A sorry mix of superstition, cult bragging, and bad theology
Baptist preacher William Miller predicted that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844. Thousands of people were psyched for this dramatic event, which turned into what became known as The Great Disappointment, since Jesus didn’t show up. Miller had calculated the date based on data—what he assumed was data—that he found in the Bible. He should have grasped that some Bible data is just plain wrong. Such as the opening verse of Mark 9: “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”
We are entitled to wonder what was going on in the head of the author of Mark’s gospel—whoever that was. There is consensus among mainstream New Testament scholars that this gospel was written in the wake of the destructive First Jewish-Roman War (67-70 CE), during which Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. This horror is reflected in Mark 13. The Jesus-script in Mark 9:1 might reflect this gap of four decades between supposed Jesus events and the writing of the gospel: “some standing here who will not taste death” until they see the arrival of the kingdom. Some maybe, likely very few.
But in any case, this prediction was wrong—as was William Miller’s in 1844. In other words, this is bad theology: it is a major blunder. There is no evidence whatever that a divine kingdom has arrived on our planet. Well, maybe Jesus has showed up on toast, as people have claimed. But this hardly represents Jesus arriving “with power.” It represents over-active imaginations.
Next up is Mark 9:2-8, which is actually tiresome cult bragging. This is the famous “transfiguration” scene: Jesus takes three of his disciples with him (Peter, James, and John) to a high mountain, and Elijah and Moses drop by for a visit! Right away we know that we are in the realm of fairy-tale. Why Elijah, who Moses? In 2 King 2, we read that Elijah was taken to heaven on a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses. Heaven was god’s abode, and was not yet considered a destination for ordinary people who yearned for eternal life. Heaven and hell as places for reward and punishment were not part of Old Testament theology. And, of course, Moses, a major hero of the Old Testament—who had been dead and gone for hundreds of years—is suddenly there as well.
Mark here is positioning Jesus among the elite of religious heroes—this is what I mean by cult bragging. He wants his readers to grasp just how special Jesus was. Another symbol of this: Jesus glowed; his clothes became dazzling white. In Mark 1:11, after Jesus was baptized, a voice declared from the sky: “You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Now, in this scene, this message is repeated, this time from a cloud, so that these chosen disciples (major figures in the Jesus cult) get the message directly: “Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!’” (Mark 9:7) This god speaks from a cloud—well, naturally, because clouds are in the sky where gods live. Again, we can see clearly we are in the realm of fairy-tale.
Moreover, it was hard for Mark to be consistent in his message. The major focus of his gospel is Jesus’ proclamation of the soon-to-arrive kingdom of god. So why do we find this text?
“As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.” (Mark 9:9-10)
Mark was writing for the benefit of the Jesus cult, so perhaps he wanted the cult members to know that he was sharing insider-information. Moreover, the author of this gospel would have known very well that other cults in this ancient setting believed in dying-and-rising savior gods. Hence he presents the disciples as oblivious: “questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.”
By the way, anyone interested in reading the gospels carefully, critically should compare Mark’s description of the transfiguration with the versions that Matthew (17:1-9) and Luke (9:28-36) produced. They both copied from Mark, and changed the wording as they saw fit.
The biggest chunk of Mark 9 is vv. 14-29, in which we find the story of Jesus casting a demon out of a boy who had suffered for a long time from the demon’s evil inflictions. But again, Mark tries here to score points for the cult. The father of the boy mentions that the disciples had been unable to cast out the demon—and Jesus lashes out: “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you?” (v. 19) Jesus tells the father: “All things can be done for the one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” (vv. 23-24) Jesus then casts out the demon, and later his disciples wondered how he did it: “When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, “This kind can come out only through prayer.’” (vv. 28-29) This seems to be warning to the cult that belief and prayer are crucial.
Here we have superstition with no connection to reality. The boy’s affliction is described:
“…he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid…” (vv.17-18) There is no health professional today who would assign these symptoms to demon possession. Maybe some whose minds are trapped in fundamentalism would speculate about demons, but such foolishness can be dismissed. And it’s a dilemma, a disgrace, for believers today that the gospel authors could accept superstitious so matter-of-factly. How could this possibly be an example of infallible divine inspiration?
In verses 30-32 we read that Jesus told his disciples—for the second time—that he would be betrayed, killed, then rise from the dead. But it didn’t sink in, again. “…they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.” (v. 32) Scholars have wondered why the disciples were depicted as such a dumb bunch. Perhaps the author of Mark knew that dying-and-rising savior god cults were common, but one way to deflect attention from this fact was to present the disciples as clueless.
Mark chapter 9 does include one of the feel-good texts that preachers are fond of quoting. In verses 33 to 37 we read that the disciples had been arguing among themselves “who was the greatest.” Jesus told them: “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” (v. 35) And here’s the feel-good text, that has been captured in works of art:
“Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’” (vv. 36-37
This text is surely ignored by angry devout folks who want to turn away immigrant families that include children. How embarrassing this text is: if you welcome children, then you’re welcoming Jesus himself—and the god who sent him. Most definitely, this is a feel-good text with a sting to it…for those with limited compassion.
In verses 38-41 we wander back into superstition. The disciples had come across someone who was performing exorcisms in Jesus’ name, but who was not in their in-group. But Jesus saw this as a good thing: “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.” (vv. 39-41) This would also seem to be an appeal to cult members to do good deeds. Whoever gives a cup of water will not lose their reward.
The final major section of Mark chapter 9 is verses 42-48, which fails to qualify as great moral teaching. This seems to be another warning to cult members to behave themselves. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.” (v. 43) This Jesus-script also advises cutting off your foot and plucking out your eye—it these body parts cause you to sin. Apologists rush to insist that these should be taken as metaphors, and we can doubt that any of Mark’s readers would have taken such extreme measures. Even so, this brutal, barbarian Jesus-script qualifies as bad theology; it is not what we would expect of a holy hero whom the world is supposed to adore and worship.
Any modern reader gifted with common sense and critical thinking skills can figure out that Mark chapter 9 has far more flaws than redeeming qualities. Curious readers would also want to know where the author of Mark got his information. He fails as historian because he never names his sources—and that’s a big problem, since he wrote his gospel at least forty years after the events he depicts. Thus any modern reader would want to how and why anything he wrote should be trusted. Mark was promoting the Jesus cult. That was his main agenda.
David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
· Guessing About God (2023),
· Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
· Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment