Where are there contradictions to the account of Jesus' death and resurrection in the four Gospels?

Question

I saw a lot of misstatements in a recent posting. The four Gospel writers are well known There are no contradictions in the accounts of the death and resurrection of Christ. And His death did make secular, historical writtings of the time, most notably, the Jewish Historian Josephus.

What would you perfer when reading the Gospels; four men getting together to write exactly the same thing, or four men, writing independently, to give an accurate description from each of their points of view?

They were four men, being led by the Holy Spirit, but writing in their own words.

I read a lot of great responses here from my brothers and sisters. I hope some of our postings here can work in the hearts of non-believers.

It's going to be hard to chose a best answer, I've got 8 out of 9 great answers to chose from

Robert D, I don't know why you want to give broad, undocumentd accusations, but I'm going to pray, and ask my brothers and sisters here to pray that God will open your eyes.

Answer 1

most of the apparent contrdictions have fairly simple explaination

some are short sumaries of larger events, short summaries do not match necessarily nor do they contradict

some are written to differen audience and will differ because they are speakign to jews, romans or greeks which may tell time differently, use different currency etc etc

a few and i mean a few issues it is less clear, but in no case a proven contradiction... in the most difficult cases its possible a series of events are summarized together... the only one I can think of is the crowd of women going to the tomb, mary at the tomb and several women going... this can be several accounts added into one and also can be some amount of the writer bringing up only the facts he wants to emphasise leaving some details off...

in any case no proven contradiction and the vast majority of known a[[arent contraditions have simple answers

Answer 2

The gospels were actually written 30 to 60 years after the event. And probably not even by the four so called "authors" It was very common practice to be an unknown writter and call your work "The Gospel according to whoever" There were actually over 30 gospels at one time. Then a priest in the 2nd century decided to only use four gospels as the "true" account of Jesus.

Answer 3

the 4 gospels are like 4 media stations showing the big story, each station will have its own interpretation of the big story with minor differences, but the main story remains the same. the small differences in the gospels prove that they came from 4 different men and that they didn't simply copy from eachother if the 4 gospels would have been exactly the same!! the 4 gospels give us four styles and interpretations that the men recieved after getting inspiration from the holy spirit>

Answer 4

You do comprehend that the founders of the christian church trawled with the aid of a brilliant sort of writings and "gospels" before determining on the 4 which you have. What do you think of would have been interior of something of the failings that have been deemed pointless for use with the aid of the church. i'd additionally propose the e book "the stable guy Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" just to grant your self some nutrients for concept.

Answer 5

It doesn't matter how people reply, your mind is made up and you will rationalize the answer you like because, you're an idiot and brainwashed.

You can rationalize anything presented to you and you have the "get out of reality card" you can always play... "The lord works in mysterious ways".

There is no point answering your question when you claim that guys named Matthew the tax collector, Luke the physician and Bob the plumber are well documented people. They are not, and you are living in a fantasy world if you believe this.

Take your book of lies and stick it.

I am the one true God. Prove I am not.

Answer 6

First of all, it's god telling them what to write, are you implying that his powers are limited? He can't get each of them to get it right?

2nd of all:
Matthew 28:2
The angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.

Versus:
Mark 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.

Luke 24:3-4
And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.

John 20:11-12
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 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

His Last words?
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew 27:46
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?

Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
Luke 23:46
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

It is finished.
John 19:30
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Answer 7

To those who think there are contradictions in the resurrection accounts I offer this:

"The internal evidence of the resurrection accounts: Each of the four Gospels gives an account of that first Easter Sunday when Jesus arose from the tomb. When we first read these accounts it appears they are in hopeless contradiction. Matthew says it was Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who went out to the tomb. Mark says it was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. Luke says it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them, and John mentions only Mary Magdalene. Furthermore, they all mention different people to whom Jesus appeared on that day.

Does this mean that these are false reports, made-up by dishonest men to deceive us? On the contrary, this is good evidence that these are truthful accounts, because people who conspire to testify to a falsehood rehearse carefully to avoid contradictions. False testimony appears on the surface to be in harmony, but discrepancies appear when you dig deeper. True accounts may appear on the surface to be contradictory, but are found to be in harmony when you dig deeper."

And this by Gleason Archer:

The Women's First Visit to the Tomb

On Saturday evening three of the women decided to go back to the tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, where they had seen Christ's body laid away on Friday at sundown. They wanted to rewrap His corpse with additional spices, beyond those which Nicodemus and Joseph had already used on Friday. There were three women involved (Mark 16:1): Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife (or mother) of James, and Salome (Luke does not give their names; Matthew refers only to the two Marys); and they had bought the additional spices with their own means (Mark 16:1). They apparently started their journey from the house in Jerusalem while it was still dark (skotias eti ouses), even though it was already early morning (proi) (John 20:1). But by the time they arrived, dawn was glimmering in the east (te epiphoskouse) that Sunday morning (eis mian sabbaton) (Matt. 28:1). (Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1 all use the dative: te mia ton sabbaton.) Mark 16:2 addst hat the tip of the sun had actually appeared above the horizon (anateilantos tou heliou--aorist participle; the Beza codex uses the present participle, anatellontos, implying "while the sun was rising").

It may have been while they were on their way to the tomb outside the city wall that the earthquake took place, by means of which the angel of the Lord rolled away the great circular stone that had sealed the entrance of the tomb. So blinding was his glorious appearance that the guards specially assigned to the tomb were completely terrified and swooned away, losing all consciousness (Matt. 28:24). The earthquake could hardly have been very extensive; the women seemed to be unaware of its occurrence, whether it happened before they left Jerusalem or while they were walking toward their destination. There is no evidence that it damaged anything in the city itself. But it was sufficient to break the seal placed over the circular stone at the time of interment and roll the stone itself away from its settled position in the downward slanting groove along which it rolled.

The three women were delightfully surprised to find their problem of access to the tomb solved; the stone had already been rolled away (Mark 16:34)! They then entered the tomb, sidestepping the unconscious soldiers. In the tomb they made out the form of the leading angel, appearing as a young man with blazing white garments (Mark 16:5), who, however, may not have shown himself to them until they first discovered that the corpse was gone (Luke 24:2-3). But then it became apparent that this angel had a companion, for there were two of them in the tomb. The leading angel spoke to them with words of encouragement, "Don't be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified" (Matt. 28:5). Nevertheless they were quite terrified at the splendor of these heavenly visitors and by the amazing disappearance of the body they had expected to find in the tomb.

The angel went on: "Why do you seek the living among [lit., 'with'--meta with the genitive] those who are dead? He is not here, but He has risen [Luke 24:5-6], just as He said [Matt. 28:6]. Look at the place where they laid Him [Mark 16:6], the place where He was lying [Matt. 28:6]. Remember how He told you when He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man had to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, crucified, and rise again on the third day" (Luke 24:6-7).

After the angel had said this, the women in fact did remember Christ's prediction (especially at Caesarea Philippi); and they were greatly encouraged. Then the angel concluded with this command: "Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead!" Then he added: "Behold, He goes before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Lo, I have told you" (Matt. 28:7). Upon receiving these' wonderful tidings, the three delighted messengers set out in haste to rejoin the group of sorrowing believers back in the city (possibly in the home of John Mark) and pass on to them the electrifying news. They did not pause to inform anyone else as they hurried back (Mark 16:8), partly because they were fearful and shaken by their encounter at the empty tomb. But in their eagerness to deliver their tidings, they actually ran back to the house (Matt. 28:8) and made their happy announcement to the disciples who were gathered there

Mary Magdalene took pains to seek out Peter and John first of all; and she breathlessly blurted out to them, "They have taken the Lord away from the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid Him!" (John 20:2). She apparently had not yet taken in the full import of what the angel meant when he told her that the Lord had risen again and that He was alive. In her confusion and amazement, all she could think of was that the body was not there, and she did not know what had become of it. Where could that body now be? It was for this reason that she wanted Peter and John to go back there and see what they could find out.

Answer 8

No contradictions there-----don't let satan get your mind off the real thing--OK?

Answer 9

I stand for Jesus, and so do you. Bless you.

Answer 10

Thanks for pointing that out.