roman soldiers and guarded the women. I love him and Jesus because they were tough as nails but gentle as lambs when necessary. Yeah...that makes at least three of Christ's recorded trips to the Jerusalem Temple and he most likely "cleansed" it every time. Some folks who did a lot of walking back then used long walking-sticks. I can see Christ using such in a "cleansing."