The gospel of Mark

This article is thought provoking!

www.ibiblio.org...

here's an excerpt:

This year, we have been presented with a new book that generously reviews the Homeric epics and the Gospel of Mark.(1) It's author, Dennis MacDonald, promotes a method to determine the origin of many of the stories in the Gospel of Mark, proposing a hypothesis about why and when these stories were composed in the way they are. His method consists of an examination of Greek epic poetry for the literary origin of the narrative plots and characters in Mark. I will be criticizing his work in this paper, but when all is said and done, I do take the position that comparison of the Gospel of Mark to Homeric materials can indeed produce good results, just not the kind that MacDonald seeks. We should indeed keep Homer in reach and in mind, because it makes for good criticism and interpretation. But, I think that it would be unsatisfying to follow MacDonald for very far down the road he goes, and we do well not to get sidetracked by it. Today I want to outline that road, explore a good example of it from MacDonald, note my disagreements with it, and suggest what might be done differently


Keep in mind that Mark was the first gospel written, used heavily and elaborated on by Matthew and Luke.
I find this fascinating...any greek scholars out there?

It seems that many tales from the bible are the same as other tales

Yes, isn't that the whole idea?! Jesjuah is the origin of everything we know of, he was the Word of God. God himself declares that Egypt and Babylon knew him. This was before Homer, so who knows, maybe God has included the Greeks too? Stephan was stoned for quoting from the Greek Septuagint (sp?), and for supporting the astrology which is outlined in the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) it seems.

And among the Nag Hammadi ms'es they found a version of Mark which contains verses now edited out from the gospel of Mark, but it was well known by the early "churchfathers". This addition to Mark is known and refered to as Secret Mark. And here we get to know some quite revealing details about Jejsuah, but at the same time something which yields question uppon question: Was Jejsuah married? And if he wasn't married, was he gay? Or even a woman? Jejsuah sleeps naked togather with Lazarus when he has ressurrected him from death.

Blessings,
Mikromarius

[Edited on 12-2-2004 by Hamilton]

Yes the bible states that Egypt and Babylon knew Yahweh, and yes this was before Homer, who wrote his epics around 750 BCE. However, the events that Homer wrote about took place a long time before, approximately 1100-1200 BCE. Coincidentally, this is around the same time that many scholars believe the exodus to have occured. Homer was the only literature that the greeks had that could be called a "sacred" text. It was an epic story that was well known by all greeks. I find it interesting that Mark, who was writing to greek speaking gentiles, would choose to convey Jesus' story with so many parallels to Homer. It would have obviously made the integration of Jewish beliefs with Greek beliefs a lot more palatable to new Christian converts...

This was before Homer, so who knows, maybe God included the greeks too?

As for God including the Greeks in his plan, I would say that is a given, because I believe that ALL countries, races, cultures, etc are part of God's plan. In fact, it's just as interesting to read about the impact of the greeks on western civilization as it is the hebrews.

mars.acnet.wnec.edu...

Stephan was stoned for quoting from the Greek Septuagint (sp?), and for supporting the astrology which is outlined in the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) it seems.

Could you explain more of that please? Kinda interesting...

As for Jesus being married, or gay, or whatever, I figure that in the grand scheme it really doesn't matter to me what he may have did in his lifetime, because he obviously was one enlightened guy, and for that he has my love and respect.

Originally posted by jadestonedoll

Stephan was stoned for quoting from the Greek Septuagint (sp?), and for supporting the astrology which is outlined in the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) it seems.

Could you explain more of that please? Kinda interesting...

If you get a starmap without the chains, names and borders etc. you basically see what was known to the ancient Hebrews as the Name of God or the Word of God. According to tradition, God weighed the letters in the Alef Bet and distributed them over the Heavens (or the Circle of the Earth, Gr.: Kosmos in Revelation it seems). Anyway, if you look straight up (if you're in the Northern hemisphere) or in the center of the map over the Northern Heaven, you see the stars form the shape of an old man who is sitting with a child in his lap. To his right you can see a shape similar to the child. However, the Romans and their predessessors and successors, have chosen to call the right arm of the (grand-?) Father for the Dragon (just think what that implies spiritually, to have a giant serpent wrapped around the Son of God) and the rest of the Father they have just chosen to ignore. The Son of God and the Son of Man they have called Little and Big Bear or Ursa Minor and Ursa Major (probably to give spiritual substance to the mythology of Troy which means Bear). Anyway. Just before Stephan was stoned to death he rose his head towards the Heavens with it's stars and stated: "I see the Son of Man stand by the Right Hand of the Father". See?

The Victorious Rider we meet in Revelation, is a combination between the head of one of the Fishes (Pisces) and the constellation often called Pegasus after the Greco-Roman horse which brought the souls to Hades. Further Orion is the opened door which noone can shut or open unless him who holds the keys of David. Etc. etc. You should be able to go on from there and perhaps even find the sollution to all mysteries?

As for Jesus being married, or gay, or whatever, I figure that in the grand scheme it really doesn't matter to me what he may have did in his lifetime, because he obviously was one enlightened guy, and for that he has my love and respect.

Not all people are as open hearted as you. And let's say that Jesjuah infact was gay. He would still be rightious in my eyes, for I know that Leviticus 18:22 doesnot speek about gays, but evil men who rape children. Read the Hebrew, and do a little translating on your own instead of just swallowing whatever the Church want you to swallow. It is obvious to me that whatever killed Jesjuah is still alive and kicking, but it knows that it's days have been numbered, and the clock is already ticking. You can even hear it. A couple of more days and something might just fall down from the sky, while some other dudes goes up.....

Blessings,
Mikromarius

[Edited on 12-2-2004 by Hamilton]