Yeah, I know. Pretty ballsy of me to call Jesus Christ and Bill O'Reilly a dick in one breath. You know what? After a while, one gets so tired of bullshit (BS), one is forced to speak up.
The Christian BS is just one derivative of its source - the Abrahamic BS. All of the off-shoots of Abrahamism have done so much harm to humanity - far more harm than good - that it's imperative that Buddhists (of which I am one) speak up. In the name of being Teachers of the Law and of having compassion for all living beings, it is unconscionable for us to remain silent. Many of my fellow believers believe in trying to embrace those of other faiths. Fine - I'm OK with that. But when scathing criticism is called for, it is not an option to remain silent.
As for Bill O'Reilly, I dedicate today's post to something he'd written in his bestseller*, Killing Jesus. I shall write more, at a later date, concerning that book. But for now, I concentrate on an incident O'Reilly relates (inadequately, I believe) in that book. Which is why I concluded, at least in view of this incident (widely known as, "cursing the fig tree"), that Jesus acted like a real dick. As for O'Reilly? Anything I've read or heard of the man conjures up an image of a vain, proud little man with a big mouth - who doesn't mind acting the part of a dick himself once in a while.
Cursing the fig tree
I'll begin by quoting the entire segment in Killing Jesus, which deals with the fig tree, with certain words I chose to highlight in yellow:
QUOTE [Page 200 of Killing Jesus]:
"Rabbi, look," exclaims a disciple as they walk past the fig tree Jesus confronted yesterday. Its roots are shriveled. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" the disciple asks.
"Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer," Jesus responds.
For years to come, the disciples will marvel at what happened to that simple tree. They will write about it with awe, even decades from now, and quote Jesus's two-sentence response. Even though Jesus has performed wonders in front of them, this one seems to amaze them almost more than any other.
:UNQUOTE.
Jesus "confronted a fig tree?" Say, what? I went to wikipedia (quoted below) to find out how Jesus did this, which is something Bill O'Reilly fails to mention in his book. Then there's the matter of talking to mountains. Sure enough, BO quotes Jesus as saying to a mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea." I'm forced to conclude: Plants and inanimate objects must have consciousness and be capable of taking action. And then Jesus bleats about the power of faith enabling anyone to kill fig trees and order mountains to jump into the sea. Of course, I couldn't help but wonder, "Suppose the mountain has even more faith and prays that the guy ordering it to jump into the sea ends up jumping into the sea himself."
If mountains can act, it seems reasonable to assume they're capable of praying. Just saying.
This quote from Wikipedia includes details omitted by O'Reilly; this quote includes my highlights which I'll address below:
QUOTE:
[source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursing_the_fig_tree ]
Mark 11:12-14 and 11:20-25[2]
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
...
In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
:UNQUOTE
"Jesus was hungry" - I'm surprised He would curse a fig tree for failing to feed him, even though it was "not the season for figs." If Jesus had confronted an entire orchard of fig trees which couldn't feed him, would He have murdered the whole lot? Jesus - one who was capable of fasting in the desert for 40 days seems to have been pretty cranky on this particular morning. Jesus - who managed to feed 5,000 people with five small loaves of bread and two fish couldn't manage to feed Himself through some miracle? He couldn't have blessed that tree so that it could satisfy His hunger?
Jesus had no problem murdering a fig tree. Just as His Father in Heaven had no problem murdering all of those animals that perished in the Flood. [NOTE: If the Father meant to kill the wicked and spare Noah, he wouldn't have needed an overkilling Flood to do it - He could have just zapped them out of existence.] But, no, apparently He was so angry ("I am an angry God."), that He ended up doing more than just excising a cancer. In like manner, Jesus's anger got the better of Him in the case of this tree.
Like Father, like Son?
“May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” That curse could have been fulfilled by Jesus rendering that tree barren for the rest of its days. Or by causing its fruit to be so bitter as to be shunned by everyone. But, no. Jesus chose instead to murder this tree - a tree that had a soul, or at least a consciousness (if not, then Jesus would have been wasting words by talking to it).
"whatever you ask for in prayer" - Nonsense. Who could believe this? If I chose to "ask for in prayer" that my enemies be struck dead, would that come to pass? These words are the foundation of the so-called prosperity theology embraced by preachers like the ever-glib Joel Osteen. I wonder how Joel would answer this post.
"...if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them..." And yet Jesus didn't follow His own advice by forgiving the fig tree.
End comments
I'm surprised that Bill O'Reilly didn't see fit to address any of these issues I raised above. But then, he would probably cop out by saying, "I wrote a history, not a theological study." Uh, huh. More likely? Bill's "know nothing" Catholicism prevented him from formulating these questions. I've always maintained that no one with a functioning brain could possibly be a Catholic - or, for that matter, a member of any of the other Abrahamic off-shoots. But maybe I am being too harsh in my words - for all of these believers of nonsense have functioning brains, all right. They simply chose to shut down their brains concerning matters of faith.
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Steven Searle, Just Another Member of the Virtual Sangha of the Lotus and
Former Candidate for US President (in 2008 and 2012)
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
his bestseller* - Bill O'Reilly wasn't the only author involved in this book - someone named Martin Dugard is the acknowledged co-author.
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