ideologyhunter
Contributor
Mike Davis' book The Atheist's Introduction to the New Testament is a brief (179 pp.) discussion of internal and external problems with the NT. It is pitched to the layman, and misses a number of contradictions that I wish he'd put in. (Go back to Cheerful Charlie's post #17 on pg 1 for a short list of these problems.)
If the four gospel writers presented their testimony in court, one after the other, they'd have a hard time with a well-prepared prosecutor. Can you imagine Matthew's predicament? "So, Matt -- may I call you Matt? -- you say that many dead people came out of their graves and walked around in Jerusalem when Jesus was executed. And you say many people saw them. Many!! Yet your three fellow authors report no such event. Do you have ANY evidence from ANY other source that these -- these zombie people -- got out of their graves? Can you supply any names of people who saw this happen? And incidentally, where did the 'dead' folks go after they walked around town? Did they take rooms at an inn? Did they buy lunch for their fellow zombies? Did they climb back in their graves? Well, DID they? Let the record show, witness is shaking head no...Now, Matt, let's go to the tomb story. You say that Jesus' mother and 'the other Mary' went to the tomb and experienced a violent earthquake, at which time they saw an angel roll away the stone. But we've heard from the other three writers, and they tell us that no such thing happened. They say the women got there and found the stone was already rolled away. No earthquake, no angel at work. I must ask you again, are Mark, Luke, and John hiding something, or did you in fact make up the earthquake story? Let the record show, witness is scowling at the floor."
At any rate, if you go into this subject, see if the author covers the basic controversies, on which the gospels do not achieve four-part alignment:
On what day was Jesus executed? (Passover, or, in John's gospel, the day after Passover?)
Did he carry his cross, or was it carried for him?
What was the hour of the crucifixion?
Did both of the thieves revile Jesus, or did one repent and ask for salvation? (If one did, how come Matthew and Mark didn't include this faith-promoting story?)
What were Jesus' last words? (Three versions are given in the four gospels)
Who went to the tomb on "Resurrection morning"?
What/who did they encounter?
What did they do next? And what did Jesus tell them to convey to the disciples?
How many post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus were there?
Christians like to pretend that the gospels are either eye-witness accounts (which they do not claim to be) or based on well-preserved eye-witness testimony (unknowable), and that God Himself inspired the writing of the gospels. But even tiny details like the genealogy of Jesus don't harmonize...and details about the most momentous event, the key event on which the religion is based, are impossible to harmonize among the four gospels (and Acts, which sometimes comments on the Passion week.)
If the four gospel writers presented their testimony in court, one after the other, they'd have a hard time with a well-prepared prosecutor. Can you imagine Matthew's predicament? "So, Matt -- may I call you Matt? -- you say that many dead people came out of their graves and walked around in Jerusalem when Jesus was executed. And you say many people saw them. Many!! Yet your three fellow authors report no such event. Do you have ANY evidence from ANY other source that these -- these zombie people -- got out of their graves? Can you supply any names of people who saw this happen? And incidentally, where did the 'dead' folks go after they walked around town? Did they take rooms at an inn? Did they buy lunch for their fellow zombies? Did they climb back in their graves? Well, DID they? Let the record show, witness is shaking head no...Now, Matt, let's go to the tomb story. You say that Jesus' mother and 'the other Mary' went to the tomb and experienced a violent earthquake, at which time they saw an angel roll away the stone. But we've heard from the other three writers, and they tell us that no such thing happened. They say the women got there and found the stone was already rolled away. No earthquake, no angel at work. I must ask you again, are Mark, Luke, and John hiding something, or did you in fact make up the earthquake story? Let the record show, witness is scowling at the floor."
At any rate, if you go into this subject, see if the author covers the basic controversies, on which the gospels do not achieve four-part alignment:
On what day was Jesus executed? (Passover, or, in John's gospel, the day after Passover?)
Did he carry his cross, or was it carried for him?
What was the hour of the crucifixion?
Did both of the thieves revile Jesus, or did one repent and ask for salvation? (If one did, how come Matthew and Mark didn't include this faith-promoting story?)
What were Jesus' last words? (Three versions are given in the four gospels)
Who went to the tomb on "Resurrection morning"?
What/who did they encounter?
What did they do next? And what did Jesus tell them to convey to the disciples?
How many post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus were there?
Christians like to pretend that the gospels are either eye-witness accounts (which they do not claim to be) or based on well-preserved eye-witness testimony (unknowable), and that God Himself inspired the writing of the gospels. But even tiny details like the genealogy of Jesus don't harmonize...and details about the most momentous event, the key event on which the religion is based, are impossible to harmonize among the four gospels (and Acts, which sometimes comments on the Passion week.)