The Differing Reports

   Though Luke was very accurate, he was only one witness. Matthew, Mark, and John also wrote about the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Even Paul and Peter wrote about Him. If you read each account you will notice some differences, but the general story is the same. Some would say that the differences prove that the story is made up - untrue, but if all were exactly the same one could believe the disciples got together and made up the story and agreed what each would say to make sure their stories agreed. They didn't do that, they honestly told what they saw - what impressed them while they followed Jesus. When a group of people see an auto accident, each of them will give a similar story, but with some differences, depending on where they were or where they were looking or what each one thought was important. We tend to forget what we think isn't important.

   Some question why numbers differ, but when you consider the overwhelming numbers of people who were helped by Jesus, one can certainly understand some differences being mentioned. These accounts do not contradict, but complement each other. That is, each is like a description of a car. It takes many parts to make a car, but, if people describe the car, each person will mention different aspects of the car, but it's the same car. If you took all the descriptions and put them together, you would have a better discription of the car. It is the same with the Gospels.

   Morgan in "Beyond Reasonable Doubt", states, "Diversities in the stories are not necessarily contradictions in the history. On the contrary, these minor divergencies provide powerful evidence that the accounts are true. In a court of law, when you have 2 or 3 witnesses whose stories are all presented exactly alike, you begin to suspect that they have gotten together ahead of time to rehearse their accounts. You strongly suspect collusion. But if each person tells the story from his or her own perspective, each adding different details yet not contradicting the testimony of the others, you can more easily assume you are getting a genuine story." On page 8 he quotes Morris as saying, "It is a well-known rule of evidence that the testimonies of several different witnesses, each reporting from his own particular vantage point, provide the strongest possible evidence on matters of fact when the testimonies contain superficial contradictions which resolve themselves upon close and careful examination. This is exactly the situation with the various witnesses to the resurrection."

Sincerely,
Rick