RE: Theists: would you view the truth?
December 1, 2016 at 1:09 pm
(This post was last modified: December 1, 2016 at 1:11 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
(December 1, 2016 at 12:20 pm)vorlon13 Wrote: ....and gospels that don't agree on the day or the time of day of the crucifixion, or Christ's demeanor on the way to the cross, or what He said on the cross, or whether or not Christ demonstrated signs of who He was...
Mining for biblical contradictions seems like an odd pass-time for a group of people who profess to "simply lack belief". I would direct your attention to one of my posts from quite some time ago. Generally, I dismiss this kind of textual nit-picking but these types of objection are so common that I took it upon myself to investigate the series of apparent contradictions between the 4 accounts of the Resurrection. Mind you these apparent discrepancies were part of why I used to reject the Christian faith. On the advice of fundamentalist friend I did a side-by-side comparison with the express intent of confirming my initial impression and justifying my dismissal of the Bible. I came back to him with my list and we went point by point. Frankly some of his rationalizations seemed a bit far-fetched. But he did challenge my assumptions and with a fresh perspective reexamined them to see if I was being fair, i.e. was the contradiction blatantly clear or just an undocumented gap, etc. Nevertheless, I remained an atheist for many years after, but without depending on "contradictions" to justify my disbelief.
Empty Tomb Puzzle
Look, YMMV, maybe you have given the text a fair reading and still see the differences as true contradictions. I don't know you and I should give you the benefit of the doubt that you have done your own research in earnest. At the same time, I don't think such unsupported certainty plays well outside the small circle of skeptics already inclined to agree. (The same is true for believers lapping up the weak arguments of pulpit apologists, BTW.)