John the Baptist

[DeistPaladin]

Why is that?

Because both the Synoptic ministry and the extra-before-that-ministry in John both started with JtB witnessing Jesus as the chosen one with the whole booming voice from above.

Let me map it out for you in case you're having trouble following:

You assert (sort of) that Jesus had a ministry prior to JtB being thrown into prison. So the order of events would be:

1. John's Gospel version of Jesus' meeting with JtB.
2. Extra bit of ministry not reported in the Synoptics.
3. Jesus gets baptized per Synoptic Gospel accounts.
4. JtB is put into prison.

Clear?

Neither of the John passages quoted show Jesus drawing Andrew and Peter into discipleship. You're reading that into those passages.

Um, no, I'm reading what's clearly there. In the latter part of John chapter 1 Jesus is gathering his disciples and saying "follow me".

John 1:40-42:
One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas*, which is by interpretation, A stone.

...and then later...

John 3:22
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.
And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
For John was not yet cast into prison.

So Jesus needs to gather his disciples twice. I'll leave it to you to figure out how that's possible.

Doesn't bother me.

Of course it doesn't.

Quick review of this ad hoc apology:

1. Naturally there's nothing to base the assertion on. There is no reference in the narration like "...as before...". There's no reaction from the merchants like "Oh no, not this nut again". There's no quote from Jesus like "I thought I told you..." You'd think two identical temple cleansing events would involve some reference to one another but no.

2. This was no road side chapel. The temple was a sprawling complex. For one man to run through the temple, single-handedly throwing out all the merchants was nothing less than a miracle. Even the strongest man in the world would be wrestled to the ground after overturning a few tables. Such a miracle if it happened once would be found in the history books. If it happened twice over the course of two full years (or three Passovers) it should have gotten some historian's attention. But Jesus' miracles, like all the supernatural events of the Old Testament, went unnoticed by everyone but the scribes of the Bible.

The simpler explanation is that it's a continuity gaffe.