The Easter Challenge

Christianity is, appropriately, named after Jesus the Christ. Jesus is the central character of Christian belief, since it is his sacrifice which permit believers to be "saved". Thus, the story of Jesus is central to Christianity, and even more importantly, the story of Easter.

Unfortunately, this story, as given to us by the group of four Bible books known as the "Gospels", is hopelessly contradictory. Much like the rest of the Bible. Here are some examples :

Who were the women?
Matthew: Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (28:1)
Mark: Mary Magdalene, the mother of James, and Salome (16:1)
Luke: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women (24:10)
John: Mary Magdalene (20:1)

Who was at the tomb when they arrived?
Matthew: One angel (28:2-7)
Mark: One young man (16:5)
Luke: Two men (24:4)
John: Two angels (20:12)

After the women, to whom did Jesus first appear?
Matthew: Eleven disciples (28:16)
Mark: Two disciples in the country, later to eleven (16:12,14)
Luke: Two disciples in Emmaus, later to eleven (24:13,36)
John: Ten disciples (Judas and Thomas were absent) (20:19, 24)
Paul: First to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve. (Twelve? Judas was dead). (I Corinthians 15:5)

Did Jesus stay on earth for a while?
Mark: No (16:19) Compare 16:14 with John 20:19 to show that this was all done on Sunday
Luke: No (24:50-52) It all happened on Sunday
John: Yes, at least eight days (20:26, 21:1-22)
Acts: Yes, at least forty days (1:3)

There are more. These four contradictions are from the "Easter Challenge", started by famous preacher-turned-atheist Dan Barker in his book "Losing Faith In Faith: From Preacher To Atheist". Barker is also the PR director for the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

His challenge is simple : reconstitute the four accounts of what happened on Easter into one coherent (i.e. non-contradictory) story. Simple, but impossible, since these accounts are grossly contradictory. Yet some people try.

According to my personal correspondance with him, in over 15 years, he received a few attempts to resolve the contradictions of the Easter story. A couple did submit coherent narratives, but not without changing the meaning of some words. When asked to validate these changes, they met with failure.

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence - contradictory testimonies do not prove the non-existence of an event. However, absence of evidence does make a concept irrelevant.

Given that all we have is an incoherent account, coupled with the fact that it is in a religiously-motivated, non-contemporary book, failure to answer to the Challenge is little more than the last nail in the cross (so to speak). That Christians rely on such a silly story for the center of their faith is a testimony to the paucity of evidence for the Christian worldview, and religious worldviews in general.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic