The Bible appears to contradict itself! Please help with this...?

Question

Someone posed this challenge:

Write a complete narrative of what happened after Jesus' crucifixion, using all four Gospels, and leaving out no details from any of the Gospels.

I tried to do this, but I could not. Can anyone do this? IF NOT, PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS QUESTION. AGAIN: PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY TRY TO DO THIS AND TELL ME THE RESULT.

Answer 1

You could not do it because it cannot be done. The Bible frequently appears to contradict itself in both narrative & guidance, that is the nature of any document that is the work of 40 or more different authors writing over periods of hundreds of years, and thet has been edited for convenience by "leaders" wishing to reinforce their own positions. This is why a "Fundementalist" interpretation of any scripture is ludicrous.


So you don't feel TOO bad about not being able to 'solve' this conundrum, don't forget that most of the accounts were not written until long after the events they retell. After a few weeks, almost any group of people will vigourously debate what "really happened" concerning any unusual event.

The Bible is a book of rules, regulations & guidance, not a newspaper or a history text!

For documentation of almost all the inconsistencies, you might find this site amusing & entertaining:

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com

Answer 2

God bless you for taking a deeper interest in the Word of God! Upon reviewing the information in the four gospels, things do get complicated and look quite confusing, especially when the Bible says Jesus was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. It is not wrong to have questions.

Let me give you an example, what if 500 years from now a family member found a letter I had written saying we were going to serve Turkey and dressing, cranberry relish, gravy, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. You and I know that describes Thanksgiving Dinner, well maybe in 500 years they no longer celebrate this Holiday, so they think ok, just a good meal---no real important significance.

This, in a nutshell, is what is happening here. We, as Christians, view the Bible and the things of God with a Western eye. The Bible was written by Jews, about the King of the Jews. Many lost customs, rules, precepts, celebrations, appointed times have been lost in meaning to us. The main problem, in reference to your question, is that we are looking at the Sabbath as always being from sundown on Friday evening until sundown on Saturday, when, in effect, any Holiday (High Holy Day) that fell within the same week was ALSO a Sabbath. The week when Jesus died had TWO Sabbaths in it. Now go back and go through the four gospels, do a time line and everything falls into place. If you need more information and help their are hundreds of studies on the internet of people who have written articles on this same subject. Surprise, Good Friday, our Good Friday, is not the day Jesus died. I still enjoy the holiday. Don't get too hung up our (NOT GOD's) theological errors. Jesus said if they are not against me, then they are for me. Remember the Word of God says to study to show yourself approved (by God).

Answer 3

Those 4 gospels you speak of were written well after Jesus. Mark about 70 AD, Matthew about 80 AD, Luke about 90 AD, and John almost 100 years after Jesus. So to start off with the claims that these gospels were somehow 'eye witness' accounts is a contradiction and a lie to start with. Then we won't even get into the edits, revisions, and re-writes that have taken place since then. Contradictions? The bible is nothing but a book of contradictions.

Answer 4

To really be of help to you, you need to get what is known as "A Harmony of the Gospels". In fact in the Thompson Chain Reference bible which I use, is a harmony of the Gospel. In summary form, here is the sequence laid out by the harmony:

Earthquake - The Coming of the women to the sepulcher - May finds the tomb empty - Mary Magdalene tells Peter - Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene - Jesus appears to the other women - the report of the watch - Jesus appears to Peter - His appearance to the other disciples at Emmaus - His appearance to the disciples with Thomas Absent - His appearance to the eleven including Thomas - His appearance in Galilee - Miraculous catching of fishes - His appearance to five hundred - His appearance to James - His appearance at the time of His ascension.

There was a book written, once upon a time known as "The Man Jesus" which essentially used a harmony of the gospels to write out His life in narrative form. Hope this all helps you.

Answer 5

You can never answer the question. Why? because the only true way to do it would be to quote every word in the gospels, that is the only way to not leave out any details. It is what they call a trick question, I would never try to do it, because it has already been done. As long as you believe that the gospels tell the whole story.

Answer 6

Yes. Some time ago. I got a bunch of old Bibles that the binding was falling off, and falling to pieces, and figured I'd put them to good use. So I took each verse, cut it out, and made a narrative, in chronological order, with each verse laid next to the other verses in a folder. Very interesting, and no contradictions. If you feel there are any, feel free to email me, and as an ordained teacher of the Bible, I'll try to help you out.

Figures, right after I did all that work, a book came out that did the same thing, LOL. "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" discussing the life of the Son of God.

Answer 7

Sometimes I tell my children a story of something I did years ago, that may have been stupid. The details of the story may not have been exactly as the actual occurrence. However, the spiritual truth that is being expressed is fully intact, and they do understand the significance of the story. With the bible, one can be a literal or an inspired spiritual sense seeker.
Please accept my apology in advance if this does not help.

Answer 8

Get a Harmony of the Gospels, its already done for you. Who is going to do a month's work just to answer a question on Y/A

Answer 9

Just want you to go back into history and research how the bible was compiled in the first place that could serve as a refreshing eye opener, it all depends on how open minded you are.

Answer 10

we talked about this in one of my religious studies classes in college.. the four gospels are written from four unique perspectives.. different people made different observations about small details, but they all agree on the main thing that was going on.. so I guess this could be seen as evidence that the Bible is not 100% infallible, but it could also be seen as evidence that the story of Christ is true beyond a doubt..