Stephen T-B

The Gospel stories of the 40 days in the desert and the temptations are told as though by a third person who witnessed the events.

Clearly there was not a third person present.

So how did the story get out?

If Jesus recounted it to his disciples, why is it not put into his own words - as are his teachings? Or at the very least, why is it not attributed to him?

Any ideas?

Chris Weimer

It's fiction? :huh:

Stephen T-B

Yes.

But why is the fact that it's fiction not always been abundantly clear?
In other words, why would anyone even begin to think the story records real events?

blues runner

Because most people are basically stupid and will believe anything they're told. Plus, the whole temptation of Jesus bit fits in very well with the more than likely real purpose of any religion: control them.

It'd be much too uncomfortable to question whether or not the events were real, much less question whether or not Jesus himself was fact or fiction. Folks need their belief. People get told Jesus is holy, to be revered. They get told, "Jesus decides your fate." They are asked, "Don't you want to make Jesus happy?" If they admit they do, they are told to behave in certain ways.

Whoever wants to attain power and keep it needs to make sure the sheep aren't going to become independent, start thinking for themselves. That's dangerous. Laws for resisting temptation (unpredictable, self-gratifying behavior usually) and obeying commandments (10 of them) are necessary for directive order to be maintained.

Anyway, most sheep need to be told something to make sense out of their lives, and are usually at some level very grateful someone's set out a recipe.