My Favorite Martian

In this post we look at Martians in scripture. Especially my favorite, Philip's friend Nathanael.

Previous Blog On Mars

A previous blog post, linked here, gives a basic introduction to Mars in the text. The key idea is that the planets in our solar system are identified by a story in Judges that explains Noah's flood and calls out the planets involved as trees.

The vine is Earth. The fig tree is Mars. The olive tree was Planet V, but is now the asteroid belt. Finally, the bramble is a few interesting moons.

I am not reproducing the logic here, but note this is a complex problem to identify as it requires fitting together the pieces of a big textual puzzle. For mathematically inclined readers the riddle is a matrix that must be solved by hand.

Having solved Mars for the fig tree means that any other place in the text where a fig tree is mentioned is likely a parable about Mars. This means either individuals who matter to understanding Mars, or Mars in future prophecies.

The original 3 sons of the Adam and Eve family were also spread out across the planets. Abel ended up on the 5th planet, now the asteroid belt. Shem ended up on Mars. Finally, Cain was sent to Earth. Cain's killing of Abel points at Earth destroying the 5th planet at the same time as Noah's flood.

Enoch and Noah

So the genealogies from Shem to Noah are taking place on Mars. Enoch was thus a Martian, and departed for Eden from Mars. Enoch is also the first king in the Revelation throne room, which is curious, because those kings are there in part because of their life experiences. Martians were the first to receive a seat.

Noah was also a Martian. He and his family, also Martians, transferred to Earth at the time of the flood. Noah is the 2nd king in the Revelation throne room, so he eventually departed Earth for Eden, having spent time living on both Mars and Earth.

These Martians should be pretty obvious just given the spread of Adam and Eve's families across this solar system.

But a search on fig tree hits one of Joshua's disciples, Nathanael, who was a friend of Philip. Nathanael's case deserves careful consideration because we can learn a bunch more if we study his story carefully.

For readers not familiar with Nathanael's story, here is the link.

John 1:43-51

Joshua had called Philip to follow him. Philip in turn asked his friend Nathanael to come and see Joshua. Philip's point was that this man Joshua solved a debate Philip and Nathanael were having over a textual riddle involving Moses.

What follows is one of the strangest stories of the calling of the disciples. Joshua says of Nathanael that he, Joshua, saw Nathanael while Nathanael was under the fig tree.

This statement elicits a statement of faith from Nathanael that is out of proportion to the obvious clues in the text.

The problem, for essentially all Bible expositors, is answering the obvious question. What was Nathanael doing under the tree that Joshua saw? And why was that action so profound that Nathanael would give such a pronounced statement of faith in Joshua? And, for that matter, why are we not told what activity was going on under that tree?

What most preachers do with this passage is fill in some story as to what happened under that tree. Possible answers may be entertaining, but they must always be a hunch.

Alternatively, we can use the symbolic meaning of fig tree. Fig tree is simply the text's name for Mars. When we mentally substitute Mars for fig tree things change. It is no longer an unsolved mystery.

Now the passage means that Joshua saw Nathanael while he was under Mars. Preposterous as this may sound, the riddle of Nathanael's calling is now easy to solve.

Under Mars

Read this way the passage now completely explains Nathanael's answer. There is no dispute that Nathanael was under the fig tree, but that location, Mars itself, is the reason for that faith response.

Nathanael knows he was there, and nobody else would likely believe Nathanael's testimony. If you met someone today who told you they had been under Mars, would you believe them? Of course not. In part because of the question of how, then, did you get to become Philip's friend here on Earth?

Philip and Nathanael are likely, by the way, childhood friends. We can deduce this because they are discussing what the text of Moses says. This is a school age sort of topic.

For us as readers the story becomes complete when we accept 2 odd realities. 1) There are people living under Mars. By that I mean living underground on Mars. The recent rover photo of a door on Mars points the way to that fact.

2) That the soul pool from which we all reincarnate includes all of Adam and Eve's descendants which includes people who live under Mars. In other words, Nathanael was born with a past-life memory of having lived under Mars. It was his personal secret.

Long ago I ran into someone over lunch at work who had a similar personal claim, of a past life memory of living on a different planet. In my head I rejected that claim as preposterous, though I was more polite externally. I rejected the idea of past life memories and I rejected living on other planets. I was wrong on both points.

This story of Nathanael points at this exact scenario. Indeed, inclusion in the text suggests this is common enough that it warrants attention. Anyone doing outreach risks running into such people.

People On Mars

This story of Nathanael is important because it is the first story in Joshua's life that points at ongoing human life on Mars. 1 lifetime back from Nathanael so ~2000 years ago. ~5000 years after Noah. If life made it ~5000 years after Noah on Mars, then life on Mars to our era is no problem.

We can expect to eventually reach Mars and find people living under ground there.

Are there other fig tree parables of life on Mars? Of course, but this one is my favorite because it means people live there now. When we eventually land on Mars there will be a welcoming party.

More Later,

Phil