{"id":21911,"date":"2024-12-10T13:31:52","date_gmt":"2024-12-10T18:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/?p=21911"},"modified":"2024-12-10T13:32:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T18:32:39","slug":"mark-168-breaking-the-silencegiven-the-fact-that-satan-is-the-father-of-lies-john-844-it-should-be-no-surprise-that-one-of-the-most-disputed-days-in-history-just-so-happens-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/mark-168-breaking-the-silencegiven-the-fact-that-satan-is-the-father-of-lies-john-844-it-should-be-no-surprise-that-one-of-the-most-disputed-days-in-history-just-so-happens-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark 16:8 – Breaking the Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem:<\/strong> 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 \u201cjust so happens\u201d to be the most important day for Christians\u2014the day on which Jesus rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12-18). For centuries, critics of Christ have ridiculed the gospel writers\u2019 resurrection narratives, contending that there are blatant contradictions within the accounts. In his book, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist<\/em>, Dan Barker lists no less than 17 \u201cdiscrepancies\u201d within the resurrection accounts alone (1992, pp. 178-184). In his book Biblical Errancy<\/em>, skeptic Dennis McKinsey lists 20 alleged discrepancies under a section titled, \u201cThe Resurrection Accounts are Contradictory\u201d (2000, pp. 447-454). One of the questions that both of these gentlemen ask is, \u201cDid the women tell what happened?\u201d (Barker, p. 183; McKinsey, p. 451).
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\nSolution:<\/strong> Allegedly, Mark\u2019s account of the women who came to the tomb on the morning of Jesus\u2019 resurrection disagrees with what Matthew and Luke recorded. Notice carefully what these three gospel writers penned concerning the women following their visit to the empty tomb.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word<\/strong>\u201d (Matthew 28:8, emp. added).<\/p>\n

\u201cThen they returned from the tomb and told all these things<\/strong> to the eleven and to all the rest\u201d (Luke 24:9, emp. added).<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone<\/strong>, for they were afraid\u201d (Mark 16:8, emp. added).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since Matthew and Luke indicated that the women brought word of Jesus\u2019 resurrection to the disciples, while Mark specified that the women \u201csaid nothing to anyone,\u201d then supposedly the resurrection narratives prove unreliable. Is this true?<\/p>\n

Before answering this question, consider what the prophet Isaiah foretold about the silence of the coming Messiah. He wrote (as if it already had happened):<\/p>\n

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth<\/strong>; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,<\/strong> so He opened not His mouth<\/strong> (53:7, emp. added).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would not open His mouth, but would be \u201csilent.\u201d Question: Did Jesus ever speak during His ministry? Certainly, but this prophecy does not characterize Jesus\u2019 entire ministry. Instead, it refers to the particular time when Jesus was tried and crucified. Still, however, Jesus was not completely silent even during His trial and crucifixion (cf. Matthew 26:64; 27:11; Luke 23:28-31,43). So how could Isaiah describe Him as being \u201csilent\u201d? Aside from the fact that \u201cto open the mouth\u201d frequently meant more than simply to speak or not to speak (see Lyons<\/a>, 2004), Isaiah\u2019s prophecy was fulfilled because there was a particular period of time in which Jesus remained silent.<\/strong> Mark recorded that Jesus, while being falsely accused, \u201ckept silent and answered nothing\u201d (Mark 14:61; cf. Matthew 26:63). The silence of the Sufferer was momentary, and any attempt to force Isaiah\u2019s prophecy to mean more than temporary silence is unjustifiable.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the women who visited Jesus\u2019 tomb following His resurrection \u201csaid nothing\u201d for a period of time<\/strong>. Barker, McKinsey, and other critics who point to Mark 16:8 as contradicting Matthew 28:8 and Luke 24:9 fail to consider that these verses are incongruous only if the writers were referring to the exact same period of the day. The truth is, initially<\/strong>, the women were afraid and silent<\/strong>, as Mark recorded. Then, later that day, they broke their silence and \u201ctold all these things to the eleven and to all the rest\u201d (Luke 24:9). Mark\u2019s narrative does not contradict Matthew and Luke, but supplements their accounts. What\u2019s more, if Bible critics were to examine all<\/strong> of Mark\u2019s resurrection narrative, they would learn that following the women\u2019s temporary silence regarding Jesus\u2019 empty tomb (16:8), Mary Magdalene \u201ctold those who had been with Him\u201d (16:10) just as the angel had commanded her and the other women earlier in the day (16:7). Thus, Mark defined what he meant when he wrote \u201cthey said nothing to anyone.\u201d They said nothing for a time<\/strong>, and then later bore witness of Jesus\u2019 resurrection to the disciples.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cjust so happens\u201d to be the most important day for Christians\u2014the day on which Jesus rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12-18). For centuries, critics of Christ haveContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,8,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-errors","category-bible-study","category-bible-teaching","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21911\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}