The Resurrection
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that it was open, so she went to Simon Peter and "the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved"
I thought he loved them all, what is with this?
She told them that someone has taken Jesus out of the tomb. They went to the tomb and say the linen cloths lying there. The face cloth was in a separate place, all folded up.
What about the earthquake and the angel, or the pair of angels?
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
Mary was weeping outside the tomb and 2 angels were sitting where Jesus had lain and asked why she was weeping. She said it was because someone took away the body of Jesus. Then Jesus appeared behind her and asked why she was weeping, she didn't realize it was him and said if he knew where Jesus' body was to tell her. He had her pay attention and notice it was him and then told her to go tell everyone what she had seen, so she went and told the disciples.
Here is the part with the angels. At least all of the versions of this story seem to have angels, although the order of events is still all mixed up. For example, in the Matthew story the angel was there right at the beginning of it, here Mary brought everyone back to the tomb and they left before the angel made an appearance.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
The disciples were afraid of the Jews so they were hiding, Jesus appeared among them and told them to chill out. He breathed on them and told them to receive the holy spirit.
Jesus and Thomas
Thomas was not with the others when Jesus appeared, he said he wouldn't believe unless he could see Jesus and touch his wounds. 8 days later Jesus appeared before them again and let Thomas touch his wounds. He said "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed"
I do not like this last bit. Why would it be a virtue to believe something without evidence?
The Purpose of This Book
Jesus did many other signs which are not recorded here, these have been recorded so that you can believe he is the son of God.
I think the thing that he's referring too might have to do with verses like these. There's also this "secret gospel of Mark" that was found that suggests Jesus was gay, but it's really controversial. I don't know enough about it to really have an informed opinion. Could Jesus have been gay? Who knows? I personally don't really care. Though that would really put a damper on all the homophobia from the Churches. It's really easy to cherry pick stuff from the bible to support anything really, and then accuse someone of having a wrong opinion because they cherry picked different verses. As you said "the big book of multiple choice."
ReplyDeleteAnyway, pointing out the differences such as:
When did they arrive? (dawn = still darkness I guess) how many people showed up? Was the tombopened or closed?
Who did Jesus first appear to?
ReplyDeleteWere the angel(s)/young men/man
standing or sitting?
Were they inside or outside? Did Mary Magdelene recognizeJesus? (the last verse it was some angels that told her he was alive). Where was Jesus first appearance ? Get's kind of old to point out. I keep putting them here in case someone comes along who hasn't been made aware of these differences. Or perhaps, someone can come along and try to justify these differences.
I also want to point out that even though the holy spirit descended earlier in the narrative in other gospels
ReplyDeleteon the apostles, John 7:39 seems to indicate that this was the first time the holy spirit came down. Also, how many people were present at this time? And when did it happen?
And what's up with the part about saying he performed so many miracles that weren't even accounted for in this book? I know we've pretty much beaten this dead horse silly, but it has to be said.
Interesting idea that Jesus might have been gay. A (very quick) look at the wikipedia article shows that it was discovered in 1973. For that reason alone I would be more inclined to think it is some kind of forgery. Also, the fact that it was almost immediately lost looks fishy to me. None of this means that it is for sure a fake, but without some good evidence to the contrary I am going with that. Very interesting nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteI really like your last link. The first part says Jesus performed so many signs that it isn't worth writing them all down, the rest say he will never perform a sign (except the sign of Jonah).