rhutchin

I think the text is clear in saying that "sevens" is not seven individuals but seven pairs consisting of one male and one female. The unclean animals are taken by two, or one pair, consisting of a male and female. Had the translation said "by twos" then we would read it as two pairs. Some translations read "seven each" rather than "sevens" however, the qualifier "a male and his female" also points to seven pairs and not seven individuals as this would leave one animal without a mate. Later, the text says, "two by two" which also seems to refer to pairs.

Nonetheless, whoever derived the original argument for a contradiction here must have gone into detail about this so if we could get that explanation, we could see what the thinking was. You seem to be guessing about the nature of that argument which suggests to me that you have not seen it. I suspect that you would find that argument as interesting as I would.

rhutchin

In Romans, Paul explains it this way--

Romans 9
16 ...it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”
18 Therefore [God] has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

Johnny Skeptic

What about God's failure to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar like he promised to?

Roland

The true contradiction in the resurrection accounts lies not in how many people came to the tomb, but in who told Mary Magdalene that Jesus had risen.

In Matthew's version, Mary is clearly told by a angel who sends her off to bring the news to the disciples. In John, she tells the disciples that she thinks the body has been stolen and is told by Jesus himself that he has been resurrected.

Dogfish

Or maybe he sold 360,000 to his neighbor...

Or maybe he was just leasing 360,000 of them...

Or maybe he was inflating the numbers for tax purposes...

rhutchin

Then again, maybe you don't have an inkling as to what was going on because the text doesn't tell us.

Missing information does not make a contradiction.

rhutchin

That is not necessarily the way events are required to have played out. We know that a group of women that included Mary M. went to the tomb in the early morning. At some point, Mary Magdalene leaves the other women and goes to tell Peter (and John) that the tomb is empty. Given the scant information she gives Peter, it seems that Mary left the tomb immediately when she saw that the rock had been rolled away. She was not with the other women when they approached closer to the tomb and were confronted by the angels. It is the group of women without Mary who then leave the tomb to tell the disciples (in some location other than with Peter and John). Mary follows Peter and John to the tomb and lingers behind where she is met by Jesus. This scenario seems to be consistent with the information that we are given by Matthew and John. I think this is the basic harmony espoused by Biblical commentators.

Minimalist

So once again the bible is the "inerrant word of god" until it doesn't make any fucking sense.....then YOU step in to make it all plausible?


Right.

There's an easier answer, you know. It's horseshit from the word "go."

Roland

The only problem with this attempt at "harmonization" is that Matthew's account as written doesn't leave an opening for such an interpretation. He specifically lists only two women seeing the angel and getting instructions from him/it to tell the disciples the news about Jesus. The two Marys are the only possible antecedents for the "women" and the pronoun "they" mentioned throughout the account. Now, if Mary M did actually leave the tomb before hearing what he/it had to say, then Matthew is either the most incompetent writer who ever lived or he actually believed what he wrote - that Mary M was in on all the action from first to last. (I mean what halfway intelligent person reading Matthew's account would picture Mary drifting from the scene if John's gospel didn't exist?).

The problem with these lame attempts at harmonizing is that they make mincemeat of the actual texts and turn the authors into either hacks or fools.

Roland

Another obvious contadiction is that Luke says that Jesus appeared to "the eleven" on Easter night, while John claims Thomas was absent.