An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospels Jesus Calms The Storm.

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Matthew 8:18-27 Jesus is getting increasingly popular, so much so that he now decides to escape from the multitudes crowding round him and lead a selected band of chosen followers to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. A scribe who is very respected in the area begs Jesus for permission to go with him and the chosen disciples but Jesus turns the man down. He tell the man that he (Jesus) has no set base or place to call home. This indicates that he is now living a nomadic life-style and avoiding having a set headquarters that his opponents can find him in. A disciple who is invited to cross the sea with Jesus asks permission to attend his father’s funeral first. Jesus refuses permission, insensitively telling the follower to leave the dead to take care of themselves. He is forcing his followers to follow him regardless of family needs, work and even grief. This is inexcusably monstrous. On the boat voyage across the Sea of Galilee, Jesus sleeps when a terrible storm rises up. Everyone panics and someone wakes Jesus up. He calmly criticises everyone for having little faith before he tell the storm off for even starting up, at which point it stops. Jesus’s followers marvel and realize that Jesus is extremely powerful. Storms end just as easily as they start, so there is nothing here to show how Jesu’s words or actions had any effect on nature. The selective picking of favourites to follow him directly shows contempt for most followers, and refusing permission to attend a funeral is really repulsive. Mark 4:35-41 Mark cuts out the extra information given on the shore such as the refusal to let one of his followers attend a family funeral. There is also less emphasis on escaping the multitude as Jesus is just crossing the Sea before nightfall, presumably having limited his ministry to the day time. Jesus trying to sleep through the voyage is just through exhaustion. Though worded differently, the storm calming itself is described essentially the same. Luke 8:22-25 This version cuts immediately to the voyage, with Jesus suggesting – requesting the crossing of the sea during the day, with no mention of other followers being seen on the shore-lands first. The calming of the storm is very concisely given before Luke moves on to other events. Arthur Chappell