A believer will put himself through the most amazing mental contortions in order to square his belief with facts. An example is the four different versions in the New Testament concerning the “risen” Christ. If the bible is truly inerrant, this is the one place where it needs to get the story straight. It is this account on which all of Christianity rests. Take away the resurrection and the whole Christian belief system collapses in a heap of fabrication. If there is one place where the authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John should “get their stories straight”, this is it. Alas this is not the case. The bible has four differing accounts of what allegedly happened on that morning. Here they are, taken directly from the “inerrant” KJV of the New Testament.
Who came?
Matt 28: Two women, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary”.
Mark 16: Three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary, mother of James and Salome.
Luke 24: Many women, two Marys, Joanna and “other women”.
John 20: One woman; Mary Magdalene
When did they come?
Matt 28: As it began to dawn.
Mark 16: At the rising of the sun.
Luke 24: Very early in the morning.
John 20: When it was still dark.
What did they see, hear, feel?
Matt 28: They felt a “ mighty earthquake”, and saw an angel (meaning one) rolling away the stone and then sitting on it. The angel then invited them in to see where the Lord lay and sent them away to tell the disciples.
Mark 16: The stone was already moved away; no mention of a “mighty earth quake”. ONE man in a long white garment, sitting on the right side.
Luke 24: Stone rolled away, no earthquake, TWO men in shining garments standing.
O.K. When I mentioned this to a Church of Christ preacher he started his little tap dance to "harmonize" the disparate resurrection events . Of course this just got him in deeper doo-doo because a harmony requires two or more players. Here we are talking about one event.
Was there a "mighty" earthquake or not?
Was it dark or not?
Was the stone rolled away or not?
Were there two men or one?
Was one man sitting on the stone or two men standing (or sitting) inside?
I leave you with a quote from the famous philosopher, Bertrand Russell.
"The fact that an opinion is widely held is no evidence whatsoever that it is not utterly absurd; indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible."
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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