Totally NOT a debate about the veracity of the gospels

[Tonus]

Mark's account could have been from a witness who described the cloak as scarlett when it was really purple or vice versa. Or maybe the writers weren't really concerned about the difference between scarlett and purple. It doesn't have any effect on the inspiration of the bible. To me it's a "so what?".

There are two reasons I consider it a non-issue.

1- As Minimalist said, there are enough other parts of the Bible that are problematic that something like the inability to distinguish the color of a robe is pretty far down on the list of things to haggle over.

2- If the gospels matched on every point, the argument against them would be the opposite: the writers would have been accused of collaboration and their work dismissed. The inconsistencies are a problem for the Christian, sure. But for the atheist they are a secondary issue at best.

For me the real issues, the things that undermined my faith as I tried to make sense of them, are the stories of people like Judas or Job. Those stories must either reveal a side of god that is cause for major concern, or they introduce serious doubts into the basic understanding of god, or they reinforce the idea that god's ways are unnecessarily complicated and cannot be understood, in which case it doesn't matter whether or not the Bible makes sense. But if it's the latter, then the only thing you have is faith, and a very shaky faith at that.