July 24, 2010, 8:37 am by dc-agape.

Mark Chapter 12

This chapter has some very interesting things to say about the “New World Order”.  First, Jesus starts with a parable about the judgment against Israel.  This is the “Parable of the Tenants”.  The chapter then moves onto the separation of church and state.  This is a particularly relevant topic for today.  Then we have a rather odd question asked by the Sadducees.  I say this because of what little is known (Jewish Virtual Library) about them makes asking this question unlikely.  Jesus then teaches his listeners the 2 “Greatest Commandment”.  Every time I read this section I wish that today’s “Christians” would remember this one section of the Word of God.  Then Jesus uses the opening verses from Psalms 110.  This Psalm happens to be a quite violent praise to the Lord, so adds confusion to Jesus’ ministry.  Finally, the verse which is loved by all religious leaders…the poor giving the Church every last part of a penny up to YHWH.  Without a doubt, this chapter is about the New World Order.

First, I will start with the Parable of the Tenants.  Sharecropping (Georgia Encyclopedia) and tenant farming (Answers.com) have been one step away from slavery for thousands of years.  Rarely do they benefit the workers; most always the landlord reaps all the reward for the labor of the tenants.  When Jesus compares Israel to tenant farming he is saying much more than the reader might think.  YHWH is the landowner and he is the one who has reaped all the rewards from Israel’s farming.  When YHWH wants payment the tenants beat and kill his messengers.

This is also a warning about not listening to the prophets, YHWH’s messengers.  Here Jesus is directly referring to himself as the son of YHWH.  I particularly like Jesus using a Psalms (118:22-23) that was written to celebrate victory over great odds in battle.  I love how Jesus takes verses out of context and uses them to strengthen his ministry.  But what is worse is that this only strengthens his followers to believe that Jesus is there as an earthly messiah.  By using this Psalms Jesus’ listeners will be looking for freedom from the Roman occupation of Israel.

The next part of the chapter is of great interest to most Atheists.  Jesus flat out says that there is a difference between government and religion:

Mark 12:17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

Our money today is identical to the denarius of Rome.  Jesus clearly states that our governments deserve separation from what belongs to YHWH.  Even though the question is about paying taxes…it can be applied to ownership as well.  Nowhere in this section does Jesus say that government should give money to YHWH.  Make note of that…the money to religion is not to be taken from the government; it is to come from the followers of Christianity!

The third part of this chapter is quite strange.  The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife, so for them to ask this question is rather suspect.  That the Sadducees (New World Encyclopedia) were active in Jerusalem is also suspect, most of the people despised the Sadducees.  But the two most interesting things about this section of the chapter are first that Jesus clearly states that in the afterlife families will not be reunited!  Second, that Jesus would tell the Sadducees this:

Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the living.  You are badly mistaken!”

The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife, they only believed in the living world.  Jesus would have known this.  But the writer (John Mark) might not have known this, or possibly scribal error in later centuries changed the story.  Without a doubt, there is an error in the inerrant Word of God.

Continuing with the concept of a New World Order…Jesus gives a lecture on the two greatest commandments.  The first:

Luke 12:30 Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Here is a commandment that Christianity needs to focus on.  Jesus clearly says that you can’t do it half assed.  Your heart, soul, mind, and strength must be involved.  I have not seen any sign today that christians obey this commandment.  The second commandment is even less visible today:

Mark 12:31 the second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’.  There is no commandment greater than these.”

Christians: get with the program this is the New World Order.  Your YHWH comes first and loving your neighbor (no hate crimes) is second.  Act like you even have read this and understood these verses!

Near the end of the chapter Jesus questions how he can be the son of David.  He really does not answer this question…a common thread to Jesus’ teaching (Mark 9:12-13, Mark 9:49-50, and Mark 11:33).  In fact, Jesus changes the topic.  He finishes his lecture on the topic of being pretentious.  He warns the people about wanting praise from other people and pretentious displays of religiosity.  He ends this section with a dire warning to those people:

Luke 12:40 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.  Such men will be punished most severely.

Here is a warning to the Televangelist:  stop taking the widow’s property, ignore the desire to be well-known, and quit making long pretentious prayers.

But to muddy the water, John Mark finishes the chapter with the story about the widow letting the religious leaders of the day “devour widow’s houses”.  She has given everything she has to a religious offering.  And Jesus praises her for it.  Contradiction within three verses, I think we have a winner on the shortest space between contradicting verses in the Word of God.

So this is the New World Order that Jesus attempted to create.  First is a world full of sharecroppers where God reaps the better deal.  Second is a world where governments are separate from religion.  Third is a world were in the afterlife people are not reunited with family.  Fourth is a world where people love YHWH and their neighbors.  Fifth is a world where religious leaders are not pretentious.  And finally sixth is a world where the poor give everything they have to those not pretentious religious leaders.  Parts of this New World Order would be wonderful, from an Atheist point of view.  Personally I would love to see numbers two, four, and five be the focus.  Unfortunately, Christians have only accepted two of these requirements for the New World Order: the first and the last.  Not the best out of the six tenants of the New World Order.

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July 17, 2010, 7:48 am by dc-agape.

Mark 11

Jesus enters Jerusalem with two interesting occurrences.  First, he takes a colt from one of the villagers.  He does not ask for it, nor does he pay for it.  The colt is only “graciously” given, most likely because the owner does not know that it has been stolen.  When questioned about the taking the colt:

Mark 11:3 If anyone asks you, “Why are you doing this?” tell him, “The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.”

Not only is he taking others possession but he is using authority “The Lord” is similar to the US’s eminent domain.  That is why I used apostrophes around graciously, the use of the title “The Lord” required the villagers to “give” up possession of the colt.  Second, another case of mangling the Word of God occurs.

Mark 11:9-10 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!  Hosanna in the highest!

The study notes claim that this come directly from the Book of Psalms.  Let’s see what it says there:

Psalms 118:25-26 O Lord save us; O Lord grant us success.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  From the house of the Lord we bless you.

I have underlined the only sentence that is similar.  Unfortunately, Psalms 118 is not about Jesus.  It is about David and blessing the men or man who has been victorious in battle against the enemy.  So we again have the Traditions of Man changing the Word of God.

This story of the “Triumphal Entry” has great meaning to a gay Atheist.  First we see Jesus use his author to get what he wants (just like corrupt politicians today).  Second, we see Traditions of Men making connections between the Old Testament and Jesus out of misreading of the OT.  Third, we see that the Word of God has been changed to add significance to something that is nothing more than hero worship.  The most important thing to remember is that the Jewish people of the time believed that the Messiah was going to physically overthrow the Roman invaders.

The next story we see a very human Jesus (even though that last story was pretty human as well).  First, he curses a fig tree because it was not the season for figs.  Why would anyone curse a tree for not bearing fruit out of season?  Even the most naive farmer knows that his crops will only grow during the correct season.  But we get to see an even more human-like response from Jesus when he enters the Temple.  I personal like the story, but here is where we see the perfect, loving Jesus in a complete rage.  I had pointed out other verses where Jesus was very human (Mark 8:17, Mark 8:33, Mark 9:19, for example).  But here Jesus throws tables and chairs, forces people out of the temple, and denies access to the temple as well.  These are not the acts of a loving savior, he is brutally angry.  Personally, I think this is great!  Forcing the money grubbers out of the Temple is wonderful; will anyone do this in the Christian Churches?  Is it not the exact same thing today with people hocking their CD’s, their prayer cloths, and even their inspirational books inside the churches? 

As they enter Jerusalem in the morning the disciples notice that the fig tree (that had no figs because of the season) was dead.  Jesus had killed an innocent plant because of his own human needs and anger.  Very loving indeed!  Jesus quickly changes the subject.

This new subject is about prayer.  Many people wonder why prayers are not answered…well here is the reason.  You have to believe that the prayer is already answered!  Jesus uses the example of throwing a mountain into the ocean (can you imagine the tsunami?).  But he adds an additional requirement…forgive everyone who has ever harmed you.  So that’s why so few prayers are answered!  Today no one has that type of faith and that type of forgiveness.

The final part of this chapter deals with the religious leaders of the time demand to know what authority Jesus has to teach.  A pretty important question, today we ask it of many religious leaders, or at least should (scientology, anyone?).  Jesus replies to the question with a question, he has done this before (Mark 10:2-3), and isn’t it just rude?  Worse, the question Jesus asked was a trick question….there was not correct answer that the religious leaders could use!  So Jesus tells them:

Mark 11:33 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”  Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

By far this is the most unloving answer I have ever heard in my life.  They admit they do not know the correct answer…and Jesus will not teach them.  It’s kinda like the joke, “How do you keep someone in suspense?”

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July 10, 2010, 7:33 am by dc-agape.

Mark 10:24-52

In Mark this is the beginning of Jesus’ first and only trip to Jerusalem.  I do want to emphasize Jesus’ response to the rich man, I feel I cut it short two days ago in (To Be a “disciple of Jesus”).  Here is also where Jesus repeats his plan to be killed.  Is includes another story of how arrogant the disciples are and ends with a blind man receiving faith healing.

I don’t think I can stress enough what it required to be “saved”.  The watered down crap of Christianity is just that crap.  Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus tell his followers to “pray him into their hearts”.  In contrast he says this:

Mark 10:29-30 “I tell you the truth”, Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields – and with them, persecution) and in the age to come, eternal life.

Read that “I tell you the truth” again…think on it.  This is a promise that you will receive from YHWH these things only if you leave your home, your family, and your job!  Notice that Jesus separates home from family and home from fields.  He is telling his disciples to leave their families, their homes, and their properties, and their income.  Why do I not see any “Christians” do that today?  And no, missionaries don’t count…they return home and they get paid for their services (payment for spreading the word will be an upcoming Biblical Topic). 

At the beginning of the only trip to Jerusalem in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus again warns his disciples about his plans to be killed.  But he promises to rise after three days.  Sometime after that but before reaching Jericho, two of the disciples get a little too big for their britches.  From Perea to Jericho (Wikipedia map) is one of Jesus’ shortest trips, since Perea is an area and not a distinct place.  This trip could have been as short as crossing the Jordan river.  During this trip is when James and John get a little too arrogant.  After all the times that Jesus tells his disciples that the first will be the last, that the first must serve everyone else…still these two request to be given the highest place of honor in heaven.  He repeats this one more time for them:

Mark 10:43 Not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave to all.

This is the root of Christianity; Jesus attempts to convey this message over and over again.  Today “christians” have so watered down this passage that servant and slave mean to be paid speakers and teachers.  Sorry, but that is not Jesus’ concept.  The first part that verse “Not so with you” describes the difference between power hungry authority and what the disciples should be like.  Neither of these concepts are even visible in the Church today.  Why has the Traditions of Man nullified the Word of Jesus?

Finally, the chapter ends with the story of Bartimaeus.  In Jericho a blind man attempts to get Jesus’ attention.  Many people attempted to stop him from getting Jesus’ attention, but this only made him try harder.  Jesus does hear him and calls him over.  Bartimaeus asks for Jesus to heal him, because Jesus asks what the man wants…Jesus does not know that a blind man wants to see.  Odd, the son of Man is not perceptive enough to know what the man wants.  But immediately Bartimaeus can see.  Here we have another faith healing…all it took for Jesus to heal this man was the faith that Bartimaeus had.  Compare that to the blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26).  Why in Jericho, where Jesus has not been yet, can Jesus heal by a word, yet in the city of Bethsaida, where Jesus travels to and from often, does it take two tries to heal the man?  In fact, there is another difference between the two stories: in Bethsaida he does it in secret while in Jericho he does it in front of a huge crowd.  He is obviously attempting to attract attention at this point.  Why would he be afraid to attract attention earlier (as most Christians assume), he had YHWH protecting him…things will work exactly the way YHWH wants them to.  Unless, Jesus is not 100% certain that this is what YHWH wants.  It in fact, looks more like a normal man making plans and hoping that YHWH will be with him, instead of the Son of God coming to do exactly what YHWH wants.  Remember, YHWH has complete control of any person’s actions that he so desires (freewill).

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July 7, 2010, 12:54 am by dc-agape.

Initially this blog was an experiment in reading the Christian holy books of the Old and New Testament.  Slowly I introduced the concept of adding the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library.  To insure that all the Abrahamic religious material was included I began reviewing the Qur’an as well.  Starting in October of 2007 I continued making nearly daily posts on my experience reading these “holy” documents.  By Oct 2009 the first stage of my experiment was complete.  I had accomplished the following tests with very specific outcomes:

The most disappointing result was the lack of response.  No supernatural entity showed any interest in a poor unenlightened Atheist.  It was as if the Xtian god, YHWH, did not really care at all if someone read his Word.  And his followers were just as uncaring.  Only one Xtian responded with mostly aggressive, prideful arrogance.  I was told that I was lying, that I was misrepresenting, and that I was looking to create propaganda to support my own interpretations.  To the contrary, I used the information at hand to suggest alternative theories.  Some of those theories may have been outlandish…yet to a scientist what more can be outlandish that the story of Adam, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad?  And if the Bible (old and New Testament) is truly the Word of YHWH, should not my own interpretation be correct?  Do I need someone else to interpret the Word of God for me.

So after two years of following the advice of Xtians, I found that I was still doing things wrong.  I had no support from an Xtian supernatural being, and no support from his earthly followers.  This was truly disappointing.  To make things more negative for the Christian religion, Allah did respond!  A commenter from Thailand, a Muslim in a Buddhist country did support my reading of her Holy Book, the Qur’an.  Her responses were friendly, educational, and most importantly, encouraging.  From a purely, Atheist point of view, Allah showed his presence while YHWH was completely silent (or aggressively arrogant).

Since the daily reading of the Holy documents was not effective at attracting either YHWH or his followers, I will try a different technique.  Using Saturday (YHWH’s original Sabbath) I will make a single post per week.  To begin with I will be re-posting the some of my older material that was not sufficient to create a response from the big man in the sky.  Maybe I was moving too fast for him or boring his all-knowing followers.  As a result, I will be posting my impression of the Gospel of Mark.  I hope that the slower pace will not cause the same lack of response from YHWH that my last two years of work produced.

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July 3, 2010, 1:19 pm by dc-agape.

Chapter 10:13-31

Two stories in this section describe what is required to become a member of the Church.  First, everyone must become like children.  Yeap, everyone must be childlike…moldable, naive, and susceptible to authority.  Second, following all the laws is required and giving up everything that might get in the way of following Jesus.  That’s right, get rid of everything that is a link to this world.

The disciples got high and mighty and started sending children away.  We get to see a not so rare moment:  Jesus gets angry.  In fact:

Mark 10:7 When Jesus saw this he was indignant.  He said to them, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Indignant (dictionary.com) means feeling wrath.  Why Jesus feel wrath at his disciples…Jesus did not open their minds until after his resurrection:

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scripture.

So basically Jesus got angry with his disciples because he did not teach them what they need to know.  How “righteous” is that?  It’s his fault that his disciples at in that fashion yet Jesus allows his human emotions to get angry at the wrong people.

But this is the section of the Gospel where we are told that we must be like children to enter the kingdom of God (the Church):

Mark 10:8 I tell you the truth, anyone you will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

To join the church, a person must suspend logic, reason, and wisdom, and relay on a child’s imagination.  That’s right!  To become a Christian one must give up everything that you know.  Well that certainly explains why it is so difficult to communicate logically with many Christians.

The second story is about a rich man who had followed all the Jewish laws.

Mark 10:20-21 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”  Jesus looked at him and loved him.  “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

Notice that Jesus did not tell him that following the Jewish law was not required!  What Jesus said was that he lacked one thing…giving up everything he owned in the world.  This is not specific to rich people or to Jesus’ life time.  Take a look at what happened when Jesus called his disciples:

Luke 5:11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

Like I said, it was not just in Jesus’ time.  Look at the first Church in the Book of Acts:

Acts 2:44-45 All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

No one owned property…is this the first description of Socialism or Communism?  It certainly is not Capitalism!  But it goes further than this read Acts 5:1-11.  This is the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  The Holy Spirit killed two people not just for lying about the amount of money the property was worth (bad enough) but they sold the property to fulfill the requirements of Acts 2:44-45.

So to be a True Christian (or better phrase “disciple of Jesus”) one must be two things: like a child and a socialist.  Being like a child is dangerous because we have seen over and over how the authority of the church leaders has put our children at risk.  Being a socialist is so antithesis to US christians.  Isn’t odd…the very people who should be concerned about other people, like the poor, are united with the Republicans who believe in personal wealth.  Yet, Jesus told people to be “disciples of Jesus” one must be the exact opposite of most of the “Christians” in the US!

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June 26, 2010, 11:02 am by dc-agape.

Mark 10:1-12

Well this is certainly an interesting section of the Gospel of Mark.  It is Jesus’ teachings on the topic of divorce.  Jesus has only one thing to say, but he does have to answer a question with a question first.  Don’t you love it when someone does that to you?  Doesn’t make you think they are stalling or acting “all superior?  Either way Jesus response makes you think he is a tad bit arrogant.

On the topic of divorce in Deuteronomy it is written in chapter 24:1-4.  It says that a man can divorce his wife for any reason at any time.  But it also says that if she remarries, he can never marry her again.  For some reason Jesus extends this to woman having the same rights.  I guess woman’s lib had progressed from Deuteronomy to Jesus’ time. 

Of course this is the famous section that is used in almost every marriage ceremony and used by bigots to attempt to stop civil rights (both of blacks and homosexuals) – read Mark 10:7-9.  This is where the concept of “traditional biblical marriage” comes from.  But of course this is not traditional OT biblical marriage were slave marriage, polygamy, and levirate marriage were acceptable to YHWH.

But Jesus finishes this lesson with the most powerful and damning commandment in the Christian faith:

Mark 10:10-12 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.  And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

I am repeating these verses verbatim because I know of no “Christian” faith that obeys this teaching.  To live in adultery cannot be forgiven each day…that would cancel this verse:

Romans 8:13-14 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.

Living in the sin of adultery will kill you!  Jesus clearly states that remarriage is off the books.  But do christians follow this teaching of Jesus? It is an emphatic NO!  by ignoring this verse, christians ignore the teachings of Jesus and put their souls at risk.  You cannot be a part “christian”…it’s all or nothing!

I do love that by the time 1^st Corinthians was written by Paul around 55AD (22 years after Jesus taught about divorce) the rules were already changing.  Paul was already softening the teaching of Jesus in these verses 1^st Cor 7:12-16.  At least he admits that it is his saying and not the Jesus’:

1^st Cor 7:12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord); If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her.

But notice this is Paul’s opinion not Jesus’.  Jesus makes it quite clear that divorce is OK but remarriage is not.  This is traditional NT biblical marriage!  Man I wish the rabid “TrueChristians™” would get this straight!  They don’t want gays to marry, but they will allow divorce and remarriage!  What a bunch of hypocrites.  That is why it is so difficult for any Christians to debate with an Atheist…your own “brothers and sisters in faith” sabotage you.

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June 19, 2010, 7:26 am by dc-agape.

Mark 9:33-50

Three stories occur in this section of Mark.  The first two are about the arrogance of the apostles that Jesus chose.  At one point they argue over which one of them is the greatest.  In the second case, they attempt to stop someone outside their group.  In the third section Jesus recommends bodily mutilation, if required, to get into the kingdom of God (the Church).  He also uses another verse from Isaiah, poorly.  Somehow he segues this quote into being the salt of the earth.

Again the disciples are afraid of what Jesus will tell them if they speak up (like in Mark 8:32) and for similar reasons.  Those reasons would include Mark 8:33 and Mark 9:19, Jesus was feeling very human at this point and was taking it out on his disciples.  At this point in Jesus’ ministry he was not the loving figure that “Christians” make him out to be.  The disciples knew this and were afraid to ask questions, especially if the question would expose their sin (here pride) or foolishness.  Jesus figures out that (or knew and was testing them) what it was about:

Mark 9:35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

I wish more “Christians” wanted to be the first!  Please Christians have the desire to be the best, the first…because we really need at least some of you to think about someone besides yourselves.

This is also were one of the Gospel variations of “being like little children” is discussed.  It is not in full detail, but the concept of only little children will inherit the kingdom of God is worth discussing in topical format later.

The second example of the pride of the apostles appears in the next story.  It is about the man who is throwing out demons in the name of Jesus, yet is not a disciple of Jesus.  This is the “converse” of Matthew 12:30, in this verse:

Mark 9:40 for whoever is not against us is for us.

Compared to:

Mat 12:30 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

Unfortunately these two verses are incompatible.  Not just because of the person in the middle is OK in one verse and bad in another verse, but because allowing separate teachers has done exactly what we see in the Church today…disunity.  Disunity in the Church is often a topic that Paul writes about and will be a topical study in the future.

In the last part we read about how Jesus condones personal mutilation to gain salvation.  He offers cutting off the hand or leg and plucking out the eyes to ensure entering not just heaven (after death) but the kingdom of God (the Church) here on earth.  Remember that:

Mark 9:1 And he said to them, “I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.”

He also uses phrases like “enter life maimed than…” twice.  So there is no doubt that he is talking about actual real physical mutilation in this verse. 

This is also the section where he quotes Isaiah (his favorite prophet), and does a rather poor job of it (unless the translation into English is corrupted).  Read the entire paragraph in Isaiah 22-24.  It is quite clear reading this verse that these are dead bodies right outside the place where all the saved live (within traveling distance).  The rebels against YHWH are dead and dead bodies don’t feel anything!  So what if there are worms and fire…there are no physical nerve receptors in a dead body.

As I said in the introduction, Jesus slips directly into salting the people with fire, everyone is included (Christian and non-christian).  One of his unanswered questions is a good one:

Mark 9:50 Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?  Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

Christianity has lost its saltiness, how can you regain your saltiness?  I little is good, but Christianity is so bland now, someone must put some salt on it.  But what is even more puzzling is how to be salty yet be at peace because of the salt.  The best explanation is that salt brings out the best flavors in food, so why do Christians not bring out the best in each other?  Instead, they attempt to make everyone just like themselves.

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June 12, 2010, 7:04 am by dc-agape.

Mark 9:14-32

The Word of God is inerrant and it says that the true cause of Grand Mal Epilepsy (Associated Content) is demon possession.  But it is a very special case of demon possession, only prayer will cure it!  This section of Mark starts when a man whose son has grand mal epilepsy comes to Jesus’ disciples.  An argument breaks out as Jesus returns from the mountain top.  His disciples haven’t quite got the hang of things yet and were not able to heal the man’s son.

Jesus immediately goes into a tirade:

Mark 9:19 “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?  Bring the boy to me.”

I guess his human half was just weary.  How could a loving savior treat a man who has come to him for help so cruelly?  If the man was truly unbelieving he would not have come.  But Jesus is also grumpy with his disciples for not properly driving out the demon.  Jesus is obviously forgetting that it is YHWH who is to blame for their slow learning.  In the Gospel of Luke this is clearly pointed out (same story):

Luke 9:45 But they did not understand what this meant.  It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

The use of the word “hidden” means that someone has kept the meaning from them.  You can argue that it was Satan…but Jesus was right there and YHWH should have seen it too.  Neither Jesus nor YHWH clarified the issue for the disciples.  Oddly, the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus.  Here you can argue the pride issue, or let me present another scenario, maybe they really were afraid of Jesus’ response.  Twice now, in the Gospel of Mark (alone) Jesus has snapped at his disciples for YHWH making them slow to learn.  Isn’t it possible that Jesus was in the habit of berating his disciples, I have pointed out in other places that Jesus was not the loving savior that “Christian” want him to be.

But I wanted to go back to the Grand Mal seizures, how do we know the boy was cured.  So he stopped having a seizure….so what!  Some children (epilepsy.com) with grand mal seizures can go for long periods without repeat. It is also humorous that Hippocrates suggested that seizures might not be demon possession in 400BC.  But of course we know that demons cause seizures now, isn’t modern medical prayer wonderful!  Modern medical prayer will cure anything, you just have to have faith.

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