Problem: Three times in the gospel of Matthew, the writer recorded where certain disciples of Jesus were instructed to meet the Lord in Galilee after His resurrection. During the Passover meal that Jesus ate the night of His betrayal, He informed His disciples, saying, “After I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matthew 26:32). Three days later, on the day of Jesus’ resurrection when Mary Magdalene and the other women came to the empty tomb of Jesus, Matthew recorded how an angel told them to notify the disciples of Jesus’ resurrection, and to tell them exactly the same thing they were told three days earlier: “He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him” (28:7). Then, only three verses later, as the women were on their way to inform the disciples of Jesus’ resurrection and the message given to them by the angel, Matthew recorded how Jesus appeared to them and said: “Rejoice!… Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me” (28:9-10). Sometime thereafter, “the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them,” and “worshipped Him” (28:16).
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Luke 24:33-37 – First Impressions
Problem: Did Jesus first appear to the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee or in Jerusalem behind closed doors?
The Gospels seem to provide conflicting information concerning the location of the Lord’s first appearance to the eleven disciples following His Resurrection.
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Luke 24:31-37 – Did Jesus Have the Same Physical Body After His Resurrection?
Problem: Some people question whether Jesus had the same body after His resurrection as He did before being raised from the grave. According to them, Jesus “appeared to people he knew but nobody recognized him…. It’s as though He had a different body”—and possibly one that was not physical.
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Luke 24:15-18 – Who saw Jesus first after His resurrection?
Problem: The first one who saw was Mary Magdalene just as it says (Mark 16:9). Matt 28:9; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:15-18; John 20:14; 1 Cor 15:3-5
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Luke 24:10 – The Resurrection Narratives
Problem: Dismissing the miracles documented in the New Testament is a favorite pastime of many skeptics, and even some religious leaders. However, this “dismissal” game gets extremely complicated, because the miracles are so closely blended with historical facts that separating the two soon becomes like trying to separate two different colors of modeling clay. Take, for instance, the plight of Sir William Ramsay. His extensive education had engrained within him the keenest sense of scholarship. Along with that sense of scholarship came a built-in prejudice about the supposed inaccuracy of the Bible (especially the book of Acts). Ramsay noted: “… [A]bout 1880 to 1890 the book of the Acts was regarded as the weakest part of the New Testament. No one that had any regard for his reputation as a scholar cared to say a word in its defence. The most conservative of theological scholars, as a rule, thought the wisest plan of defence for the New Testament as a whole was to say as little as possible about the Acts” (1915, p. 38).
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Luke 24:10 – Addition Does Not a Contradiction Make
Problem: Suppose a man is telling a story about the time he and his wife went shopping at the mall. The man mentions all the great places in the mall to buy hunting supplies and cinnamon rolls. The wife tells about the same shopping trip, yet mentions only the places to buy clothes. Is there a contradiction between the stories just because the wife mentions clothing stores but the husband mentions only cinnamon rolls and hunting supplies? No. They are simple adding to (or supplementing) each other’s story to make it more complete. That happens quite often in the resurrection accounts in the Gospels.
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Luke 24:10 – How many women were at Jesus’ tomb?
Problem: How many women were at the tomb of Jesus? The four different gospels mention different numbers. John 20:1 says one. Matt. 28:1 says two. Mark 16:1 says three. Luke also says three, but is a different three than Mark 16:1. So, which is it, one, two, three, four, or more? Does it mean there is a contradiction, or is it just different views from different perspectives? Let’s take a look
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Luke 24:10 – Do the Gospels disagree on who discovered the empty tomb?
Problem: Critics of the New Testament often suggest that the gospels present contradictory narratives regarding Jesus’ resurrection. One such argument (which is honestly rather weak but comes up surprisingly often) involves the details of who discovered Jesus’ empty tomb. The claim is that each gospel lists a different set of women and that the story, therefore, cannot be trusted. This argument, however, breaks down almost immediately on even the slightest examination. The truth is that while each of the four gospels includes unique details on the matter, they all are perfectly consistent with one another on who it was who first found the stone rolled away and the body of Jesus missing. The gospels are definitely in agreement on this.
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Luke 24:9 – Breaking the Silence
Problem: Given the fact that Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44), it should be no surprise that one of the most disputed days in history “just so happens” to be the most important day for Christians—the day on which Jesus rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12-18). For centuries, critics of Christ have ridiculed the gospel writers’ resurrection narratives, contending that there are blatant contradictions within the accounts. In his book, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist, Dan Barker lists no less than 17 “discrepancies” within the resurrection accounts alone (1992, pp. 178-184). In his book Biblical Errancy, skeptic Dennis McKinsey lists 20 alleged discrepancies under a section titled, “The Resurrection Accounts are Contradictory” (2000, pp. 447-454). One of the questions that both of these gentlemen ask is, “Did the women tell what happened?” (Barker, p. 183; McKinsey, p. 451).
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Luke 24:5-7 – Three Days and Nights
Problem: If Jesus was to be in the grave three days and nights, how do we fit those between Good Friday and Easter Sunday?
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