Gospels Archives - Bible Authenticity

Do Gospels Contradict About the Earthquake & the Stone Moved?

March 16, 2024 BibleAuthenticity Comments 34 comments

Is there any evidence for the resurrection? — Do the gospels contradict about when the earthquake occurred and the stone was moved at the resurrection of Jesus?

Critics claim that the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John contradict about the time when the earthquake occurred and the stone was moved at the time of Jesus’ resurrection.

“I am struck by a certain consistency among otherwise independent witnesses in placing Mary Magdalene both at the cross and at the tomb on the third day. If this is not a historical datum but something that a Christian storyteller made up and then passed along to others, how is it that this specific bit of information has found its way into accounts that otherwise did not make use of one another? . . . all of our early gospels–not just John and Mark (with Matthew and Luke as well) but also the Gospel of Peter, which appears to be independent of all of them–indicate that it was Mary Magdalen who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb. How did all of these independent accounts happen to name exactly the same person in this role? It seems hard to believe that this just happened by way of a fluke of storytelling. It seems much more likely that, at least with the traditions involving the empty tomb, we are dealing with something actually rooted in history”—Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene, p 226, by Bart Ehrman read more

Do We Have Eyewitness Testimony in the Gospels?

July 4, 2023 BibleAuthenticity Comments 5 comments

Titles of the Gospels — Did Matthew, Mark, Luke and John really use any eyewitness testimony when they wrote the Gospels? Were any of these four gospel writers eyewitnesses themselves?

Do we have eyewitness testimony in the gospels?

“Even though we might desperately want to know the identities of the authors of the earliest Gospels, we simply don’t have sufficient evidence. The books were written anonymously and evidently not by eyewitnesses”—Bart D. Ehrman

The Gospels were not written by eyewitnesses, nor did they include any eyewitness testimony, so says the popular agnostic Bible scholar, who has quite a following. While such claims were rare prior to the 1800’s, they have been increasing, and ever more so in recent times. read more

Titles of the Gospels – Are They Genuine?

August 2, 2017 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

The Titles of the Gospels

History says Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote the books with those titles. People seem to have a highly variable standard in their assessment of what ancient writings are genuine, especially the Bible. What do we mean? Here is an example:

Most people accept Alexander the Great as a real historical figure. Yet, the two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than 400 years after the Great One’s death 323 BCE. Legends about him developed centuries after these two writers. Yet, Alexander’s true, accurate history is viewed as being preserved for hundreds of years prior to these legends. read more

Is the Temple Cleansing in John Accurate?

April 14, 2017 BibleAuthenticity Comments 0 Comment

Jesus' Temple Cleansing — Does the temple cleansing in John contradict the Synoptic Gospels?

Critics claim that the temple cleansing in the Gospel of John is either the same temple cleansing reported by the three Synoptics, Matthew, Mark and Luke, or is out of place, therefore constituting a “contradiction” in the Gospels. Below are listed a number of reasons why the temple cleansing in John is accurate and was performed by Jesus around the time of the first Passover after his baptism, which was probably about six months earlier. John clearly states in John 20:31 and John 21:25 that he was highly selective in his reporting on the events of Jesus’ life. The other three Gospel writers had already reported on the second temple cleansing by the time John wrote his gospel. Upon close examination, it seems fairly obvious that John was very familiar with these other three Gospels, and quite possibly had copies of them in his possession as he wrote the fourth Gospel. John filled in many gaps that the Synoptics did not report on. In fact, 92% of his gospel is unique. John reports the following details about the first temple cleansing, that are omitted from the second temple cleansing recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke: read more

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