Empty Tomb Puzzle

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Disciples pinched the tomb

That was a joke.My own view is that the entire New Testament is myth,due to the lack or credible evidence of to the contrary.


I Googled
"inconsistencies of the resurrection" and got 4.5MILLION hits; below are bits from just two. The second is especially interesting ,as you asked for chapter and verse.,easier to read f you click the link

The Empty Tomb

There are good reasons to doubt the empty tomb story. First, early Christian writers like Paul do not even presuppose or imply the empty tomb story. Had there actually been an empty tomb, Paul would have likely mentioned it in 1 Corinthians 15 because he was trying to convince the people at Corinth that there was a resurrection from the dead. The empty tomb would have been excellent evidence for him to make his case. "Moreover," writers Marcus J. Borg, "the first reference to the empty tomb story is rather odd: Mark, writing around 70 CE, tells us that some women found the tomb empty but told no one about it. Some scholars think this indicates that the story of the empty tomb is a late development and that the way Mark tells it explains why it was not widely (or previously) known" (15).

Second, another argument against the empty tomb is the fact that none of the disciples or later Christian preachers bothered to point to it. If the empty tomb had actually existed, it would have been a powerful piece of evidence for the resurrection claim. We would expect the early Christian preachers to have said, "You don't believe us? Go look in the tomb yourselves! It's at the corner of 5th and Main, in the Golgotha Garden Memorial Cemetery, third sepulcher on the right." This is exactly what happened in Luke 24:24: two of the disciples ran to the tomb to verify the women's reports. Yet Peter doesn't mention the empty tomb in his preaching in Acts 2, nor does Paul mention it in his letters, nor do the gospels give a location. If even the disciples didn't think the empty tomb tradition was any good, why should we?

Finally, neither Jewish nor Pagan sources confirm the empty tomb. This objection does not in itself constitute grounds for rejecting the empty tomb story, but taken together these three objections suggest that the empty tomb tradition is not a reliable one.



The Guard

McDowell argues that the resurrection is the best explanation for the experience of the Roman guard sent by Pontius Pilate. (Pilate allegedly sent a Roman guard to Jesus' tomb.) However, there are good reasons to doubt the alleged fact of the Roman guard. First, McDowell relies heavily upon a literal reading of Matthew as his only source of evidence. This may be an apologetic legend. Second, it is unlikely the Roman soldiers would have gone to the Jewish authorities (as Matthew 28:11-15 reports) instead of the Roman governor, Pilate, to whom they were responsible. The Gospel of Peter (11:43-49) has the guard reporting to Pilate.

Third, Matthew's story about the guard is also unlikely because it states that the guard accepted a bribe from the Jews. However, given what we know about Roman soldiers, this is extremely unlikely. As Mattill (p. 273) writes:

It also seems most unlikely that soldiers could be persuaded by any amount of money to take the risk of death for falling asleep on guard. If they admitted their sleep they were as good as pronouncing their own death sentences. Besides that, if they had fallen asleep, they would not have known that the disciples had stolen the body. Thus it is an insult to the intelligence of the priests to attribute such a proposal to them.

Next, the phrase "to this very day" which appears in Matthew 28:15 suggests that the author was writing many years after the events he was describing. Thus there was sufficient time for the origin and growth of the legend of the guard (Mattill 273).

Finally, and perhaps the most serious objection that can be raised against the guard story is that if the disciples did not grasp the importance of the resurrection predictions, then the Jews, who had much less contact with Jesus, would not have grasped them either (Craig 1984, 277).

Even the conservative William Lane Craig was forced to admit (Ibid., 279) that "there are reasons to doubt the existence of the guard at the tomb." In fairness, I should mention that in that same article Craig gives some strong arguments in defense of the guard story which lead him to conclude that "it seems best to leave it [the guard story] an open question" (Ibid.). However, I think that these four objections have a cumulative nature which are compelling and sufficient grounds for rejecting the guard story.

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/j...chap4.html

Matthew


Mark


Luke


John

Who carried the cross?


Simon of Cyrene (Mw. 27:32)


Simon of Cyrene (Mk. 15:21)


Simon of Cyrene (Lk. 23:26)


Only Jesus himself carried the cross! (Jo. 19:17)

At what time was Jesus crucified?


Not discussed


9:00 am – “It was the THIRD HOUR when they crucified him.” (Mk. 15:25)


Not discussed


12:00 noon – Jesus was not crucified until after the SIXTH HOUR! (Jo. 19:14-15)

On which day was Jesus crucified?


On the first day of Passover* (Mw. 26:1-19)


The first day of Passover* (Mk. 14:12-23)


The first day of Passover* (Lk. 22:7-20)


The day BEFORE Passover (Passover-eve) (Jo. 19:14)

Did Jesus drink? What was in the drink?


Yes, wine mixed with gall (Mw. 27:34)


No, Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh (Mk. 15:23)


Don’t know, Vinegar (sour wine) (Lk. 23:36)


Yes, Vinegar (sour wine)

(Jo. 19:29-30)

Did either one of the two thieves believe in Jesus?


Neither one believed in Jesus (Mw. 27:44)


Neither one believed in Jesus (Mk. 15:32)


Only one does not believe, but ONE DOES! (Lk. 23:39-41)


Not discussed

What were the Jesus’s last dying words on the cross?


“My G-d, my G-d, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mw. 27:46)


“My G-d, my G-d, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mk. 15:43)


“Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk. 23:46)


“It is finished.” (Jo. 19:30)

When did Mary prepare the spices?


Not discussed


After the Sabbath was over (Mk. 16:1)


Before the Sabbath started (Lk. 23:56)


Nicodemus, NOT Mary, prepared the spices BEFORE the Sabbath. (Jo. 19:39)

Had the sun yet risen when the women came to the tomb?


It was toward dawn of the first day of the week. (Mw. 28:1)


YES – “They came to the tomb when the sun had risen.” (Mk. 16:2)


At early dawn they went to the tomb. (Lk. 24:1)


NO – “Mary came early to the tomb, WHILE IT WAS STILL DARK.” (Jo. 20:1)

http://www.middleeastfacts.com/jews4juda...ection.php