Why didn't JB join JC?

[Pat Mustard]

Because Jesus didn't exist, so his inventors used the extant (but dwindling) cult of John to give their cult a false legitimacy.

Well, that's a good Doylist explanation.

A Watsonian explanation would likely point out that this little event got in the way of John and Jesus doing much.


When I think about the stranger parts in the Bible, I tend to look for both explanations, if only because it makes shit more interesting.

And, yes, I did choose that one specifically because it belongs to my local, The Art Institute, which also has a few other paintings by the same artist covering the whole beheading saga.

Again we're dependent on the bible for that description of John the baptist's death, and as is well established, the bible is total fiction.

[arewethereyet]

The writers of the Bible really weren't very good. It's all fiction and makes no sense because they couldn't stay with a plotline. One of those books that should have immediately gone to the clearance table.

[Rev. Rye]

Well, that's a good Doylist explanation.

A Watsonian explanation would likely point out that this little event got in the way of John and Jesus doing much.


When I think about the stranger parts in the Bible, I tend to look for both explanations, if only because it makes shit more interesting.

And, yes, I did choose that one specifically because it belongs to my local, The Art Institute, which also has a few other paintings by the same artist covering the whole beheading saga.

Again we're dependent on the bible for that description of John the baptist's death, and as is well established, the bible is total fiction.

 And its being fiction is literally the point of the Watsonian/Doylist paradigm that I talked about.

[The Grand Nudger]

The writers of the Bible really weren't very good.  It's all fiction and makes no sense because they couldn't stay with a plotline.  One of those books that should have immediately gone to the clearance table.

Wasn't their fault.  They never knew each other.  I'd like to say we've gotten better at anthologies but you're never more than one anthology away from being proven wrong there, you know?

[Huggy Bear]

But he was not killed immediately, and when he was alive he was in his cult and even had a successor by some legends.

Before his head was chopped of, he was in prison.

Two major prophets can't exist at the same time and never have, hence why John stated "He must increase, but I must decrease."

also Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins.

[Huggy Bear]

Well, that's a good Doylist explanation.

A Watsonian explanation would likely point out that this little event got in the way of John and Jesus doing much.


When I think about the stranger parts in the Bible, I tend to look for both explanations, if only because it makes shit more interesting.

And, yes, I did choose that one specifically because it belongs to my local, The Art Institute, which also has a few other paintings by the same artist covering the whole beheading saga.

Again we're dependent on the bible for that description of John the baptist's death, and as is well established, the bible is total fiction.

*Flavius Josephus has entered the chat*

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Again we're dependent on the bible for that description of John the baptist's death, and as is well established, the bible is total fiction.

*Flavius Josephus has entered the chat*

Josephus and the NT give very different accounts of the reasoning behind Herod’s execution of John. Which would you say is wrong?

Boru

[The Architect Of Fate]

Before his head was chopped of, he was in prison.

Two major prophets can't exist at the same time and never have, hence why John stated "He must increase, but I must decrease."

also Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins

That is some gold medal mental gymnastics

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

But he was not killed immediately, and when he was alive he was in his cult and even had a successor by some legends.

Before his head was chopped of, he was in prison.

Two major prophets can't exist at the same time and never have, hence why John stated "He must increase, but I must decrease."

also Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins.

Then either Jesus and John were not ‘major prophets’ or they didn’t live at the same time. Which way will you have it?

Boru

[Fake Messiah]

also Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins.

Yeah, Luke makes John and Jesus cousins, and yet somehow Luke’s John still manages to doubt Jesus, exactly like Matthew’s does, Luke 7:19-24

he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?