Question for atheists concerning the gospels?

Question

I`ve heard many atheists say that the four gospels Mark, Luke, John, and Matthew (Correct) are all told in different ways? Do you know what I`m talking about? Whats the difference? Are the differences in Jesus life, testimony, commandments, etc?

This is useful information when debating fundies. Thanks

Answer 1

http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/ShreddingTheGospels.htm

http://atheism.about.com/od/gospelcontradictions/p/Crucifixion.htm

http://www.evilbible.com/contradictions.htm

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html

These are a good start.

There are also MANY more non-canonical gospels. The Council of Nicea voted on which books to include and which to exclude 4 centuries after the supposed death of Christ. You can read the more popular ones here -

http://wesley.nnu.edu/biblical_studies/noncanon/gospels.htm

Answer 2

They are all different as they are all talking to different people in different groups. Mark, the oldest, is considered by most to be the most gnostic, as it talks about the secret knowledge Jesus and his followers have. It does not include a passion story, the one included at the end has been added at a later date. Matthew and Luke were written around the same time period and use the exact same wording in many places. Their great differences appear to be concerning who they are addressing....Matt. is more Jewish in nature and doesn't seem to hate on the Jews as much as Luke and John do. John is the newest gospel and was written much later, as can be seen by the writers understanding of Jesus' association with god and Jesus' status among man....the logos and other language has already been determined or at least in debate by the time John writes.
The important thing to remember is that all of these books were written 80+ years AFTER Jesus had died....so their content is skeptical to begin with.
This isn't reason enough for people to turn from their belief in god. If they want to believe, great...if you don't, great. If you want to debate on this topic, however, you need to have a great knowledge of the content before debating others on its legitimacy.....It is fine to correct someone else's error....it is another thing entirely to put someone down for believing in what you believe to be an error/wrong. Good luck!!

Answer 3

As an Atheist I've never worried over the differences in the gospels. Ask people to relate experiences over years, having shared these experiences, and see what comes up. They will all have different views. I think, however, that this proves the gospels to have been written by men and not inspired by God. And I use the word inspired in the Biblical sense.

Answer 4

Many differences are in the stories that you name.

EX: Mark has JC as the suffering son of man, misunderstood, abandoned and wanted no one to know who he really was. No genealogy.
Matthew: Parallels Moses - Genealogy but differs from Luke.
Luke: JC was the savior of the world.Saves both Jews and Gentiles. Genealogy that differs from Matthew.
John: Has JC the Divine incarnation of gods word. No parables, casting out of demons [and less].

I could go on and on but these are the very basics of the differences.

Answer 5

Ohhhh, this goes so far back to highschool for me.

Each one was written at different times there was a huge discrepency between years (I THINK Luke wrote about 70 years after Jesus supposedly lived). I can't remember the specifics, but my teacher compared their writing styles and detailed observations to that of seeing a city. One by plane, one by boat, one by car and one by walking through it.

Now it's really bugging me that I can't remember.

Answer 6

Matthew and John walked with Jesus,Luke a Physician and first class historian gave statements of people who witnessed the events. If you ant I saw something we would probably remember different details, The main detail you dint want to miss is Jesus was born a virgin birth,he lived a sinless life for 33 years,he preached in love how to get to the kingdom of God,He died on the cross, He rose from the dead and all that invite him in are saved from eternal separation from God,this is done by personal invitation(inviting Christ into your life) At Christmas time is perfect time if you need help in doing this(I'M me I will answer)! Intresting thing agnostic in the greek is ignoramus better rethink what you believe!!! ignoramus means w/o knowledge or logos.If you folks are going to argue you should read and discuss intelligently what it is your debating,Matthew date 50-60 ad, Mark ad 50-60,Luke year 60 Historical,and john 85-90 a first hand witness to Christ, look at what happened to the disciples after Christs resurrection most died for his name sake,would you die for a lie????

Answer 7

Yes -- they are all different. John is the only one of the four who was with Jesus when many of the things in his life happened. Matthew is mainly a collection of parables. Each one is a little different.

Why don't you read them & find out. They are well worth reading -- even for us agnostics and atheists.

Answer 8

I'm not sure what you mean by all different, to my knowledge, 3 of them are just a retelling from the one. I think there is actually several decades in between some of them. A lot of Christians think they are reading the accounts of the Apostels, which is also not the deal.

Answer 9

The best thing for you to do, seriously, is to take a look at them for yourself. Also, if you can get your hands on any information concerning the recently discovered Gospel of Judas, it is worth a look. :)

Answer 10

This website has a list: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com