If a person is inclined to “want” an error to be found in the Gospel accounts, in order to justify their unbelief, they will find opportunities to claim such exist. In this case they are usually not interested in hearing logical and reasonable explanations which could resolve the difficulty. Their position is, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!”
There are apparent difficulties, as seen in variations among the eyewitness accounts. However, the writers of the New Testament, with their solid record of integrity and historical reliability, deserve enough respect to give them the benefit of the doubt when information to resolve every difficulty is lacking. This is especially true in view of the fact that many apparent contradictions which were claimed by critics 100 years ago, have since been resolved or eliminated by new understanding as a result of the discovery of external evidence, such as ancient manuscripts and archaeological artifacts.
Furthermore, nearly all of the alleged “errors” which have been identified by people are not errors at all. Most are selective reporting which is not logically in contradiction. For example, how many angels were in Jesus’ tomb when the women first visited it on Easter morning? Matthew and Mark refer to one (Matthew 28:2-5; Mark 16:4-5); Luke to two (Luke 24:4); and John doesn’t record that incident at all. Matthew and Mark don’t say, “There were not two.” There could have been two.
For an account to be an actual, logical contradiction one writer must say, “Black, not white,” and the other, “White, not black.” Whole books have been written to examine these issues in the Bible and to offer logical and reasonable explanations.
The honest skeptic will find help in this area by consulting one or more of the following resources: Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe, When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook of Bible Difficulties (Victor Books, 1992); Gleason L. Archer, New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Zondervan Publishing House, 2001); John W. Haley, Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible (Whitaker House, 2003).
