Hey everybody,
I came across a website that has arguments against the Christian faith and against the Holy Bible
http://www.geocities.com/b_r_a_d_99/index.htmlI decided to read some of their arguments so that I can research them and hopefully learn something by defending our faith. But, one thing that they mentioned was an inconsistency between the Gospels, and I couldn't find any argument against it.
What they said was that the Gospels did not agree with each other on where Jesus first appeared to the eleven disciples as a group after resurrecting from the dead. The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows in chapter 28 verse 10 that Jesus appeared to the women who brought spices to His tomb and told them to tell the disciples that He will meet them in Galilee, and in verse 16 it says that they went to Galilee and met Jesus for the first time as a group there. However, in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24 verses 33-36 says that Jesus appeared to the disciples for the first time in Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Galilee are about 60 miles apart.
I was once told that the four gospels are not to be compared to each other because each one was written towards a different audience. But if this is true, how can the gospels not agree on such an important event?
Someone please try to answer this question.
Thanks and God bless.
Comments
Just as a recapitulation of the points I had originally propounded;
a.) The appearance in Mark's gospel clearly coincides with the appearance in John 20.
b.) They both begin with the introductory greeting of peace to the disciples and include the witnessing of our Lord's hands, feet and/or side.
c.) Most significantly, they take place within closed doors, while Matthew's account takes place on a mountain in Galilee.
d.) There are no contradictions in these gospel accounts, only antagonists of Christianity with incoherent and contradictory reasoning.
I retrieved this article from http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/532
I am most certain it will appease your apprehensive state of mind.
"Jesus met with His disciples both in Jerusalem and in Galilee, but at different times. On the day of His resurrection, He met with all of the apostles (except Thomas) in Jerusalem just as both Luke and John recorded (Luke 24:33-43; John 20:19-25). Since Jesus was on the Earth for only forty days following His resurrection (cf. Acts 1:3), sometime between this meeting with His apostles in Jerusalem and His ascension more than five weeks later, Jesus met with seven of His disciples at the Sea of Tiberias in Galilee (John 21:1-14), and later with all eleven of the apostles on a mountain in Galilee that Jesus earlier had appointed for them (Matthew 28:16). Sometime following these meetings in Galilee, Jesus and His disciples traveled back to Judea, where He ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives near Bethany (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-12).
None of the accounts of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances contradicts another. Rather, each writer supplemented what a different writer left out. Jesus may have appeared to the disciples a number of times during the forty days on Earth after His resurrection (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-7), while the New Testament writers mentioned only the more prominent instances in order to substantiate the fact of His resurrection.
Still, one may ask, “Why did Jesus command His apostles to ‘tarry in the city of Jerusalem’ on the day of His resurrection until they were ‘endued with power from on high’ (Luke 24:49), if He really wanted them to meet Him in Galilee?” Actually, it is an assumption to assert that Jesus made the above statement on the same day that He arose from the grave. One thing we must keep in mind as we study the Bible is that it normally is not as concerned about chronology as modern-day writings.
Frequently (especially in the gospel accounts), writers went from one subject to the next without giving the actual time or the exact order in which something was done or taught (cf. Luke 4:1-3; Matthew 4:1-11). In Luke 24, the writer omitted the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus in Galilee (mentioned by both Matthew and John). However, notice that he never stated that Jesus remained only in Jerusalem from the day He rose from the grave until the day He ascended up into heaven."
I would highly recomend for any individual struggiling with gospel authenticity or contraditions within the gospels, procuring the book entitled The Historical Reliability of the Gospels by Craig Bloomberg.
God Bless.