Why Does So Much of the New Testament Take Place by "The Sea of Galilee"


The "Sea of Galilee" is really not a sea as in "ocean." It is a lake--there lakes in Minnesota about the same size. The surrounding area where Bible stories were supposed to have taken place is desert. Oceans and floods are really big in the Old Testament and in the story telling lore of that time. So the Lake of Galilee had to be turned into a raging ocean for the setting of the old stories passed down to New Testament writers. It was a new version of old fictional tales.

The oldest version of scoffing at the New Testament was in the 3rd century. Writing attributed to Prophyry of Tyre is quoted as writing that passages in the Bible are "...devoid of sense and full of implausibility."  It has been scoffed at ever since. 

The Iliad attributed to Homer is thought to have been written about 8,000 BCE. In that period of time a wealthy lad learning to read and write Greek was instructed to write stories that were original but followed the pattern of the Iliad. That is the reason, it is believed by many, all story telling follows a similar pattern. Those writing the Bible would have been no different. Especially the New Testament, many believe, followed the pattern learned by the writers when they were younger.

In the Old Testament, the oceans were wild places of chaos. God, the all powerful, calmed the oceans. In the New Testament, a lake needed to become an ocean. Only an ocean can be chaotic. For Jesus to be God he had to have the power to calm the seas. The "Sea of Galilee" was created by the author of Mark so there could be a story of the powerful Jesus "calming the sea."

Walking on water was another example of mastery and power over the dangerous ocean. Jesus had the power to just sashay over the water. Where did the idea come from that of all the things an all powerful god could do he would choose the cool dude look of walking on water? From the Greek god Hermes. Long before Jesus performed the trick Hermes did it wearing his golden sandals. 

It is no coincidence tricks with and on water were in the Bible. They were in the stories Greek writers learned before they wrote it.  



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