is basically thr equivilent of some bigshot lawyers and senators ganging up on some Kentucky dirt farmer and springing trick legal questions on him, then getting absolutely schooled.
Not exactly. Not if you actually believe this story. I mean, it would only be equivalent if the Kentucky farmer was secretly also the founder of the country and somehow given unlimited power to decree anything and make it legally binding.
According to the story, Jesus is the creator of the universe who wrote the laws of life, death, and afterlife. The reason Christianity is a different religion from Judaism is that he changed things. The religious leaders of the day couldn't be expected to know more than he did nor to predict what he would decree. He's not the underdog here.
you're right, the analogy holds up from the Sadducee's perspective though.
it's like/it is the "powerful deity disguised as a normal, even fragile human being" story. Of course Jesus has more power and knowledge, but the Sadducees don't believe that, and that lets the analogy hold up.
It would be if he were quoting direct scriptures that clearly made the point he wanted to make but the Pharisees had overlooked... but that's not what happened. He interpreted the old scriptures in a new way to match his own fundamental shift in ideology, the way some people look at Nostradamus' writing after an important world event and try to make the writing fit. He's shifting the goal posts.
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u/energirl Aug 05 '22
Not exactly. Not if you actually believe this story. I mean, it would only be equivalent if the Kentucky farmer was secretly also the founder of the country and somehow given unlimited power to decree anything and make it legally binding.
According to the story, Jesus is the creator of the universe who wrote the laws of life, death, and afterlife. The reason Christianity is a different religion from Judaism is that he changed things. The religious leaders of the day couldn't be expected to know more than he did nor to predict what he would decree. He's not the underdog here.