A Response To: A Book of Contradictions

[Hunted By A Freak]

Are there really contradictions in scripture, particularly in the Gospels. Can these apparent contradictions in the Gospels be purposeful, demonstrating something deeper, painting a more complete picture of Christ. One reason there are four Gospel's is that each one covey's a different aspect of Christ's mission and character. The book of Ezekiel alludes to these different perspectives of the Messiah hundreds of years before Jesus earthly ministry, "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year...the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God...Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming...from within it came the likeness of four living creatures... As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man;... the face of a lion... the face of an ox... and the face of an eagle."

The Face of a Man: The Gospel of Luke emphasizes Jesus' humanity and starts off with His unbroken linage and genealogy through His mother going back to Adam. This Gospel was geared more towards a Greek/gentile audience. Luke was the perfect author being a Greek, much of Greek philosophy revolved around humanity and the quest for perfection in man. He was also a physician and used terms related to his profession, pointing to Christ as the perfect man.

The Face of a Lion: The Gospel of Matthew presents Christ as Messiah and King, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and is geared towards a Jewish audience. It starts off showing Jesus' right to the thrown of David through Joseph's genealogy, qualifying Him to be King. There are numerous OT passages that present Christ as the fulfillment of prophecy and demonstrate Him as King. This Gospel also contains numerous parables, the Olivet Discourse and the Sermon on the Mount that all point to the Kingdom. "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?"

The Face of an Ox: The Gospel of Mark presents Jesus Christ as the Ox, being a servant. Mark speaks more of what Jesus did, rather than what He said. This Gospel was written for Roman Christians, who being persecuted were encourage to be servants like their Lord. This Gospel also explains many Jewish customs that would have been foreign to a Roman audience. The most common word found in Mark is the conjunction "and", which is continually used to connect the actions of Christ. You'll find very few OT quotes in this Gospel, because it's focus is the servitude of Jesus Christ.

The Face of a Eagle: The Gospel of John reveals Jesus Christ to be God, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." An Eagle, particularly a flying eagle, is a picture of God and how He saves His people. Also Jesus consistently refers to Himself as the "I Am" throughout John's Gospel, which is an Old Testament term for God. And John makes numerous points to demonstrate the deity of Christ. This Gospel also demonstrates the other three aspects of Christ's character, but the emphasis is on His deity.

The Apostle John pointed to this fourfold purpose of the Gospels and demonstrated this in his version, but was given a deeper understanding when he penned the book of Revelation. The Lord demonstrated the order the Gospels were to be presented in scripture and what each Gospel revealed about Jesus, inspiring John to write about the four living creatures that surrounded Christ's throne. Revelation 4:7, "The first creature was like a lion (Gospel of Matthew), and the second creature like a calf (Gospel of Mark), and the third creature had a face like that of a man (Gospel of Luke), and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle (Gospel of John)."

You can claim that this was all collusion on part of the Gospel writers, but that leaves the skeptic with even bigger questions to answer. They don't have a construct to deal with this sort of thing, because in reality they don't completely understand God's word. However it goes much deeper than this one example could even touch upon. How deep is the rabbit hole???

When He calls me I do not walk, I run...

[Doubting Thomas]

tl;dr. Please tell me what Judas did with the money he got for turning in Jesus and how he died. Or go to http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/co..._name.html and convince me beyond any doubt I have that there are any contradictions in the bible, then I'll take it more seriously.

[Minimalist]

Are there really contradictions in scripture, particularly in the Gospels.

Yes. Next question.


Really - if you want to delude yourself be my guest. But don't prance around like a moron and expect not to get blasted. If you want to do that go to a theist board where all sorts of bullshit are routinely applauded.

[Cinjin]

Yeeahhhh, about that ....

As soon as a man starts writing with this:

"Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year...the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God...Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming...from within it came the likeness of four living creatures... As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a man;... the face of a lion... the face of an ox... and the face of an eagle."

... I automatically discount EVERYTHING HE SAYS. Clearly he is either lying or he is mentally impaired. Either way, I'm still checking for my wallet and heading for the door!

[reverendjeremiah]

..what Cain said

[Zen Badger]

I have read Revelations, several times.

And I have concluded that it is incoherent, inconsistent and utterly beyond logical comprehension.

If you wish to make a case for your religion please don't use this.

It is a fail just waiting to happen.

[Doubting Thomas]

And Jesus was not the Messiah anyway. All the so-called "prophecy" in the OT was written about a military leader who would vanquish the enemies of the Israelites with the sword. Plus, he would have an earthly kingdom. Jesus was never a military leader, and he always claimed that his kingdom was not of the earth. Plus in Isaiah, the Messiah was supposed to be born to a young woman (not necessarily a virgin) and would be named Immanuel. Jesus wasn't named Immanuel, and is only called that in crappy Christian music and gospel songs.

The times where NT authors tried to shoehorn the life of Jesus to fit OT prophecy is fairly obvious and doesn't really fit. For example, from skepticsannotatedbible.com:

# Matthew claims that Jesus' birth in Bethlehem fulfils the prophecy in Micah 5:2. But this is unlikely for two reasons.

* "Bethlehem Ephratah" in Micah 5:2 refers not to a town, but to a clan: the clan of Bethlehem, who was the son of Caleb's second wife, Ephrathah (1 Chr.2:18, 2:50-52, 4:4).

* The prophecy (if that is what it is) does not refer to the Messiah, but rather to a military leader, as can be seen from Micah 5:6. This leader is supposed to defeat the Assyrians, which, of course, Jesus never did.

It should also be noted that Matthew altered the text of Micah 5:2 by saying: "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda" rather than "Bethlehem Ephratah" as is said in Micah 5:2. He did this, intentionally no doubt, to make the verse appear to refer to the town of Bethlehem rather than the family clan. 2:5-6

# "Out of Egypt I have called my son,"
Matthew claims that the flight of Jesus' family to Egypt is a fulfillment of Hosea 11:1. But Hosea 11:1 is not a prophecy at all, as is clear when the entire verse is quoted ("When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt."). It is a reference to the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and has nothing to do with Jesus. Matthew tries to hide this fact by quoting only the last part of the verse. 2:15

# Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15, claiming that it was a prophecy of King Herod's alleged slaughter of the children in and around Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus. But this verse refers to the Babylonian captivity, as is clear by reading the next two verses (16 and 17), and, thus, has nothing to do with Herod's massacre. 2:17-18

# "He shall be called a Nazarene." Matthew claims this was a fulfillment of prophecy, yet such a prophecy is not found anywhere in the Old Testament. 2:23

[Minimalist]

I have read Revelations, several times.

And I have concluded that it is incoherent, inconsistent and utterly beyond logical comprehension.

If you wish to make a case for your religion please don't use this.

It is a fail just waiting to happen.

There is a line in Revelations which dates it to late 68 or early 69 AD.
Revelations 17

9And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition

Five are fallen: Augustus; Tiberius; Caligula; Claudius; Nero.

One is: Servius Sulpicius Galba who was emperor for 7 months in the aftermath of Nero's suicide. From July 68 to January 69 AD.

and the other is not yet come; Titus Flavius Vespasianus... who at that precise moment in time was preparing to assault Jerusalem after crushing the Great Revolt in Galilee. Josephus, famously, got on Vespasian's good side by predicting that he would soon be emperor.... something which would not have been lost on the other Jews who were screaming about Josephus being a traitor. We can forgive the author for not guessing that two other generals ( Otho and Vitellius) would also try to seize the throne in 69 AD. No one could have seen that coming.


It seems that whatever this thing may have been when it ended, at some point it began as a Jewish Apocalyptic writing about the shit-storm they were about to suffer at the hands of the Romans. Xtians probably adapted it for their own use later on.