{"id":11386,"date":"2019-04-18T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T17:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/?p=11386"},"modified":"2024-06-10T10:44:54","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T17:44:54","slug":"more-of-the-top-20-most-damning-bible-contradictions-part-6-easter-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/crossexamined\/2019\/04\/more-of-the-top-20-most-damning-bible-contradictions-part-6-easter-passion\/","title":{"rendered":"More of the Top 20 Most Damning Bible Contradictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Image from Eva Blue, CC license<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

With Easter coming up, let\u2019s stick with the theme from last time<\/a> and explore interesting contradictions in the Passion narrative.<\/p>\n

23. Women brought spices to the tomb (or not)<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The importance of spices from a plot standpoint is that they\u2019re the motivation for the women\u2019s visit to the tomb on the Sunday after Jesus\u2019s crucifixion. You need to get someone there to discover the empty tomb.<\/p>\n

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices\u00a0so that they might go to anoint Jesus\u2019 body<\/strong>.\u00a0Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb\u00a0and they asked each other, \u201cWho will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?\u201d (Mark 16:1\u20133)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Several commenters (and the author of Mark himself) have noted another plot hole: why would the women bother to make the trip with no way to roll back the stone at the doorway? The previous verse makes clear that the women had watched the burial and knew about the stone.<\/p>\n

But set that aside. The gospel of John tells a different story about who applied the spices. Rewind to Friday afternoon:<\/p>\n

With Pilate\u2019s permission, [Joseph of Arimathea] came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus\u2019 body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices<\/strong>, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. (John 19:38\u201340)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Seventy-five pounds<\/em> of spices? Have you ever carried a 75-pound backpack or lifted a 75-pound weight at the gym? That sounds like an impractical weight and a pointlessly extravagant gift, but let\u2019s set that aside as well. Now the story has men<\/em> applying the spices. In John\u2019s story, the women (or woman) goes for no reason: \u201cEarly on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb\u201d (John 20:1<\/a>). No reason, that is, except as a literary prop to discover the empty tomb.<\/p>\n

As an aside, note that a body encased in an enormous mound of spice bound in place with linen strips (I\u2019m envisioning the Michelin Man<\/a>\u00a0oozing aloe and smelling of myrrh) is not what the Shroud of Turin image<\/a> shows, and John talks about strips<\/em> of linen rather than the Shroud of Turin\u2019s long sheet, so John\u2019s story can\u2019t coexist with such a relic.<\/p>\n

Depending on the gospel you pick, women go to the tomb to apply spices Sunday morning (but didn\u2019t actually use them) or<\/em> men successfully apply the spices Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

24. Peter\u2019s denials<\/strong><\/h4>\n

This example is of less importance, but it\u2019s well-known and shows yet another set of contradictions. At the Last Supper, Jesus said that his disciples will scatter once he is taken away, but Peter protested that he wouldn\u2019t. Jesus tells Peter that he will disavow him three times before the rooster crows, and indeed that\u2019s what happens.<\/p>\n

But read the accounts, and the story differs in each of the gospels.<\/p>\n