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Finding Jesus's Empty Tomb

distraff

distraff

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I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.

This debate is only about the consistency of the four gospels that is it. So lets try to make an honest effort to tell a story of the finding of the empty tomb from all four gospels that does not contradict any of the four and brings their accounts together. I am asking for someone to do so because I tried and failed to do this. I looked online and could not find anyone who had done this to my satisfaction.

To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
 
Forgive me, I am trying to understand your premise here. Are you searching for extra biblical accounts of the resurrection to corroborate the gospels OR are you looking for consistencies and/or discrepancies when comparing the gospel accounts to one another?
 
FluffyNinja said:
Forgive me, I am trying to understand your premise here. Are you searching for extra biblical accounts of the resurrection to corroborate the gospels OR are you looking for consistencies and/or discrepancies when comparing the gospel accounts to one another?
Click to expand...

No, extra biblical accounts. I just want to hear a biblical account. I already tried and it is too much of a monstrosity to post on this forum.
 
there is no inconsistency between the accounts. it is the same story told ideally from a different point of view.
if you want to hear the biblical account then I suggest reading the verses that you have listed in your OP.

if you have specific questions then please ask them.
 
distraff said:
I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.


To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
Click to expand...

Multiple eyewitnesses accounts vary when describing details specifically. That's just the truth of it. What more when they've witnessed something supernatural?

News of Jesus' Resurrection naturally would've produced so much excitement - after all, Jesus was a very high-profile and controversial figure.
It's only just been three days since His death, so Jesus was still fresh news.
People were probably talking about the earthquake that "coincided" with His death........ to say that He was the topic in most dinner conversations would probably be an understatement. Remember that Jesus had some followers (aside from the Apostles), too.

In the ensuing chaos of having heard that the tomb was empty, people would undoubtedly have checked out the tomb for themselves.....and would've had repeated what they heard about the women's account (the first ones to have discovered Him gone), and Mary Magdalene's (and many others'), account of having seen Him.
How the news was repeated would've changed being passed from one person to another.

But they all have one thing in common: the tomb is empty, Jesus had risen from the dead, and He was seen.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by distraff View Post
I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.


To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
Click to expand...



while the resurrection accounts may seem to be inconsistent, it cannot be proven that the accounts are contradictory.


Here is a possible harmony of the narratives of the resurrection of Christ and His post-resurrection appearances, in chronological order:


Jesus is buried, as several women watch (Matthew 27:57-61; Mark 15:42-47; Luke 23:50-56; John 19:38-42).

The tomb is sealed and a guard is set (Matthew 27:62-66).

At least 3 women, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, prepare spices to go to the tomb (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1).

An angel descends from heaven, rolls the stone away, and sits on it. There is an earthquake, and the guards faint (Matthew 28:2-4).

The women arrive at the tomb and find it empty. Mary Magdalene leaves the other women there and runs to tell the disciples (John 20:1-2).

The women still at the tomb see two angels who tell them that Jesus is risen and who instruct them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee (Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:2-8; Luke 24:1-8).

The women leave to bring the news to the disciples (Matthew 28:8).

The guards, having roused themselves, report the empty tomb to the authorities, who bribe the guards to say the body was stolen (Matthew 28:11-15).

Mary the mother of James and the other women, on their way to find the disciples, see Jesus (Matthew 28:9-10).

The women relate what they have seen and heard to the disciples (Luke 24:9-11).

Peter and John run to the tomb, see that it is empty, and find the grave clothes (Luke 24:12; John 20:2-10).

Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb. She sees the angels, and then she sees Jesus (John 20:11-18).

Later the same day, Jesus appears to Peter (Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5).

Still on the same day, Jesus appears to Cleopas and another disciple on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32).

That evening, the two disciples report the event to the Eleven in Jerusalem (Luke 24:32-35).

Jesus appears to ten disciples—Thomas is missing (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-25).

Jesus appears to all eleven disciples—Thomas included (John 20:26-31).

Jesus appears to seven disciples by the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-25).

Jesus appears to about 500 disciples in Galilee (1 Corinthians 15:6).

Jesus appears to His half-brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7).

Jesus commissions His disciples (Matthew 28:16-20).

Jesus teaches His disciples the Scriptures and promises to send the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:4-5).

Jesus ascends into heaven (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:6-12).


Can the various resurrection accounts from the four Gospels be harmonized?
 
distraff said:
I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.

This debate is only about the consistency of the four gospels that is it. So lets try to make an honest effort to tell a story of the finding of the empty tomb from all four gospels that does not contradict any of the four and brings their accounts together. I am asking for someone to do so because I tried and failed to do this. I looked online and could not find anyone who had done this to my satisfaction.

To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
Click to expand...


Now, you can just imagine the investigation/inquiry that followed! The soldiers guarding the tomb had a lot to answer to.

Where is the body?

Who took the body?

Why is the body gone?

Etc..,
 
distraff said:
I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.

This debate is only about the consistency of the four gospels that is it. So lets try to make an honest effort to tell a story of the finding of the empty tomb from all four gospels that does not contradict any of the four and brings their accounts together. I am asking for someone to do so because I tried and failed to do this. I looked online and could not find anyone who had done this to my satisfaction.

To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
Click to expand...


The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus

An examination of both Pauline and gospel material leads to eight lines of evidence in support of the conclusion that Jesus's tomb was discovered empty:
(1) Paul's testimony implies the historicity of the empty tomb,
(2) the presence of the empty tomb pericope in the pre-Markan passion story supports its historicity,
(3) the use of 'on the first day of the week' instead of 'on the third day' points to the primitiveness of the tradition,
(4) the narrative is theologically unadorned and non-apologetic,
(5) the discovery of the tomb by women is highly probable,
(6) the investigation of the empty tomb by the disciples is historically probable,
(7) it would have been impossible for the disciples to proclaim the resurrection in Jerusalem had the tomb not been empty, (8) the Jewish polemic presupposes the empty tomb.

(Source: "The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus." New Testament Studies 31 (1985): 39-67.)



Until recently the empty tomb has been widely regarded as both an offense to modern intelligence and an embarrassment for Christian faith; an offense because it implies a nature miracle akin to the resuscitation of a corpse and an embarrassment because it is nevertheless almost inextricably bound up with Jesus' resurrection, which lies at the very heart of the Christian faith. But in the last several years, a remarkable change seems to have taken place, and the scepticism that so characterized earlier treatments of this problem appears to be fast receding.2 Though some theologians still insist with Bultmann that the resurrection is not a historical event,3 this incident is certainly presented in the gospels as a historical event, one of the manifestations of which was that the tomb of Jesus was reputedly found empty on the first day of the week by several of his women followers; this fact, at least, is therefore in principle historically verifiable. But how credible is the evidence for the historicity of Jesus' empty tomb?


Read more: The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus | Reasonable Faith
 
distraff said:
I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.

This debate is only about the consistency of the four gospels that is it. So lets try to make an honest effort to tell a story of the finding of the empty tomb from all four gospels that does not contradict any of the four and brings their accounts together. I am asking for someone to do so because I tried and failed to do this. I looked online and could not find anyone who had done this to my satisfaction.

To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
Click to expand...


Here's an investigative account of a skeptic who set out to debunk the Resurrection, and eventually got convinced by his own investigation.
He believed.






Who Moved the Stone?
by Frank Morison, Lee Strobel (Foreword by)


"I owe Morison a great debt of gratitude. Who Moved the Stone? was an important early link in a long chain of evidence that God used to bring me into his kingdom. Morison’s stirring intellectual exploration of the historical record proved to be an excellent starting point for my spiritual investigation." --From the foreword by Lee Strobel English journalist.

Frank Morison had a tremendous drive to learn of Christ. The strangeness of the Resurrection story had captured his attention, and, influenced by skeptic thinkers at the turn of the century, he set out to prove that the story of Christ’s Resurrection was only a myth.

His probings, however, led him to discover the validity of the biblical record in a moving, personal way.

Who Moved the Stone? is considered by many to be a classic apologetic on the subject of the Resurrection. Morison includes a vivid and poignant account of Christ’s betrayal, trial, and death as a backdrop to his retelling of the climactic Resurrection itself. Among the chapter titles are: * The Book That Refused to Be Written * The Real Case Against the Prisoner * What Happened Before Midnight on Thursday * Between Sunset and Dawn * The Witness of the Great Stone * Some Realities of That Far-off Morning Who Moved the Stone? is a well-researched book that is as fascinating in its appeal to reason as it is accurate to the truthfulness of the Resurrection.

Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison — Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists


 
distraff said:
I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.

This debate is only about the consistency of the four gospels that is it. So lets try to make an honest effort to tell a story of the finding of the empty tomb from all four gospels that does not contradict any of the four and brings their accounts together. I am asking for someone to do so because I tried and failed to do this. I looked online and could not find anyone who had done this to my satisfaction.

To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
Click to expand...


Of course, we have to talk about the guard!



Behind the story as Matthew tells it seems to lie a tradition history of Jewish and Christian polemic, a developing pattern of assertion and counter-assertion:{2}

Christian: 'The Lord is risen!'
Jew: 'No, his disciples stole away his body.'
Christian: 'The guard at the tomb would have prevented any such theft.'
Jew: 'No, his disciples stole away his body while the guard slept.'
Christian: 'The chief priests bribed the guard to say this.'


Though Matthew alone of the four evangelists mentions the guard at the tomb (John mentions a guard in connection with Jesus' arrest; cf. Mk. 14. 44), the gospel of Peter also relates the story of the guard at the tomb, and its account may well be independent of Matthew, since the verbal similarities are practically nil.{3}


But perhaps the strongest consideration in favor of the historicity of the guard is the history of polemic presupposed in this story. The Jewish slander that the disciples stole the body was probably the reaction to the Christian proclamation that Jesus was risen.{14} This Jewish allegation is also mentioned in Justin Dialogue with Trypho 108.



But if this is a probable reconstruction of the history of the polemic, then it is very difficult to believe the guard is unhistorical.{15} In the first place it is unlikely that the Christians would invent a fiction like the guard, which everyone, especially their Jewish opponents, would realize never existed. Lies are the most feeble sort of apologetic there could be. Since the Jewish/ Christian controversy no doubt originated in Jerusalem, then it is hard to understand how Christians could have tried to refute their opponents' charge with a falsification which would have been plainly untrue, since there were no guards about who claimed to have been stationed at the tomb. But secondly, it is even more improbable that confronted with this palpable lie, the Jews would, instead of exposing and denouncing it as such, proceed to create another lie, even stupider, that the guard had fallen asleep while the disciples broke into the tomb and absconded with the body. If the existence of the guard were false, then the Jewish polemic would never have taken the course that it did. Rather the controversy would have stopped right there with the renunciation that any such guard had ever been set by the Jews. It would never have come to the point that the Christians had to invent a third lie, that the Jews had bribed the fictional guard. So although there are reasons to doubt the existence of the guard at the tomb, there are also weighty considerations in its favor. It seems best to leave it an open question. Ironically, the value of Matthew's story for the evidence for the resurrection has nothing to do with the guard at all or with his intention of refuting the allegation that the disciples had stolen the body. The conspiracy theory has been universally rejected on moral and psychological grounds, so that the guard story as such is really quite superfluous. Guard or no guard, no critic today believes that the disciples could have robbed the tomb and faked the resurrection. Rather the real value of Matthew's story is the incidental -- and for that reason all the more reliable -- information that Jewish polemic never denied that the tomb was empty, but instead tried to explain it away.
Thus the early opponents of the Christians themselves bear witness to the fact of the empty tomb.{16}


The Guard at the Tomb
 
FluffyNinja said:
Forgive me, I am trying to understand your premise here. Are you searching for extra biblical accounts of the resurrection to corroborate the gospels OR are you looking for consistencies and/or discrepancies when comparing the gospel accounts to one another?
Click to expand...

He is attempting to debunk Christianity, as he always does. Nothing more, nothing less.
 
ludin said:
there is no inconsistency between the accounts. it is the same story told ideally from a different point of view.
if you want to hear the biblical account then I suggest reading the verses that you have listed in your OP.

if you have specific questions then please ask them.
Click to expand...

I did more than read those verses. I tried to piece them together into a single account the best I could, and believe me I tried my hardest to make them work. What I got was an embarrassing monstrosity.

If you believe they are consistent then tell me what happened according to all four gospels. This should be really easy to do if according to you they are consistent.
 
tosca1 said:
Multiple eyewitnesses accounts vary when describing details specifically. That's just the truth of it. What more when they've witnessed something supernatural?

News of Jesus' Resurrection naturally would've produced so much excitement - after all, Jesus was a very high-profile and controversial figure.
It's only just been three days since His death, so Jesus was still fresh news.
People were probably talking about the earthquake that "coincided" with His death........ to say that He was the topic in most dinner conversations would probably be an understatement. Remember that Jesus had some followers (aside from the Apostles), too.

In the ensuing chaos of having heard that the tomb was empty, people would undoubtedly have checked out the tomb for themselves.....and would've had repeated what they heard about the women's account (the first ones to have discovered Him gone), and Mary Magdalene's (and many others'), account of having seen Him.
How the news was repeated would've changed being passed from one person to another.

But they all have one thing in common: the tomb is empty, Jesus had risen from the dead, and He was seen.
Click to expand...

You can believe what you like about the actual divinity of the accounts. This debate is about whether the accounts are consistent. You seem to suggest that they are not consistent at all and only share similarities on some of the very based points.
 
I would actually be glad if someone harmonized the accounts for me and the person you are citing certainly put up an impressive effort. If you are able to answer all my questions I will edit my own version of the combined chapters and post them on the forum.

tosca1 said:
while the resurrection accounts may seem to be inconsistent, it cannot be proven that the accounts are contradictory.


Here is a possible harmony of the narratives of the resurrection of Christ and His post-resurrection appearances, in chronological order:

At least 3 women, including Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, prepare spices to go to the tomb (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1).

An angel descends from heaven, rolls the stone away, and sits on it. There is an earthquake, and the guards faint (Matthew 28:2-4).

The women arrive at the tomb and find it empty. Mary Magdalene leaves the other women there and runs to tell the disciples (John 20:1-2).

The women still at the tomb see two angels who tell them that Jesus is risen and who instruct them to tell the disciples to go to Galilee (Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:2-8; Luke 24:1-8).

The women leave to bring the news to the disciples (Matthew 28:8).

The guards, having roused themselves, report the empty tomb to the authorities, who bribe the guards to say the body was stolen (Matthew 28:11-15).

Mary the mother of James and the other women, on their way to find the disciples, see Jesus (Matthew 28:9-10).

The women relate what they have seen and heard to the disciples (Luke 24:9-11).

Peter and John run to the tomb, see that it is empty, and find the grave clothes (Luke 24:12; John 20:2-10).

Mary Magdalene returns to the tomb. She sees the angels, and then she sees Jesus (John 20:11-18).


Can the various resurrection accounts from the four Gospels be harmonized?
Click to expand...


Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all mention seeing angels around the tomb.
 
distraff said:
I did more than read those verses. I tried to piece them together into a single account the best I could, and believe me I tried my hardest to make them work. What I got was an embarrassing monstrosity.

If you believe they are consistent then tell me what happened according to all four gospels. This should be really easy to do if according to you they are consistent.
Click to expand...

they aren't a single account. there is a single event.
they were written by different people from different points of view.
yet the story is still pretty consistent.

why should I have to tell you something that is already written that you can read for yourself.
 
ludin said:
they aren't a single account. there is a single event.
they were written by different people from different points of view.
yet the story is still pretty consistent.

why should I have to tell you something that is already written that you can read for yourself.
Click to expand...

The point of this debate is to come up with a consistent account of the empty tomb. If you are unable to do so, don't pretend like you think it is so easy to do it is not worth demonstrating. If you do not want to engage in what this thread is about then why don't you find yourself another thread?
 
distraff said:
You can believe what you like about the actual divinity of the accounts. This debate is about whether the accounts are consistent. You seem to suggest that they are not consistent at all and only share similarities on some of the very based points.
Click to expand...

Well I'm saying that the accounts are consistent:

.....they all have one thing in common: the tomb is empty, Jesus had risen from the dead, and He was seen.

 
distraff said:
I would actually be glad if someone harmonized the accounts for me and the person you are citing certainly put up an impressive effort. If you are able to answer all my questions I will edit my own version of the combined chapters and post them on the forum.



Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all mention seeing angels around the tomb.
Click to expand...

I just answered your question. The accounts are consistent:

.....they all have one thing in common: the tomb is empty, Jesus had risen from the dead, and He was seen.





If you're going to discuss - you'll have to address that! There's no getting around that!
 
Last edited:
tosca1 said:
Now, you can just imagine the investigation/inquiry that followed! The soldiers guarding the tomb had a lot to answer to.

Where is the body?

Who took the body?

Why is the body gone?

Etc..,
Click to expand...

That is interesting but this debate is not about the guards, it is about the consistency of the gospels concerning the empty tomb.
 
tosca1 said:
The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus

An examination of both Pauline and gospel material leads to eight lines of evidence in support of the conclusion that Jesus's tomb was discovered empty:
(1) Paul's testimony implies the historicity of the empty tomb,
(2) the presence of the empty tomb pericope in the pre-Markan passion story supports its historicity,
(3) the use of 'on the first day of the week' instead of 'on the third day' points to the primitiveness of the tradition,
(4) the narrative is theologically unadorned and non-apologetic,
(5) the discovery of the tomb by women is highly probable,
(6) the investigation of the empty tomb by the disciples is historically probable,
(7) it would have been impossible for the disciples to proclaim the resurrection in Jerusalem had the tomb not been empty, (8) the Jewish polemic presupposes the empty tomb.

(Source: "The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus." New Testament Studies 31 (1985): 39-67.)



Until recently the empty tomb has been widely regarded as both an offense to modern intelligence and an embarrassment for Christian faith; an offense because it implies a nature miracle akin to the resuscitation of a corpse and an embarrassment because it is nevertheless almost inextricably bound up with Jesus' resurrection, which lies at the very heart of the Christian faith. But in the last several years, a remarkable change seems to have taken place, and the scepticism that so characterized earlier treatments of this problem appears to be fast receding.2 Though some theologians still insist with Bultmann that the resurrection is not a historical event,3 this incident is certainly presented in the gospels as a historical event, one of the manifestations of which was that the tomb of Jesus was reputedly found empty on the first day of the week by several of his women followers; this fact, at least, is therefore in principle historically verifiable. But how credible is the evidence for the historicity of Jesus' empty tomb?


Read more: The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus | Reasonable Faith
Click to expand...

Whether or not this actually happened is an interesting discussion. However this debate is about telling a consistent account of how Jesus' body was discovered.
 
distraff said:
You can believe what you like about the actual divinity of the accounts. This debate is about whether the accounts are consistent. You seem to suggest that they are not consistent at all and only share similarities on some of the very based points.
Click to expand...

Ahh....I see your angle now. I've debated people of your ilk on gospel inconsistencies so many times its not worth mentioning. You are correct....there are inconsistencies among the four gospels...... in the number of women who were there, time of day, time of encounter on the road from Jerusalem, number of men or angels who appeared to the travelers., etc.... So? What's your point? Are multiple accounts of an event by eyewitnesses required to be exact down to the minute details in order for the account to have credibility? Bottom line is they all encountered an empty tomb, all had later encounters on the road, and the four separate accounts of the days following Jesus' execution and burial were close enough to establish credibility for even the most demanding of historians or theologians.
 
Non-Christian weighing in on how humans work.
One person sees something "It was red on top blue on the bottom and five people were around it."
Second person "It was blue on top red on the bottom and there were three people around it."

So. Different accounts by different people will be different. If anything, it lends to the honesty of the authors to not have tried to correct the accounts to all read exactly the same.

I thought a few several posts ago you were going to go with "nobody historically recorded their account of looking into the tomb" to which I was just going to laugh. Because, you know, governments weren't just as corrupt then as they are now...
...but I think you went in a different direction.
 
distraff said:
That is interesting but this debate is not about the guards, it is about the consistency of the gospels concerning the empty tomb.
Click to expand...

What's inconsistent about the empty tomb?

The tomb is empty because the dead man that's supposed to be occupying it was seen walking around, alive and well! :lol:
 
distraff said:
Whether or not this actually happened is an interesting discussion. However this debate is about telling a consistent account of how Jesus' body was discovered.
Click to expand...

It's been explained to you by another poster.

And I'm telling you, it's the central story that's important. Jesus was seen, alive and well.....that's the reason why the tomb was empty.
EVERYBODY'S CONSISTENT ABOUT THAT!


Who cares so much as to how it was discovered, when we can't deny that Jesus is alive after all!
We can try to poke holes as to how the empty tomb was discovered - what does that accomplish? None.
It doesn't refute the fact that it's empty! Jesus apparently rose from the dead and walked away from that tomb.
There were multiple witnesses in different places!


Small details as to how it was discovered, will tend to have variations that it got passed from one mouth to the next.
That's just normal - that happens, even today!


Anyway....that's all I can say.
I don't see the point of discussing small details (and disregarding the most significant part of it).
 
Last edited:
distraff said:
I have often head the empty tomb used as evidence that Jesus is God. This is based on multiple accounts of the experience of multiple eye witnesses in the four gospels. So I would like to hear a consistent account from someone on this forum of what exactly happened with the finding of the empty tomb by the women close to Jesus and the apostles. That is what I really want to hear, a consistent account from all four gospels.

This debate is only about the consistency of the four gospels that is it. So lets try to make an honest effort to tell a story of the finding of the empty tomb from all four gospels that does not contradict any of the four and brings their accounts together. I am asking for someone to do so because I tried and failed to do this. I looked online and could not find anyone who had done this to my satisfaction.

To make this easy, here are the chapters that talk about the finding of the empty tomb:
Matthew 28
Mark 16
Luke 24
John 20

I hope to have an interesting conversation!
Click to expand...

Here it is. Your alleged 'inconsistencies" are imagined because you didn't put it all on a timeline.

Greenleaf?s Harmony of the Resurrection Accounts
 
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