| That Guy said: I'm not going to quote the whole thing, as you can look like 3 posts up and read everything. If you want me to do research, I can and will dig up information that will support my stand as well. It is by no credulity that I believe the things that I do. I'm fine with the fact that there is a lot of dialogue about the things in Biblical history. Some things can get cleared up as time goes by and we unearth more information. Just because there are some perceived contradictions doesn't mean that there lacks a explanation that reconciles the perceived contradiction. For example, up until 100 years ago, no one thought that there was ever a King Belshazzar of Babylon in history, so they thought the Daniel account was totally made up (or written later in history). But then archeologists unearthed the Nabonidus Cylinder that confirmed the existence of his son, Belshazzar. |
I believe that you are missing the level of some of the contradictions that are being mentioned here. Some of them can be put in comfortable wishy-washy categories like "if only we knew more" but there are some that ca nnot be resolved. For example, what were the last words of Jesus?
Matt.27:46,50: "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, eli, lama sabachthani?" that is to say, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" ...Jesus, when he cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."
Luke23:46: "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, "Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit:" and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."
John19:30: "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished:" and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost."
You simply have to accept that fact that one of these is not correct. There is no getting around it by saying if only we knew more about the time period we could resolve this discrepancy.
Perhaps this is not good enough for you. Then what color was the robe they put on Jesus when he was handed over to be crucified?
Matt. 27:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
John 19:2 And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe,
Once again, one of these is simply wrong. Was the light was playing tricks on their eyes?
| Scarlet |
Purple |
Maybe something as insignificant as they color of the robes placed on Jesus is not enough to convince you of anything. Lets look at a more important event like what was seen at the tomb of Jesus:
MAT 28:2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.
MAT 28:3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:
MAT 28:4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.
MAT 28:5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
MAR 16:5 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
LUK 24:4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
JOH 20:12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Who was at the tomb of Jesus? Was it a man or an angel? I'm sure many people reading this will just immediately assume that all the stories were talking about an angel, but if that's the case how many were there? One or two? Did the authors of Matthew and Mark just forget about one angel? Even if that were true two of these stories are correct and 2 are wrong. Which two will you believe?
Shall we look at the major event of the creation of the world? In Genesis 1 the order of creation goes like this:
Day 1: Sky, Earth, light
Day 2: Water, both in ocean basins and above the sky(!)
Day 3: Plants
Day 4: Sun, Moon, stars
Day 5: Sea monsters (whales), fish, birds, land animals, creepy-crawlies (reptiles, insects, etc.)
Day 6: Humans
Day 7: Nothing
But in Genesis 2:18-19 God clearly makes the animals after he makes man. This contradiction will not be solved by knowing more about the history of the world. One story is wrong. Not to mention the question of the age of the universe. Do you believe that it was made in 6 days? I know that many people like to say these are metaphorical "God" days but then why put that information in at all? Why make it so misleading? Why not put it in human years?
So there is the beginning of the world. Now lets take a look at the end. When will the second coming be?
MAT 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
MAR 13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
LUK 21:32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
This generation shall not pass? It seems on the face of it that this was wrong. Was this yet another metaphor? Do you think the people listening to Jesus at the time thought that?
It seems that I have gone off track from my original goal of providing examples in which one must logically (not historically) be wrong. So I will end with one more. How did Judas die?
MAT 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver into the temple and departed, and went out and hanged himself.
ACTS 1:18 And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all of his bowels gushed out.
So did he hang himself or did he explode? Surely his death was not caused by both and each author decided to focus on one aspect of the death.
BTW there is no evidence that Luke "the beloved physician" even wrote the book of Luke (or Acts for that matter) Sorry.. that one could be cleared up by further historical study...
