RE: Conflicting statements in the bible
April 22, 2013 at 8:11 pm
(This post was last modified: April 22, 2013 at 8:14 pm by Statler Waldorf.)
(April 20, 2013 at 8:43 pm)Tex Wrote: 2) This one is a bit more tricky. I went looking and looking for the answer, and never found it. There is no answer here. Luke is wrong. Luke 2 has Quirinias for the birth and then its 29 A.D., so Jesus is a max of 23 and he's starting his ministry (which Luke says is about 30). Luke had to have flubbed a number in his math or something and then oopsied with the ruler from there. If he simply didn't carry the one, it puts Jesus at 6 B.C. rather than 6 A.D., fitting with Luke's account much better.
This actually isn’t an example of a contradiction at all. Let’s not forget what a contradiction actually entails (A and not A in the same relationship and at the same time). If a true contradiction exists remember that no amount of explanation or rationalization can explain it away; that’s why contradictions are nearly impossible to prove in these circumstances.
What we will see with this situation is that the alleged contradiction is rather easy to explain away. We know that at least three censuses were taken in the area, one in 8-7 BC (during Herod the Great’s reign and also right before Christ’s birth), one in 2 BC (After Herod’s death), and one in 6 AD (after Herod’s death and during the time Quirinius was official Governor of Syria.
We also know that Quirinius was a procurator in the area from the time he led an effort to throw down a rebel uprising around 8 BC until his Governorship in 6 AD. Does Luke really say that the census took place while Quirinius was officially Governor of Syria? No he does not; the Greek term for Governor is “legatus”, but this is not the title Luke uses. Rather, Luke uses the title “hegemon” which is far more general and only means a ruling officer or a procurator. Since we already know that Quirinius was a ruling officer at the time of Jesus’s birth around 6 BC it is not unreasonable to assume that Quirinius as one of Augustus’ most loyal and competent followers was put in charge of the 8-7 BC census by Augustus.
Luke: Mary was pregnant with Jesus when the first census was issued while Quirinius was a procurator (hegemon) in Syria (8-7 BC).
Mark: Jesus was born while Herod the Great was King (sometime before Herod’s death in 4 BC.)
These two statements are not contradictory and are still true to what the Biblical texts say.
