Erudite Answers.
Once again I’m pleased…thrilled actually…with the quality of answers to Theological Wonk Question 4. For complete answers, go to Reader’s Comments of yesterday. High and original scholarship is evident in responses by Daniel Arquilla, Frank Nofsinger, Leon Dixon and Jesse Taylor who even dips into Revelation 21 for citations. Many thanks and I’m very-very impressed.
Theological Wonk Question 5: Why Did Jesus Condemn the Poor Little Fig Tree?
In Matthew 21:18-23, Jesus condemned the fig tree: “May no fruit ever come from you again.” Jesus was hungry and noticed the fig tree. Had there been figs He would have picked some and eaten. But Matthew 21:19 reports the fig tree did have leaves which would come only when the fruit was ripe. Mark’s notation [Mk 11:12-14] is that it was not the season for figs. What’s your interpretation? It seems to many like this is so unlike Jesus, to condemn a harmless fig tree. Was He in a bad mood or what?
Again, the honor code is in effect.
Obama and the Nomination.
Hillary Clinton’s smashing victory in Pennsylvania breathed new helium into her balloon; she got scads of new money and some commentators are hedging their bets, saying that possibly…just possibly…she will get the nomination because she can prove to the super-delegates that she has the popular vote (yeah but she’s counting Michigan and Florida which are disqualified), Obama doesn’t do nearly as well as she with the white working class, Hispanics et al. My prediction that he will get the nomination stands…for one reason that never seems to be paramount with analysts.
The super-delegates who represent the party establishment (and let’s not forget that many of them are elected officials themselves) reflect not their own whim but the party areas they represent. Traditionally, local and state Democrats think first of the local ticket and then the presidency. Take Illinois. African-American voters represent a rich vein of ore…a huge deposit…of the state vote. For their candidate to be pushed aside would invite…talk about bitterness…and worse. Many might stay home. No, none would be tempted to vote for McGovern but pols predict a serious drop-off of votes out of dissatisfaction. To my way of thinking, turning down the first credible black candidate of a major party for the presidency would be disastrous for 2008.
If…and this is only a hope…if Obama could be convinced to run with Hillary as vice president, it might somewhat ease the strain. But even here I think that with the huge expectations the liberal media have placed on him as Destiny’s Tot, the disappointment among blacks would be great. I can rationalize party establishmentarians saying that it would be far more prudent to cede the nomination to Obama basis the need to reward the party’s most dependable and huge base with the nomination. If he loses the presidency, so he loses—but coming so close to grasping the brass ring and have it slip from his grasp would be a terrible disappointment to blacks. Your views?
Salvation is From the Jews is a recent book by a former Jew well worth the reading. It's major insight, to me, is that the Jews in their Temple sacrifice always had a sign from God as to whether or not their sacrifice was found to be acceptable. It was something about a thread which turned color. This ceased some 40 years prior to the destruction of the Temple. So, it may be, as many things are in the Bible, a parable about the Jews. Prior to this book I never read anything about the thread or several other matters that help understanding.
ReplyDeleteIt could be that Lord Jesus was a little hot, as he had recently flogged the money changers out of the Temple, but I most favor that this was a lesson for His disciples, for when they asked Him why He withered the tree He dodged the question, and told them that was nothing. If they had only a little faith, they could command mountains to jump into the sea.
ReplyDeleteCould it be the fig tree was a liberal moral-relativist?
ReplyDeleteI believe this can be taken figuatively and literally with the same conclusion.Jesus saind I am the vine and you are the branches. Branches do not produce fruit unless they are connected to vine. If the vine becomes detached from the branch no more fruit will grow. Therefore Jesus as the vine demonstrated that rejecting Him cut off the life giving flow that allows the branch to bear fruit. A tree (person or nation) that is separated from its growth source will sooner or later pay the price of eternal damnation never to be productive again. I believe Jesus loves all fig trees but some do not love Him.
ReplyDeleteTalk about being caught in the middle!
ReplyDeleteAmerica's Middle Class is caught in the middle in an intellectual struggle between the leftists and the neo-cons.
Both have horrible but deeply held policies that are squeezing the financial life out of the Middle Class. On the left is the love of the Welfare State whose cost is born by the Middle Class. Added the traditional guilt trip burden of the disadvantaged african americans, the burden of the poor uneducated mexican illegal immigrants whose social welfare costs from education to free hospital care, to sub-prime mortgage costs, etc. is literally sinking the budget. The Middle Class on the local level is being asked in state after state to pay more taxes for this burden. The leftist's wacky environmental agenda stops needed energy exploration in areas such as Anwar and the continental shelf and stops cheap nuclear electric thus driving up the cost of energy all the while complaining about Globlal Warming while wanting a new carbon tax. Again the Middle Class gets squeezed.
On the other side are the neo-cons who love illegal immigration for its cheap labor benefits to business while ignoring its cost to the Middle Class. The neo-cons throw out the false canard of Smoot Hawley to justify good paying job robbing trade policies. Sure the corporate heads benefit with mega bonuses but the middle class workers see their wages cut, benefits cut, and jobs eliminated.
Then the neo-cons turn a loving eye toward China, communist China, as the trade deficit grows and grows. But the Corporate upper class gets richer, the middle class gets poorer but the neo-con think tanks get well funded by the uppers and the say TOO BAD to the Middle Class and blame it all on another false canard, constructive engagement when it is really driven by mega markups based on Communist Chinese slave wage labor. Ask the monks of Tibet what they think about "constructive engagement".
Then comes the neo-cons love of war, not just any war but wars against the muslims. With a foreign policy derived from the Likud party of Israel, they try to make Israel's wars, America's wars and thus get the Middle Class to pay for the wars with both treasure and lives. After the decline of Soviet Communism they create the new bogey men called Islamofascists. All the promises of the wars for the Middle Class such as cheap Iraqi oil have not panned out. The price of oil has gone to the moon. In fact the dollar has dramatically shrunk and the deficits have swelled making the once great USA look more like Argentina. Any valid criticism by the Middle Class is greeted by labels of a kook, or a right wing extremist or even worse, anti-semitic. When pressed for culpability, the neo-cons baldly deny their own existence and arrogantly and coldly shrug off their failed and destructive polices.
The neo-cons tout big govenment conservatism as they have written it and then deny their involvement in the budget busting consequences. Along with this economic policy run amuk comes inflation from the increased energy costs. Who bears all of this, thats right!.... the American Middle Class.
No wonder the American Middle Class is livid with the political scene. They feel lied to and manipulated by all the pundits from the leftists to the neo-cons like Tom Roeser. They see no hope in Obama, Hillary, or McCain.
And yet they are being asked to pay the bill for it all! Is it over for them? It probably is over because no one cares about their future as they reach for the false intellectual utopias of the leftists and the neo-cons.
No wonder the USA is in such a mess across the board! The intellectual elite of the USA have forgot the main issue! Its the MIDDLE CLASS.... STUPID!!!! You ruin them and you ruin the United States of America.