>Dear Christian Members of the Errancy List:
>Would one of you, such as Rev. McDonald, please explain why the following is
>not a contradiction in the Bible: In Matthew 21:19 Jesus cursed the fig tree
>AFTER having cleansed the Temple. In Mark 11:14 he cursed it BEFORE
cleansing
>he Temple. So my question is, is this not a contradiction?
Till replied:
.... why couldn't it be possible that Jesus cursed a tree going in and on
the way out cursed another one? It's a simple matter of if he cursed two,
then he cursed one.
Izz responds:
Is a solution that makes Jesus do something stupid, a valid solution? Having
already been turned away hungry once, are we to believe Jesus, the Lamb of
God, The Son of God, The King of Kings, the Christ, goes again to another fig
tree expecting to find fruit out of season?
If so, then fundies take note, this is how your Bible reads:
Jesus enters Jerusalem. He looks around the temple and leaves. He spends the
night at Bethany. On the way back the next morning, he is hungry, and
expecting to find fruit, he goes to a fig tree, finds no fruit, and curses
the tree. He then cleanses the temple. He goes back to Bethany. The next
morning, again he is on the road, and goes to another tree, again expecting
to find fruit, again coming away empty, and again cursing another tree.
BUT:
Since Matthew omits to mention that Jesus had cursed another tree the day
before, the reader of Matthew would then be mislead to believe that Jesus was
approaching a fig tree without having just had the experience of being turned
away already yesterday. The reader thus sees Jesus's action in quite a
different light, than if he knew that Jesus had already done the same thing
the day before. Matthew's ommission of a relevant detail makes his account an
errant one, and the offered solution that Jesus cursed two fig trees, does
not therefore solve the problem of the Fig Tree Contradiction, while still
mantaining the doctrine of inerrancy.
Remember, Matthew's ommission is not real, but is a consequence of the
assertion that Matthew did in fact omit some material, and that two fig trees
were cursed, not one.
Izz