Duvduv

They wouldn't appeal to everyone. But they'd be out there, and the Baptist wouldn't be the only one.

sotto voce

That does not answer the question.

Either question.

aa5874

John the Baptist has no real importance in gMark except as an "historical marker".

There are THREE historical markers for the gMark story.

1. Pilate.

2. Herod

3. John the Baptist.

John the Baptist did NOT know who and where Jesus was until he saw the Holy Ghost bird and heard the voice from heaven.

After the fiction baptism story, we hear NOTHING of John until he was supposedly executed by Herod.

The Jesus story in gMark was therefore placed at the time before John was executed by Herod until the Passover after his death.

The author of gMark appears to be using KNOWN figures of history simply to historicise his Myth characater called Jesus.

John the Baptist in gMark made Jesus absolete by usurping Jewish Laws and baptized for the Remission of Sins instead by the Sacrifice of animals.

There was ZERO need for Jesus to have been crucified for Sins when he could have just BAPTIZED like John.

Duvduv

So the question is why specifically a historical marker in the early 1st century and not earlier or later?

lmbarre

On the historical level, I think that John's role was to confirm for Jesus what Jesus would have suspected--that he is the Messiah.

Chili

For what it is worth , John's 'holy one' came tumbling out of the fig tree and that equals origination without detail, but it parallels the persistence of Zechariah who even when struck dumb still went through the motions of tithing (contemplation), to show that it was an inner determination instead a of one-night-stand altar call by a wolf, . . . in sheeps clothing of course, and so had nothing to do with Jesus' existence who in Catholicism is left hanging, (for all they care about him), and if anything is there to serve as a reminder that we may end up there someday ourselves (as Jesuit-by-nature only).

Symbolic here is that fig trees do not set fruit until later in life and in this they are much like humans, which then also is why Jesus uprooted one that never bore fruit, to say that the "unexamined life is not worth living," which may be an overstatement on his part if cold is good and hot is good and good is good (and nobody said better).

Moreover, it is not better nor is it it a product of desire since we must be called first and then chosen, both of which are not ours to do and so bible reading to gain favor is just the wrong thing to do and kind of sounds like prostitution to me (however much fun that may be).

aa5874

Why do you ask? If the author of gMark wrote a story and claimed Jesus was baptized by the angel Gabriel and was put on trial by Satan at the request of the God of the Jews how would the timeline for such a story be established?

The author is the one who wrote the story and it is the author who determines the timeline.

In any event, in the Myth Fable called gMark John the Baptist was ALREADY baptizing for the Remission of Sins so he had ALREADY provided another means of Salvation for the Jews.

John predicted that Jesus would Baptize with Holy Ghost and it never happened in the Myth fable.

Duvduv

All I am wondering about is why the author found that period so compelling in particular

In any event he wants to suggest that the Baptist's method was insufficient but doesn't explain why. Was the Baptist essentially wasting his time?!
Yet ironically Christans consider water baptism totally sufficient for remission of sins....

sotto voce

How did Jews come to that conclusion?

Chili

Christians are wrong, . . . again I suppose, as the concept sin is an illusion created by conjecture only to make the forbidden fruit sweeter and so lead us astray as believers with a shepherd in charge, . . . to guide us locally, I suppose, so that greener grass may be found with mandatory confession in the 'sinners parade' where the measure is made and so get us a clean shave each time we go and feel better again. To feel 'better again' makes known the illusion of sin in the shadow of life, which is something a Jew cannot say and a Christian imputes to innate wretchedness and keeps on shaving away to die as saved sinner and just gets buried in the end with the hope of better times ahead down below.