Many Christians read the Easter stories year upon year, as I did for several decades, yet we never compare them in detail. As a consequence, we often do not realize that they are not telling the same story. There are indeed contradictions in the texts, but it is very important to move beyond “mere contradiction” – the issues with our gospels are far more extensive than that. Comparison against the historical record and assessing the gospels for trends of legend development are probably far more crucial. As with many non-believers, I left Christianity specifically because of the Bible, and because I considered and examined its content very seriously indeed.
Perhaps it is time for more Christians to take the Bible and our Easter stories seriously.
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As always, I look to improve the accuracy of my work wherever possible. Please reply with any factual errors found, and I will correct appropriately. Thanks.
Also See: Infographic for New Testament Timeline
(C) Copyright 2014, JerichoBrisance.com
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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References:
- Dennis, Lane T., ed. ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008.
- Thomas, Robert L, and Stanley N. Gundry. A Harmony of the Gospels, NASB. Harper Collins, 1978.
- Ehrman, Bart D. Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don’t Know About Them). HarperOne, 2010.
- Borg, Marcus J. Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written. HarperOne , 2012
- Price, Robert M. (2012-02-07). The Christ-Myth Theory And Its Problems. American Atheist Press.
- Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. Yale University Press; 1 edition (October 13, 1997)
- http://rationalfaiths.com/a-brief-history-of-the-bible-part-iii-new-testament-timeline/
- Selected lectures by Richard Carrier, YouTube.
Additional Information:
- http://atheism.about.com/od/gospelcontradictions/p/Crucifixion.htm
- http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2012/04/contradictions-in-the-resurrection-account-2/
- http://www.nairaland.com/857842/crucifixion-jesus-contradictions-gospel-accounts
- http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/contra/passover_meal.html
- http://atheism.about.com/od/gospelcontradictions/p/JudasBetrayal.htm
Related Wikipedia Sites:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion_of_Jesus
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_of_Jesus
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_gospels
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorship_of_the_Bible
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Dear Matt,
Hello! I have also hyperlinked this post of yours to my special Easter post entitled “Easter in Modern Multimedia Perspective” at https://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/easter-in-modern-multimedia-perspective/
I hope that you have had a good Easter weekend.
Happy April!
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