THE GOSPEL IN STEM CELLS

THE GOSPEL IN STEM CELLS

  

Another Look at The Cross

"Compared with Socrates and Bruno, with the great martyrs of Russia, with the Chicago Anarchists, Francisco Ferrer, and unnumbered others, Christ cuts a poor figure indeed. Compared with the delicate, frail Spiridonova who underwent the most terrible tortures, the most horrible indignities, without losing faith in herself or her cause, Jesus is a veritable nonentity."[1] (Emma Goldman)

Christians put a lot of emphasis on the crucifixion of Christ. As a matter of fact, Christianity is built around the claim that Jesus died on the cross to save mankind. Some have argued that many people have suffered as much, physically, if not more, than Christ did on the cross. Indeed, some have been tortured for years. So why do the Christians think that there is something special about the suffering of Christ, and Christ alone? There are so many innocent people, even as you read this, who are suffering unjustly, and will continue to do so for years to come. Next to their suffering, the sufferings of Jesus would seem to pale into insignificance.

To explore the dimensions of the question, I need to tell you a story.

When I emigrated from the Middle East some 30 years ago, I had a dream of growing some date palms (I had many such dreams of ventures). We missed the crunchy texture and sweet taste of fresh dates. When in my late 50’s, I found the dream hadn’t faded away, I wished I had done something about it 30 year’s earlier. I would have been a eating my own dates by now. Well, I decided to do something about it for my children.

In attempting to bring some exotic varieties of date palms to Australia, I encountered some great obstacles. Firstly, the plants would have to spend two years in quarantine. Second, I could only bring a handful of palm trees. Not enough for a viable commercial plantation.

The main concern of the Australian quarantine was that the plant material should be insect free, disease free and virus free.  Eradicating the insects is an easy task. But how can anyone eradicate any possible viruses from the trees?

If a tree was found to be virus affected, it would have to be destroyed, at my expense. Only virus free plants will be released from quarantine to be multiplied and grown in Australia.

So I thought of propagating the date palms through “tissue culture” for I had vaguely heard that you could grow thousands of trees that way. Since I knew nothing about tissue culture, I began to read about plant tissue culture.

What I learned through my readings of the research articles about tissue culture was very fascinating because I saw in it many aspects that parallel the person and the work of Christ on the cross.

So what I want to share with you now is a simple version of how to do tissue culture and ultimately answer the question we started with.

What is Tissue Culture?

Plant tissue culture is the production of exact copies of plants using plant “stem” cells. Stem cells are capable of producing more stem cells and in turn produce thousands of complete plants in a short period of time.

The Layout

Before I started to do my own “tissue culture” exercise, I had to look at an existing set up.

The first thing I noticed is that the laboratory where the action takes place is not a thoroughfare. You have to go through two sets of doors, forming a small vestibule, from the corridor to the Laboratory where the “laminar flow hood” is situated.

The “laminar flow hood” is that vital piece of equipment where the tissue culturing takes place. This laminar flow hood provides you with 99.95% contamination free air. So the environment within the laminar flow hood is germ-free as can possibly be.

What you have is two exclusion zones before you get to the laminar flow hood, in order to minimize contamination.

What you have is the outside world where people come and go in the building. Then you have the first exclusion zone, the vestibule. The Laboratory itself is the second exclusion zone, and finally you come to the laminar flow hood where contamination is virtually zero.

Students of the Bible will see the striking similarities between the ‘tissue culture’ set up and the Jewish temple’s set up. There you have an outer court, where people come and go, then you have the vestibule then the Holy place and finally, the Holy of Holies.

http://creationwiki.org/Solomon%27s_Temple

The architectural similarities could be found in many other set ups.

What is important is not the architectural similarities between the two set ups but the purpose behind these similarities.

There is a progression from the common to the holy to the most holy.

This is the same progression in the tissue culture set up.

The common place where people come and go then the Laboratory where contamination is reduced by virtue of the vestibule, then contamination free environment in the “Laminar Flow Hood”.

The Recurring Theme

Every time you do tissue culture you must spray the walls and surface of the laminar flow hood with 75% ethanol to disinfect them.

Inside the laminar flow hood you have the Bunsen burner, the tool holder, the scalpel, the 95% ethanol container and the tweezers.

All of these must be contamination free i.e. sterile. The Bunsen burner must be sprayed with 75% ethanol. The tool holder, the scalpel and the tweezers must be sprayed with 95% ethanol then passed over the flame of the Bunsen burner. These must be absolutely contamination free as these will get into contact with the plant material and the media (that is the jelly like substance that will nourish the cells, but that is a different story)

The scalpel and the tweezers must pass over the flame of the Bunsen burner before and after being used on every jar.

Before you use the autoclaved jars containing the media (which is made from agar, sugar, nutrients and hormones) where the plant material will be kept, the outside of the jars must be sprayed with 75% ethanol.

Everything in the laminar flow hood must be contamination free.

The only things left that can be a source of contamination are the human hands. They have to be thoroughly washed then sprayed with 75% ethanol. Every time your hands touch anything outside the Laminar flow hood, you must re-spray your hands. By following these procedures I was able to get 90% of my jars to be contamination free.

And you must never place you hands on top of an open jar.

Before doing any tissue culture work, the laminar flow hood UV light must be turned on for 15 minutes, and then switched off. Then you start the laminar flow hood for an hour to make sure that any possible contamination has been pushed out of the system.

So after decontaminating everything now you are ready to do tissue culture.

The Similarities

Every time I went to prepare the laminar flow hood I was reminded with the Jewish Temple rituals. The most striking similarity between doing tissue culture and the Temple rituals is that everything must be “purified”.

All the boring stuff I wrote in the above section is to illustrate how essential it is that everything is to be purified or sterilized.

Or in the case of God dealing with sin as the writer to the Hebrews put it: “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood” (Hbr 9:22)

The principle in both is this: In dealing with “life”, there can be no room for contamination. Whether one is dealing with “plant life” or “human life” or “spiritual life” there can be no room for contamination. We can only succeed if we conduct the process of propagating life on “Life’s Terms” not our “own terms”. We will never outsmart Life and we will never cheat Life.

Contamination or infection is the enemy of physical life. Sin the enemy of spiritual life. Paul wrote “The wages of sin is death”.

But the similarities do not stop there. It is what happens inside the Laminar Flow Hood that is most fascinating. But there is some work to be done before you get to do anything in the Laminar Flow Hood.

The Apical Meristem

First you have to get a date palm. You carefully cut the “head” of the date palm. You must make sure that you do not damage the growing tip of the date palm which is called the “meristem”. You then remove the outer leaves. And you keep removing the inner leaves until you end up with the very heart of the date palm. This would be about a cube with side lengths of two and a half centimeters. This contains the meristem of the date palm. But the aim is to get to the “apical meristem”. This is the very “heart” of the date palm. This is the growing tip of the whole date palm. A date palm has only one growing tip.

The Incarnation

The magnificent date palm with its large fronds and thick strong trunk has now been reduced to one cubic inch. This will be reduced again to about one cubic centimeter. And this will be reduced again until we get to the growing tip of the date palm called the “apical meristem”.

Unlike the original plant, this “apical meristem” is very vulnerable, yet very powerful. It is vulnerable because it has lost its “independence”, it has now become dependant. Its cells now are very susceptible to contamination.

The date palm that could resist and survive many verities of funguses and microbes and insects is now very vulnerable to the slightest contamination.

This is why the apical meristem has to be disinfected in the Laminar flow hood and the dissected parts must be kept in autoclaved jars.

In a similar way, being stripped of or giving up his glory and place with God the Father, the all-powerful Son of God became a baby born in a cow shed. He was just as vulnerable as any other baby. Ultimately, as a human being, His enemies were able to spit on him, hit him on the head, ridicule him and finally crucify him. But this is when the vulnerability of God became the power or “totipotency” of God as we shall see later.

The “Position”

In our analogy the apical meristem represents Christ.

The position of the apical meristem is in the ‘heart of the heart’ of the date palm.

Jesus is described in John 1:18 as being in the “bosom of the Father”. “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” It is not that the Father has a “bosom”. This is another way of saying that Jesus, the “Son”, occupies the position of “the apical meristem” in relation to the Father.

The Divine Revealer

The cells of the apical meristem are “undifferentiated cells”. That is, the cells are not committed to becoming any specific part of the plant. They are capable at this stage of becoming any part of the plant if they receive the appropriate signal. When all these cells become differentiated they become leaves or flowers particular to that plant. The colour and shape of the leaves and the stems, the flower, the variety of the fruit, its taste and smell all come from the apical meristem. Out of the apical meristem the plant is revealed.

Jesus is the revealer of the Father.

Hbr 1:3 who being the brightness of [His] glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

The Creator

The “apical meristem” is defined as the “centre of the embryonic activities” of the date palm.

When it is said “embryonic”, it must be remembered that there is no male and female for such embryos to come into existence.  Likewise, if Jesus is the apical meristem of the Father, this is from where the embryonic activities take place. Therefore it is very appropriate for Him to be called “the Son of God” without any reference to male and female.

The “centre of the embryonic activities” means that he is the source of all embryos.

The term “Son” is another way of saying that Jesus is the “centre of embryonic activities” of God, that is, the “centre of the creating activities” of God.

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:3) and the “One by whom God created the whole world”. (Hebrews 1:2).

And (Col 1:16) “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

He is the centre of all “embryonic activities”.

The Holy Spirit

From the moment you get the small part that contains the apical meristem to the moment it is dissected and placed in the autoclaved jars, clean decontaminated air is gently blowing in the laminar flow hood. The gentle breath of the pure air pushes any possible contamination outside the laminar flow hood. The environment inside the Laminar flow hood must be pure of any germs or bacteria.

Throughout his whole life Jesus was empowered by the “Holy Spirit” (Matt.12:18&28; Luke 4:1, 18). It is interesting that the word “spirit” used in the Bible also mean “wind[2], or a gentle blast[3]”. That describes precisely the air that the “laminar flow hood” produces. The air flow is a “laminar” or smoothly streamlined, not a “turbulent” or disturbed air flow.

God’s “Holy Spirit” was in Him and with him from His inception to the completion of His mission. Without pure gentle air going through the Laminar Flow Hood no tissue culture would be possible.

Jesus however did not live in a sterile bubble or “autoclaved jar”. He lived in our world, yet he was contamination free. As he took upon himself the form of a man, he was contamination free from inception, for he was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). He was baptized by the Holy Spirit. “And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him” (John 1:32) He also lived a sinless life. Jesus challenged his contemporaries saying: "Which one of you convicts me of sin? (John 8:46)

There can be no room for contamination from beginning to end. Only through God’s “Holy Spirit”, was our salvation made possible.

Let us now examine more closely what happens inside the laminar flow hood.

Wounding The Apical Meristem

The cube of two and half centimeters in size, containing the apical meristem, is disinfected using a special chemical solution and then reduced in size again to get as close as possible to the apical meristem. Once you roughly locate the apical meristem, you then begin to cut it into pieces.

When I am doing my tissue culture, it is hard some times to be able to see the apical meristem. But I keep dissecting anyway, aiming at the heart of the apical meristem. I might end up with 20 jars full of plant material, but after one month, the apical meristem makes its presence known. The jar or jars which contain parts of the apical meristem bursts out with beautiful, creamy, whitish, fluffy callus – as beautiful as a bride, and what a glorious sight!

Stem Cells and the Secret Of Immortality

The Bible speaks of two creations. The first started with Adam and Eve.

The second started with Jesus.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

1Cr 15:45 So also it is written, "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

1Cr 15:46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.

1Cr 15:47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.

1Cr 15:48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.

1Cr 15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

And in Romans he wrote:

Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Rom 5:15 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

Human reproduction follows the “seed principle”. It is a sexual production. It is the result of the fusion of the sperm of a male and the egg cell of a female. This is the same principle that produces seeds in plants. The most common form of plant production is achieved by planting seeds.

A seed must grow first to a mature plant, capable of producing seeds. Then from the seeds you can produce the next generation and so on.

This process has been happening since the days of Adam. Adam had to know Eve, to have children. Then the children grow to a certain age before they too have their own children and so on. This process takes generations.

The book of Genesis tells us that God is the Creator. It tells us also that the “destroyer” was there lurking and succeeded in tempting Adam and Eve to mistrust God. And thus, “through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12)

The first creation got contaminated and thus was doomed. The challenge was on.

The wonderful thing about God is that He can re-create. But the second creation does not follow the principle of procreation though “seeds”. The second creation is “asexual” (i.e. without sex) creation. It is a spiritual creation: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6)

The similarities between the “second creation” and plant propagation, through stem cells are astonishing.

The Natural Versus The Supernatural

A seed, if planted and given the right conditions, will naturally become a plant and in time produce other seeds. Tissue culture does not happen “naturally”. It takes place from outside the plant kingdom. If you were a plant you would know about procreation through the seed principle but cloning through stem cells must take place through external intervention.

It takes  human initiative to produce tissue culture.

Likewise the new creation is not a natural process. It is a supernatural process.

John 3:6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

There are some very special things about the “apical meristem”. “Only plant stem cells embedded in meristems can divide and give rise to cells that differentiate while giving rise to new stem cells. These ‘immortal’ cells divide infinitely.”[4] (emphasis added)

In order to do tissue culture and to obtain thousands of date palms, in just a few years, you must wound the “apical meristem.” You must have a sharp scalpel to cut and wound the apical meristem. When the apical meristem is cut into pieces, those pieces are placed in a sterile medium. After a few weeks, callus will be formed from the wounded parts and this will be the source of thousands of new plants that look very much like the original tree. 

No one will dispute the fact that the people of our planet are full of “viruses”. If we had to spend time in God’s “quarantine” we would never be released into his heaven. We must be destroyed; otherwise, heaven would turn out to be like planet earth.

How can God provide a way for a vice and virus infected humanity to be recreated?

To propagate a date palm from seeds is a risky business. For every seed will carry the same viruses as the parent tree. This is true of human kind. All of us carry the vices and the viruses of Adam and Eve’s sin. How can God bring a “virus free creation” into His heaven?

The “seed” of Adam is out of the question. So where can God find virus free “human material” to clone?

God sent His “Son” who is the centre of all embryonic activities who also is called His “Word” to the world. Some two thousand years ago he took the form of a man and became the second Adam. He was not born of the seed of Adam but was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He lived just like us and was tempted in every way, yet did not sin.

Differentiated And Undifferentiated Cells

Cutting and stripping the outside branches of the date palm was done outside the laminar flow hood. When I set about finding the heart of the date palm, which was roughly four cubic inches, the cutting required was done outside the laminar flow hood. To get to the one cubic inch I was still working outside the laminar flow hood. At this point the work needed to be continued in the sterile environment of the Laminar Flow Hood. The one cubic inch was disinfected then reduced to one cubic centimeter, it was disinfected again and then placed on another sterile Petri dish to be dissected. Then I disinfected the dissected pieces again before placing them in the autoclaved jars.

All the cutting of the differentiated parts has no value. The differentiated parts are those made of cells that have become specific parts of the plant. All these differentiated pieces went into the garbage bin. It was only the one cubic centimeter that contained the apical meristem that is made up of  undifferentiated cells, which was dissected and placed in the autoclaved jars that mattered.

It is what happens to the undifferentiated cells that is of importance.

LIFE THAT CONQUERS VIRUSES

The apical meristem could hardly be seen by the naked eye.

For some reason the apical meristem is virus free. Nobody, yet, knows why the apical meristem is a virus free region.

Nothing can stop the spread of viruses. Viruses can roam freely everywhere. The areas around the apical meristem can be full of viruses, but as you move to the apical meristem region, this area becomes virus free. That is why when virus free plants are wanted, tissue culture of the apical meristem is necessary. It is like finding a spring of water. As the water gushes out of the spring, at the eye of the spring the water is “clean”. But as the water flows around the eye of the spring the water begins to get contaminated from the surrounding environment.

The apical meristem is a stagnant mass of cells. It is sitting duck for virus invasion. For it to be virus free there must be something similar to the analogy of the gushing spring. The “apical meristem” is gushing with uncontaminated life.

The apical meristem is the very centre of the embryonic activity that is bursting with life, the right kind of life, pure life! Hence, viruses cannot exist in the apical meristem. Researchers do not know why the apical meristem of plants is virus free. But the kind of life in the apical meristem can conquer viruses.

Just like light that shines in the darkness, the apical meristem repels viruses.  (John 1:5)

Earlier we mentioned the verse,“Or in the case of God dealing with sin as the writer to the Hebrews put it: “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood” (Hbr 9:22)

One might ask: how can blood be a purifying agent?

The Bible tells us that “the life of the flesh [is] in the blood” (Lev 17:11)

It is the life that is in the blood that is the purifying agent. The shedding of the blood is the giving of life. And that is not any life. It is only the life that is found in the apical meristem that can conquer viruses.

For we also read in the book of Hebrews:

Hbr 9:11 But Christ came [as] High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

Hbr 9:12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Hbr 9:13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,

Hbr 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?   

It is the "given" life of Christ that is the eternal purifying agent. This is the life that swallowed death.

The virus free apical meristem in plants is a reflection of what Christ is and what He did, and that is what God is trying to tell us though this botanical fact. 

The Point Of Singularity

To get to the apical meristem you have to cut the date palm. Then you have to remove all the branches. Then you keep carving the head of the palm thus removing the baby branches until you end up with the heart of the palm that contains the apical meristem. At this point the date palm is dead but not the apical meristem. The apical meristem is still full of life. As a matter of fact, the cells in the apical meristem are said to be “totipotent – that is, having unlimited capability.” The cells in the apical meristem are still bursting with life.

Unless the apical meristem sheds its stem cells it remains by itself. If the apical meristem grows again, it will simply become the old tree that it was. But if the apical meristem sheds its stem cells it becomes “billions and billions” of totipotent cells. It is at that same moment at which the apical meristem is “wounded” and virtually destroyed, that the apical meristem becomes totipotent i.e. having unlimited power. This is why the Jesus spoke of the time of his crucifxionas also as the time of his glorification “Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” (John 13:31)

Here is the point of singularity: Utter humility and utter glorification; Absolute weakness and absolute sovereignty; Complete dejection and complete pleasure and satisfaction.

The Undifferentiated One

It is not only that the apical meristem is characterized by being virus free. It has another unique characteristic. Its cells are characterized by being “undifferentiated”. That is: the cells have not been committed to becoming a leaf, or bark, or a piece of fruit.  These “undifferentiated cells” are waiting to become  specialized cells.  These cells are forever ready to receive the appropriate signals. Differentiated cells are not good for doing tissue culture, even if they are free from viruses.

This again reflects the nature of Jesus. He is the undifferentiated Word of God. We all have been “differentiated”. That is: we have all made up our minds. We do our own things.

The prophet Isaiah described humanity in the following words: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way;” (Isaiah 53:6)

In contrast Jesus lived an undifferentiated life. He never “did his own thing”.

Here is how He described how he lived:

John 5:19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

John 5:30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 8:28  Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [He], and [that] I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

John 12:49 "For I have not spoken on My own [authority]; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

John 12:50 "And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

John 14:10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own [authority]; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.

And before his crucifixion Jesus prayed "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39)

His life was completely undifferentiated. He was always waiting and ready for the “signals” from the Father.

The Result Of His Wounds

The prophet Isaiah prophesied the following some 600 years before the coming of Christ:

Isa 52: 13Behold, My servant will prosper,
         He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.

14Just as many were astonished at you, My people,
         So His appearance was marred more than any man
         And His form more than the sons of men.

15Thus He will sprinkle many nations,
         Kings will shut their mouths on account of Him;
         For what had not been told them they will see,
         And what they had not heard they will understand.

Isa 53: 1 Who has believed our message?
         And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
         And like a root out of parched ground;
         He has no stately form or majesty
         That we should look upon Him,
         Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

3He was despised and forsaken of men,
         A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
         And like one from whom men hide their face
         He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

4Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
         And our sorrows He carried;
         Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
         Smitten of God, and afflicted.

5But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
         He was crushed for our iniquities;
         The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
         And by His scourging we are healed.

6All of us like sheep have gone astray,
         Each of us has turned to his own way;
         But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
         To fall on Him.

7He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
         Yet He did not open His mouth;
         Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
         And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
         So He did not open His mouth.

8By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
         And as for His generation, who considered
         That He was cut off out of the land of the living
         For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

9His grave was assigned with wicked men,
         Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
         Because He had done no violence,
         Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

10But the LORD was pleased
         To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
         If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
         He will see His offspring,
         He will prolong His days,
         And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

11As a result of the anguish of His soul,
         He will see it and be satisfied;
         By His knowledge the Righteous One,
         My Servant, will justify the many,
         As He will bear their iniquities.

12Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
         And He will divide the booty with the strong;
         Because He poured out Himself to death,
         And was numbered with the transgressors;
         Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
         And interceded for the transgressors.

In Isaiah 52:15 we read “So shall He sprinkle many nations.”

The Hebrew word for sprinkle is “naza”. It means to spurt or to spring

It is very similar to the Arabic word “nadah” or “nazah”. It is used for example when water oozes out or seep out of a clay drinking jar after being filled with water. So the verse means; He shall spurt out many nations.

It is true that many nations came out of Adam. The making of many nations through Adam came through the gradual and slow process over hundreds of years of begetting through the seed propagation.

The making of many nations is not so with the “Servant of the Lord.”

This process is sudden not gradual. It is also takes place on a massive scale, not though one begetting another.

How can one person ooze out, or sprinkle many nations? One thing that parallels that is propagating through tissue culture.

As I watched the stem cells grow inside the autoclaved jars, I was always amazed at the speed and the sudden “waves” of growth of the cells.

Plant tissue culture is a shadow of how Jesus “sprinkled” many nations.

But notice how the “servant of the Lord” is described in Isaiah 53:2 “He grew up before Him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parched ground”. The Hebrew word for “tender shoot” is “suckling” still on the breast.

The word “parched” used in “parched ground” means “desert”, “wilderness” and “arid”.[5] The picture the prophet is painting before us is of someone who is like a “tender shoot” in a “desert”.

In the language of tissue culture, he is the only plant material and the rest of humanity is a desert.

He is also “tender” enough to be described as “suckling”, still on the breast, according to the root of the original Hebrew word.

So what happens to this “tender” shoot?

We read in verse 5 “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.” Or as other translations put it: “He was wounded for our transgressions.”

And in verse 10 and 11 we read

“But the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, he will see His offspring, he will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

As a result of the anguish of His soul, he will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, my Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.”

As a result of wounding him and crushing him, this one shoot will have an offspring and he will justify the many.” 

This takes us to the first thought found in Isaiah 52:15 we “So shall He sprinkle many nations.” Through his wounds he shall sprinkle many nations.

A New Creation

What God did in Christ was more than forgiveness and more than reconciliation. God was making a new creation.

It is fascinating to note that in plant tissue culture, the new plants are called clones. That is they look like the original plant. The Bible of course does not use the word “clone”, but the description of the end result is strikingly the same. Here is how the end result is described:

 “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom 8:29)

“to be conformed to the image of His Son” simply means to be like His Son.

“For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” (Heb 2:10)

Jesus is called the Son, but God is bringing in him “many sons”.

“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1Jo 3:2)

And John puts simply saying: “we shall be like Him”.

Obedience Not Pain

We now turn to the opening comment by Emma Goldman: “Compared with the delicate, frail Spiridonova who underwent the most terrible tortures, the most horrible indignities, without losing faith in herself or her cause, Jesus is a veritable nonentity.”

But why was the delicate frail Spiridonova  tortured? She shot General Luzhenovsky in the face with a revolver at the provincial railway station of Borisoglebsk.[6]

She was part of the Russian revolution, but was ultimately executed by the revolution.

I am sure there are many better examples than “delicate, frail Spiridonova” who suffered innocently.

As we have seen earlier, one can do tissue culture only on undifferentiated cells. Trying to do tissue culture on differentiated cells is useless exercise. 

But then again, if pain is what was required, then animal sacrifices, and plenty of them, would have been sufficient to affect any aspect of salvation.

What is required by God is “perfect obedience”. This perfect obedience is manifested in the life of Christ in spite of pain and the sin of mankind.

Unlike many innocent sufferers, who would have avoided torture and shame, if they could help it, Jesus did not try to escape. On the contrary, he was capable of subduing his captors, but he willingly placed himself in their hands. Here is how John described it: “Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom are you seeking?" (Jhn 18:4)

It is the undifferentiated will of Jesus that made all the difference, as it is written:

Hbr 10:9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God”…

Hbr 10:10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all].

And in the word of the Lord Jesus himself:

"But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here. (John 14:31)

Neither sin nor death can boast that they have part in our salvation. Jesus obeyed in spite of them. He obeyed to save us from both. It is because of his undifferentiated life, his obedience to the point of death, the death on a cross that he is the Savior of the World.

You And Eternal Life

It is no wonder that the Saviour of the World said of himself:

Jhn 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jhn 6:35 "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Jhn 6:51 "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

Jhn 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Jhn 7:37 “On the last day, that great [day] of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”

Jhn 8:51 “Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”

Rev 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

Dust was the media of the first creation. We, human beings, are the media of the new creation.

Or to use the analogy of tissue culture we are the “jars” containing the media of the new creation. The above verse says Jesus “knocks at the door” that is, he only knocks. Jesus does not knock down. Jesus will never force himself on anyone. We must be willing to open the door. The human “jars” must open the “lid”. When the “lid” is open he will come in by his Spirit and impart Life, his Life, into that “human jar”.

And IF ANYONE opens the door, Jesus said “I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”.

There can be no more beautiful picture, honour or privilege than to dine with the apical meristem of Life, with the apical meristem of the Father, forever.

What are you waiting for?

Dear reader, apparently Google does not allow comments on websites like mine.

However, if you email me your comments, I will publish them under this article.

Just click on my email address and type away. Thanks.

The fig Farmer

abuhennah@gmail.com

[1] . The Failure of Christianity by Emma Goldman First published in April 1913, in the Mother Earth journal.

[2] . 4151 pneúma – properly, spirit (Spirit), wind, or breath. http://concordances.org/greek/4151.htm

[3] . http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G4151&t=KJV

[4] . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_stem_cell

[5] . http://concordances.org/hebrew/6723.htm

[6] . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Spiridonova

 

JESUS AND THE FIG TREE

JESUS AND THE FIG TREE

Why Did Jesus Curse The Fig Tree?

The story of Jesus and the fig tree, found in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, bothered me for many years. Even though I read many explanations and commentaries, I was not satisfied.

Referring to the Withered Fig Tree story, William Barclay has stated: “This story is, without exception, the most difficult one in the gospels.”

Skeptics and atheists delight to use it as one of their “big guns” against Christians.

The following is an example of how atheists see and use the so-called "the fig tree enigma" (http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/figtree.htm)

From: "matthew"
To: "Positive Atheism Magazine"
Sent: August 02, 2001
Subject: WebMaster: Positive Atheism Index

Could you explain to me the fig tree-Jesus conundrum? How would I present this problem to a Christian? I know almost nothing of Christianity outside the very basics and sometimes Christians and missionaries etc. will try to use this against me in debates. I would like to have one solid bible argument in my defense next time I am assaulted by faith peddlers.

Thank you,

m a t t h e w

From: "Positive Atheism Magazine"
To: "matthew"
Subject: WebMaster: Positive Atheism Index
Date: August 12, 200

"The fig tree enigma"  addresses only one small segment of Christianity, those Fundamentalists who think the Bible is literally God's word, dictated directly from Him and thus without error. Of course if someone claims that a body of writing is infallible (and this is what such Christians say about the Bible) then it takes but a single error to bring this entire theory crumbling to dust. ...

However, I do have a few bible errors up my sleeve for those occasions when I find them handy, and my favorite is an early piece I wrote over six years ago called "the fig tree enigma" The big problems with the Cursing of the Fig Tree story in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark come to light upon reading them side-by-side, but we can see the most glaring problem if we read the version in Mark:

[12] And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
[13] And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
[14] And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
[...]
[20] And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
[21] And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

Here we have not really a Bible error as much as a very strange portrayal of the New Testament's main character, Jesus. Three things come out of this story:

1. Jesus was hungry.
2. He looked for figs on a tree.
3. But it was not fig season.

So, because he doesn't get his way, Jesus kills the tree in retaliation. This story, if taken at face value, is so difficult to fathom that even the Fundamentalists tend to turn this into a metaphor (which they tend to do with all passages that they find difficult to fathom when taken at face value).

I'll recite the incident from Matthew to show you a few differences between the two accounts:

17. And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
18. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
19. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
20. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!

Now I can ask the following questions:

If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?

Is killing a tree for not bearing fruit out of season a reasonable response by any standard?

(http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/figtree.htm)

Now let us look at this “favourite” piece of the editor of “Positive Atheism:

Why Did Jesus Curse The Fig Tree, When Figs Were Not In Season?

The Fig Season

Let us deal with the first question put by the editor of Positive Atheism: “If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?”

Being a fig farmer I hope I can shed some light on "the fig tree enigma".

But let me share with you first a quick word on fig trees. There are four types of figs: the “Smyrna” fig, the “Capri” fig, the “San Pedro” fig, and the common fig.[1] (The reader can follow the link in the footnote if he wants to know more.)

 To keep things simple I will talk only about what is called the “common” fig, which is the fig that was mentioned in Matthew and Mark.

The origin of this common fig is the Mediterranean area. The common fig, in Australia, usually produces figs in late January. Some varieties produce a few early figs before Christmas, in the month of December. You have to be a detective to spot these few early figs, especially if the figs are white (i.e. green in colour when ripe). Very, very few varieties have a decent amount of these early figs (I am still searching for these varieties) . Some trees have no early figs at all. But generally speaking, on a “common” fig tree one might find some early figs before Christmas (in the southern hemisphere), depending on the age and size of the tree. These figs are called “breba”. These “breba” figs come below the new leaves. One can actually see the “breba” figs even in the previous winter if you know where to look. Not all the Breba figs will ripen. So early in the season one might find 20 breba figs but most of them will abort and drop off.

But the main crop that will start from February is huge. One of the amazing things about the fig tree is that behind every leaf you will find a fig (sometimes two). So if you have five hundred leaves on a tree, you would expect to get around 500 figs from the main crop, but maybe only a handful of “breba” if you are lucky.

The expression “if haply he might find anything thereon”, found in Mark’s account, points to the high odds against finding figs on the tree. This is how I tell my children to go and look for some “breba” figs. They mostly protest saying: “There is nothing there, Dad” but I reply, saying: “Just go! You might find a few figs there.” (The kids have better knees than mine and to scan 62 rows of figs, to find a few figs, is very taxing on the old knees)

But when it is the fig season, i.e. time for the main crop, we do not talk like that. We try to make sure we have enough helpers to pick the figs. There is no 'haply' or 'maybe'. We cannot scratch. It is push, push, push. It feels like a woman having a baby. It is worse than picking tomatoes. Even if you have only one tree, you must go every morning to pick the figs until the end of the season.

Now if you ask me, " When is the fig season?" I will say, "In Australia, from February on". So when Jesus approached that fig tree, he was looking for the “breba” figs. My children do that every year. They go to the fig trees before Christmas and every day they bring a dozen figs from 2000 trees. Yes, they bring only a dozen figs/day from 2000 fig trees, if we lucky. Why? Because it is not the fig season yet. Hence “for the time of figs was not yet.”

The Positive Atheist asked: “If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?”

You are right, even a moron would not do that. If it is too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.

Jesus was looking for some “breba” figs. If he was looking for the main crop Mark would not have said “if haply he might find anything thereon”.

But Jesus noticed something else.

No Fruit!

Now let us turn to the second question: Is killing a tree for not bearing fruit out of season a reasonable response by any standard?

Let me share with you my story with figs. One day I was visiting my brother-in-law. He shared with me and my son a huge black Genoa fig (it was the size of a mug). This was the moment I fell in love with figs.

Living on acreage, I decided to grow fig trees. Sure enough I managed to source enough cuttings to grow 1000 trees and more. This variety is called Deanne. We grew the cuttings in sawdust mixed with some potting mix and the cuttings grew like  weeds. We planted more than a thousand trees just before Christmas that year. The trees took off and by April most of the trees were as tall as me. I remembered a friend of mine saying to me: “At last lady luck has smiled on you”. Two years later I planted another thousand of different varieties.

From reading the literature on figs and looking at images, I knew fig trees to be very productive. Behind every leaf you should have a fig. A small fig tree will have at least 500 leaves, that is 500 figs. If I get 50 cents for a fig I can live very comfortably. ($.5x500x1000=$250,000) I thought to myself, “I will be happy with half of that.”

When I mentioned my calculations to one of my farmer friends, he shook his head and said, “When it comes to farming be prepared for lots of disappointments.”

Well, I could not wait for next spring. The trees grew like a house on fire. New branches grew everywhere. The fig paddock looked like a jungle, but I could not see the figs. All I had was many beautiful looking trees but hardly any figs. I could not understand what was going on. I contacted other fig farmers, the Department of Agriculture, some fig specialists, and a professor from one of the universities. They all said,"It is only the first year. Give it time". I waited for next year, but in early spring I went every day to look between the leaves and the axel of the branch to see if I could detect any figs. At that time they should look like a pin head. But all I found was a few figs here and there after the branch had already six or seven leaves. Then we noticed one tree was full of figs. I recognized it as one of a different variety that had been planted by mistake. It was then that I began to be worried.

Some farmers suggested that maybe I was watering them too much. “Stress the trees,” they said. So next year I did not water as much but with the same result. Another farmer said, “Just give it another year,” and I did, but the one tree that we planted by mistake produced more and more. The final verdict became obvious. This variety does not produce in my area because this is a “varietal trait”, after four years, my friend the professor admitted.

While most of the trees produced some figs, some produced not one. One of those trees was on the beginning of the fourth row. This was my “test” tree. I thought if I can see one fig on this one, there will be figs on all the other trees.

The question became: what do I do with 1000 fig trees that produce 10-20% of their potential. Had I planted another variety I could have retired by now. The Deanne are a waste of space and will be replaced with a new variety. (please see photo of 500 fig trees removed in a big heap with some little heaps next to it.)

Here are the 500 Deanne fig trees that we cut in 2011 to make room for a new productive variety.

This particular variety was bred by Ira Condit the famous fig breeder. It grew from a seed. It was bred for some traits like long shelf life, sugar content etc. It suited other areas but not my area. I actually gave some cuttings to some of my friend who live nearby (6 or 7 kilometres away, but with the same disappointing results.)

The  tree in the Bible story was probably self-sown from a seed in the droppings of a bird which had eaten a fig. When a fruit tree grows from a seed, the resultant tree is not “true to type”, and the quality of its fruit is pot luck. But mostly the quality or the quantity of the fruit is not good.

By the time we go to look for the “breba” figs on our other varieties of fig trees, they are full of the unripe “main crop” figs. Behind every leaf there is a fig. I can never forget a comment made by an agronomist when I was talking to him about my Deanne. He said, “There is nothing complicated about figs. They are a straight forward fruit tree. Behind every leaf you will find a fig.” We can tell very early in the season what kind of a crop we will pick from the other varieties, (weather permitting). Sometimes a branch will produce up to twenty four figs. Now the reader might get excited and decide to become a fig farmer. Beware! Every man and his dog is growing figs now, and the fruit is known mainly by ethnic people. The result is too many figs, and too few consumers. Just grow one for the family.

In this photo, the two large figs are the breba figs, the small ones are the main crop.

The new shoot, growing above the two brebas can carry up to 24 figs.

Notice that the breba grows on last year’s wood.

But also notice that, behind every leaf there is a fig, (not always but most of the time).

The tree that Jesus saw had no main crop, “only leaves”. When Jesus came looking for the “breba” figs, he noticed the tree did not even have a main crop which by that time should be obvious. “Jesus saw only leaves”. By the time we start eating our “breba” crop, the size of the main crop figs should be from 4 cm in diameter to a pea size further up in the branch. So by that time one should be able to see anything between 5 to 12 figs of the main crop. It is very disheartening to stand in front of the “straight forward fruit tree” with more than 500 leaves, and see not one fig. This has happened to me dozens of times. I even used a magnifying glass, hoping that the problem was in my eyes and not in the tree. The tree Jesus saw was a waste of space and waste of people’s time. It is disappointing to expect fruit from a fruit tree, but find none or expect milk from a cow but get nothing. At one time we kept some milking goats, but one of them had no milk, not even a drop. We fed it for years. Then a goat breeder said, “it has a hard udder.” That goat had the equipment but no milk.

This brings us to a parable that Jesus taught:

He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?' "But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down." (Luke 13:6-9)

I know some people reading the above will not believe that a fig tree can bear no fruit for up to three years. I know that a fig tree, after its first year, if looked after, should grow and produce like a tomato plant. A parable must have something in common with reality. I knew this reality. Day after day, I would go and inspect my trees, only to come home shaking my head.

Fig trees indeed are a straight forward fruit tree. You plant this year; next year you will eat from it. Sometimes if you plant in early spring you will eat from it the same year. The above parable actually points to the patience of God in leaving a fig tree for three years. The fig tree in the above parable was a reference to the unbelieving Jews. He [Jesus] came to His own [people], and His own did not receive Him. (John 1:11) NKJ

And so finally, Jesus, addressing his own people, said:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See! Your house is left to you desolate”. Mat 23:37-38

Thus the fig tree that withered overnight pointed to final judgment on a nation in which God had invested so much, and was a living parable and a warning to those who had eyes to see.

One final word for tree lovers: the fig tree (ficus carica) is not an ornamental tree. When one sees a fig tree in the Middle East, in a public place, he expects to eat figs. It is an invitation for a free meal. 
This incident probably was not the first time the Lord Jesus went to see if there were figs on that tree. And he probably was not the only person to go looking for figs but find nothing on it.
This tree was not only a waste of space it was also a waste of people’s time and energy. Throughout the whole season people would come, searching the whole tree for figs, but finding nothing.

I was shopping in a large department store and saw an exit sign. I followed it as I thought I could save myself some walking, as my car was in that direction, only to be told that that door had been locked for years. I asked one of the workers to remove that exit sign.

Imagine going a place and seeing a sign that says: “Free coffee. Please help your self.” But you discover that the coffee machine has not worked for years.

A fig tree in a public place is an invitation to eat free figs.

An unproductive fig tree is a continuous disappointment, a time and energy waster, that needs to be recycled.

A Sermon in A Fig

While we are on the subject of figs, did you know that every time you eat a fig, you are eating a sermon; well almost. There is an old Spanish proverb: A fig is ripe when it has a hangman's neck (droops), a mourner's eye (oozes honeydew from the eye) and a penitent's robe (skin tears). In practice, a drooping fig is a ripe fig.[2]

When I take new workers to pick figs, I tell them which figs to pick. The fig must be ripe. If the fig is not ripe you might as well eat a zucchini instead.

So how do you know if a fig is ripe?

We look first for the figs that have a hangman’s neck. The neck of the fig is not “stiff”.

This fig looks like the tax collector, who did not wish to lift his eyes up, not like the Pharisee who was so full of himself.

"Thus says the Lord, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool, where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist , says the Lord. But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word." (Isa. 66:1,2)

God does not delight in stiff-necked people.

The next thing to look for is to gently feel it. If it is soft, it is ready to be picked. A ripe fig is soft all over.

So do not harden your heart.

A ripe fig has a mourner's eye (oozes honeydew from the eye). This is a fig that must be picked immediately. The heart has overflowed with grace. It is a tear in the eye and sorrow in the heart but joy before the Father in heaven.

A ripe fig will also wear a penitent's robe (skin tears). The skin of the ripe fig will crack. This fig must be picked immediately too. In this fig, grace has not just overflowed to the eye, but grace has reached the outer perimeter of that person’s life.

The fully ripe fig has no latex. This milky substance can be irritating to the skin. This latex persists in most picked figs even though they considered ripe. But a fully ripe fig will have no latex. The old has been consumed in the new.

When a fig loses its latex, it offers no resistance. It virtually falls in your hand.

Indeed you might find such a fig on the ground. Pick it and eat it. This will be the sweetest of all. For he who humbles himself will be exalted.

This Is History

The editor of Positive Atheism rightly observed:

Here we have not really a Bible error as much as a very strange portrayal of the New Testament's main character, Jesus.

The editor of Positive Atheism is very observant.

We now know Jesus was not a moron. But why did the writers of this story risk presenting Jesus, whom they believed to be their Messiah, as a moron, by telling the story in such a short hand way, without explaining the breba figs and the later main crop of figs?

Matthew’s account is shorter than Mark's account on details. Only Mark mentions: “for the time of figs was not yet.” Still both of them are short on details.

There are two reasons for that. The details were common knowledge in their day. If this was a made up story, the writers would have had to justify the behaviour of Jesus. But neither Matthew nor Mark do that. Actually, without this common  knowledge, Mark’s comment, “for the time of figs was not yet”, portrays Jesus in an even  worse light. For it is this statement that, “for the time of figs was not yet”, that made the editor of Positive Atheism ask, “If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?”

The details, that justify the behaviour of Jesus, are lacking because they were in the heads of their audience. It is part of the common knowledge of a place where the fig tree commonly grows. This lack of details, authenticates the historicity of the incident.

There is also another reason. I doubt if Matthew and Mark knew that a fig tree grown from a seed can be a non-fruiting tree. They probably thought, like most people nowadays, that one can grow a “fruiting” tree from any seed. This incident is a historical document showing that a “fruit” tree can produce no fruit, if grown from a seed.

This “apparent moronic” behaviour on the part of Jesus, authenticates the incident. It did happen.

This “Botanical” dig, (not only the difference between main crop and Breba crop, but that a tree from a seed can result in very disappointing variety) proves that the man called Jesus at one point in time actually went to look for a few Breba figs, but he also found that the tree did not have even a main crop.

There is another aspect to this story. What is the main point Matthew and Mark were trying to make? They wanted to portray Jesus as a miracle worker. But this strange portrayal comes at what cost? They make Jesus able to destroy a tree, but in the process they make him look like a moron.

If someone wanted to present Jesus as a miracle worker, and maintain the integrity of his character, the story would be different. The make-believe story would portray Jesus going to a tree “when the figs were in season”, but finding none. This way Jesus would not be presented as a “moron”. But in the historical account, where the tree withered away, Jesus is presented as a “moron”.

What we are dealing with here in this incident is history, not a made up story.

The disciples were merely describing what they SAW, without having any agenda as to how Jesus would be portrayed.

There was a fig tree and that fig tree did actually wither away.

There was a fig tree, there was Jesus and the fig tree did wither away.

And the “one solid bible argument" to be used against faith peddlers turns out to be “one solid bible argument” in defense of the historicity of Jesus and to establish that a fig tree did wither away as a result of what he said.

The editor of Positive Atheism said that he has a "few bible errors up his sleeve" and the fig tree incident is his "favourite". Can we rearrange the tables a little bit here, and claim this incident as our "favourite" in proving the historicity of Jesus?

This is why the apostle Peter wrote:

2Pe 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

In time and space there was such a fig tree and there was Jesus and the fig tree did wither away.

 

The fig Farmer

abuhennah@gmail.com

COMMENTS

Laura Romot

Thank you for your article and exposition on this subject! I learned quite a bit about figs and it really helps to clear up that confusing detail about the season. God bless!

Laura

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Laura Romot
Marketing Strategist, pH3

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.  -- C.S. Lewis