Hummingbirds 2012

The hummers showed up the middle of April - right on time. We were sitting on the patio at lunch one day and one buzzed through. I ran in and got the feeder and we are back in business.

David's Prom 4-14-12

Harris Family Easter Picnic 2012

Biblical Discrepancies

Does it bother you that Matthew's gospel says Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on two donkeys, and Mark, Luke and John mention just one? Then Matthew and Mark write that one angel was at the tomb, but Luke and John say there were two.
A person who is looking for a reason not to believe might read these differences and conclude they are sufficient evidence to reject the story as a myth.
But lets take another look. First of all, if there were two donkeys and two angels, then there was one donkey and one angel. It might be that the gospel writers in question only mentioned the one donkey that Jesus rode and the one angel who spoke. All of the writers agree that Jesus rode in on a donkey and an angel was present and spoke to the women at the tomb. The other details are secondary and we can easily get a picture of what happened from reading the four narratives.
Let's consider why it is actually a good thing that we have these secondary discrepancies in the four gospels.
First, you can rule out that one person wrote the Bible. We know that the Bible was written by 40 authors on three continents in three languages over a 1400-year period. One of the miracles of the Bible is that they all agree with each other. No one thinks one person wrote the Bible. And no one believes one person wrote the New Testament. Why would one person write four gospel accounts? But if he did, wouldn't every little detail match perfectly? The discrepancies prove that four men wrote the four gospels. The more you study them, the more you understand the different emphasis each gospel has. (For starters, Matthew emphasises what Jesus said, Mark and Luke emphasise what he did, John emphasises who he was...)
Second, the discrepancies prove that the four authors didn't collaborate with each other to make sure they got the story straight. These are independent accounts. And we would expect four witnesses to an event to see four slightly different things, and that's just what we have in the Bible. But we have a core that runs through all of them that is exactly the same. Therefore we can know that the story is true.
Third, the discrepancies prove that the Bible wasn't edited (and fixed) later. When the Council of Nicea in 325 discovered and composed the cannon of books of the Bible, the discrepancies and inconsistencies were left intact. This is extremely important because it shows that legendary embellishments were not allowed in. And no one changed to gospel story to fit the current world view. The books were included based on their apostolic authority -- and they were included just as they were written. We know from history that the early church was extremely careful to preserve the gospels and epistles in their exact form - the discrepancies prove this.