please explain this biblical contradiction to me?

Question

why does one gospel say that judas hung himself while another says he fell on some rocks and split himself open?

and for those who will say that he hung himself and the rope or the branch broke and then he fell on the rocks, then why don't the gospels simple say this instead of just giving part of the story.

and for those who will say that i have taken this out of context, please explain to me how i have taken it out of context.

Answer 1

How did God stop the Sun in the sky like it says in Joshua when the Sun doesn't go around the Earth? Even God couldn't stop the Sun from doing something it wasn't doing in the first place.

Of course, the primitive ancients who wrote the bible thought the Sun went around the Earth, so it made sense to them.

Fundamentalists have been resisting science for a long time. Galileo was excommunicated from the church for saying that the Earth goes around the Sun. The main reason the church did this was this silly story in Joshua about God stopping the Sun in the sky.

Even sillier, of course, is the reason that God supposedly stopped the Sun. He did it so some human beings would have more daylight to kill other human beings! Yep, sounds like a God of love to me!

Answer 2

According to Matthew 27:5, Judas hanged himself. But Acts 1:18 says, “pitching head foremost he noisily burst in his midst and all his intestines were poured out.” Matthew seems to deal with the mode of the attempted suicide, while Acts describes the result. Combining the two accounts, it appears that Judas tried to hang himself over some cliff, but the rope or tree limb broke so that he plunged down and burst open on the rocks below. The topography around Jerusalem makes such an event conceivable.

Answer 3

Okay, thanks to an answer further down, I know understand where you got that passage from.

Three gospels agree that Judas hanged himself. The fourth does not bring it up.

The other passage is actually in the book of Acts, which is not a gospel. The author notes, in passing, that Judas's body had ben torn apart by falling on some rocks in a particular field. This was used to explain why the field was called "the field of blood."

I don't believe his suicide had anything to do with the part about the rocks. It sounds to me like the accident on the rocks happened after the fact, and it was only brought up to explain some cultural footnote.
.

Answer 4

You have not taken anything out of context...you have asked it very well. I once read a story about a woman who, while at home, suffered a massive heart attack. Family members called 911. An ambulance picked her up to rush her to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, the ambulance ran into another car and wrecked. The woman died before she could be taken to the hospital. One newspaper account reported that this woman died of a heart attack. Another paper in that city recounted that she died as the result of an accident. Which was correct? Did the stories contradict each other? Both were complementary accounts of what actually did happen. So it is with the Word of God. Sometimes, what may seem contradictory in the Bible to me and you, is in truth, not at all. They are complementary accounts of the same thing.

Answer 5

Check out the rest of the story... Moses only saw the backside of God. (Exodus 33:20 But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." Exodus 33:21 And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. Exodus 33:22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Exodus 33:23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.) The bible is like a puzzle with many pieces that must be put together to make sense. There are some contradictions but most are due to improper translation from the original Hebrew or Greek texts. When a scripture is in question you must gather as much information about it from other scriptures else where in the bible to clarify the meaning of it. Contact me with any scripture that you think is out of sorts and I will be glad to provide you with some clarification. I use a bible software with seven translations and Strong's concordance with the original Hebrew and Greek words.

Answer 6

The gospels do not give every detail of everything that happened, nothing ever does, not even contemporary news reports on TV. For example, when Saddam Hussein was hung, the initial reports just said he was hung, then later when the mobile phone footage was made public, then other details came out.

Besides the rope breaking, another possibility is that his head came off, as happened recently in another hanging case in Iraq:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6261965.stm

Answer 7

You are not out of context and it is a fine question. When you put on a movie in your DVD player, go to languages. You will find you have several options including captions. The captions are usually available in several languages. Do they match? Close, but not 100%.
You have marvelously identified the same thing in these stories. There is no "contradiction" as one AGAINST the other, they simply reflect different perspectives/translations of the same thing. Matthew - Jewish orientation, Mark - Peter's disciple?, Luke -Gentile/Greek viewpoint.

Answer 8

The 4 gospels, when analyzed, appear to be a compilation of around 6 or 7 different books. So, since they seem to have edited several books together, it might explain why some inconsistencies crept in...but the essential part of the narrative is intact, Judas committed suicide out of guilt and remorse...

Answer 9

I dont disagree that at times one gospel records part of a story and one records the other.

If you and a friend both saw something happen, would you both explain it the EXACT same way? If one of you left something out, does that make the story untrue? Depending on what you see as important will decipher what you relay to the next person.

You have obviously found lots of reason not to believe. If you are truly open minded, now you must look for reasons to believe.

Also, there is no good enough excuse not to believe. You can find a million contradictions and G-d will not find that a satisfactory excuse for failing to accept His gift to all mankind... Jesus Christ.

David

Answer 10

How important is Judas' death to you? And, how important was that to the writers of the Gospel? They were just telling what they heard about what happened. And what about Jesus? What the gospels say about what Jesus said is either logical to you or not. If you do like Jesus said and ask the Holy Spirit to witness to you in regards to Jesus' truthfulness and validity, and your assurance of going to Heaven, well you will either consider that worth the time to do or you will not.

I don't mean that in an unkindly manner.

As a (retired) federal investigator, I appreciate that the four gospels were different enough to prove that there was not a conspiracy.