Jesus Interrupted

'Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible and Why We Don't Know About Them' by Bart Ehrman

Go to your local library and borrow this book. This man is a true biblical scholar. He's not seeking to destroy faith. What he actually wants is the real story of the Bible to be told and for each author to be respected for their own work-- independent of the others.

The books and letters found in the Bible were not meant to be read and interpreted as one. When these books were written, there was no "Bible". When you read, for instance, the Gospel starting at Matthew 1:1 through John 21:25, they appear to be in agreement. But simply take one occurrence, such as the events during and after Jesus' death, and compare them side by side and you'll find that they tell a decidedly different story between them.

Get your Bible and try this for yourself.

What were Jesus' last words?
Easy right? Compare Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 to Luke 23:46 and John 19:30.

When did the curtain of the sanctuary rip?
Again, Matthew agrees with Mark, but what does Luke say?

Who was present at Jesus' tomb when the stone was rolled away?
Was it Mary and the "other" Mary? Was it Mary and a group of women?

Who was seen at Jesus' empty tomb?
One angel? Two angels?

And that's but a small handful. The Bible is full of these sorts of contradictions and is hardly the unerring harmonious collection of books that most who were raised as fundamentalist Christians were lead to believe.

Some try to reconcile these things and say that all of these things mentioned in each separate book happened, but certain authors only recorded certain things. These people, in effect, are writing their own version of the gospels-- one not found in the Bible.

Check it out for yourself.