For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Was Mary Magdalene happy or sad when she saw the risen Jesus?
Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:
She was filled with joy.
“Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2 And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3 And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6 He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7 Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.” (Matthew 28:1-9)
She was grief-stricken.
“But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; 12 and she *saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. 13 And they *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She *said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and *saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus *said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”” (John 20:11-15)
“And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.” (Matthew 28:2)
(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)
Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:
- When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
- One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible. See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
- The skeptics cited Matthew 28:1-9 as recording the fact that Mary Magdalene was happy when she saw the risen Jesus. This is pitted against John 20:11-15 which the skeptics cited as recording the fact that Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus.
- I have written in an earlier response to another similar alleged Bible contradiction of how the event of the Resurrection of Christ can result in various conflicting emotions here: Were the disciples frightened or glad when they saw Jesus?
- Let us examine more closer to see if the skeptics did correctly cite John 20:11-15 as stating Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus.
- Note verse 11 Mary was crying: “But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; “
- This weeping was also acknowledged by the angels who saw her because in verse 12 they asked her: ““Woman, why are you weeping?“
- But these tears of sadness was before she saw Jesus because in the second half of verse 12 she said to the angels “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” Here she has the mistaken assumption that Jesus’ body was still dead and taken away and that was before she saw Jesus in verse 13.
- The skeptic misinterpreted John 20:11-15 and the skeptic has no basis from that verse to say Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus.
- Since the skeptic has no basis from John 20:11-15 to say Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus this means there’s not a Bible contradiction with Matthew 28:1-9. Thus we can conclude there is not a contradiction here. The skeptic needs to learn How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
- We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”
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The Skeptic Annotated Bible should be called the book of errors…not with the Bible but with the skeptics’ arguments and contradictions list.
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Greetings, Pastor Jim! We’re doing fairly well. By God’s good grace, still remembering you and your ministry.
Maria are you still posting? I’m following, but never see anything? Glad you are doing fairly well, praying that will improve for you.
Jerry, I’ve been thinking about going back to blogging. That’s so kind of you to comment and pray! May the Lord protect you and Ellen!
Always considered your posts well thought out Maria. Would be good to see you back.
Thanks, Jerry!
Maria it is good to hear from you again! Thanks for remembering my ministry is your part of the country hit hard with shortage and the virus?
Hi! Our Governor of Ohio has been wise and is working hard. Who would have expected such dedication and ability to get things done in getting provisions, etc. in such a mild mannered man? Our great-niece who lives in Columbus was tested yesterday and heard within hours that she has the virus. Ohio Health Department made sure she was tested. Her mother lives in northern New Jersey and it’s a very bad situation there, and her immune system is compromised by MS. Yes, we have shortages but it hasn’t hurt yet. These are teaching me many things. Praise God! How is it with your family and church family? Will pray!
Wow Maria I’m sorry to hear about your grand niece and I just prayed for her. Overall things are ok with us. Please keep me updated yeah, especially if her health gets worst which I pray not
Thank you, Pastor Jim! I will let you know.
So glad you are all okay!
Thanks for this rebuttal. The question is, is Steve/Stephen Wells being purposely devious by presenting these two passages as contradictions, or is he missing even a grammar school-level aptitude in objective analysis? How long did you shake your head when you first read this “contradiction”? I’m glad Wells chose fiction writing as a profession because I sure wouldn’t want to see him as a surgeon operating on one of my relatives.
I feel this one was so erroneously interpreted that I should have been shaking my head the whole time. If he was a student in grammar school with this kind of analysis this would be an F even for third grade reading analysis (what my daughters are doing); is ROC considered update New York? Asking in light of what you shared about the governor’s action and I’m also ignorant of geography
Yeah, Wells is really putting all of his former school teachers to shame with this latest claim.
RE: Upstate?
It’s funny how that works. For people in NYC, the entire rest of the state is “Upstate,” but we here in ROC would say we’re in Western New York. Yeah, Cuomo wants to seize all “surplus” ventilators in the entire state.
Again?!? Yee gads, how many times can he be wrong. I guess as many times as he writes something.
Blessings for the insight.
Seems the skeptics’ listing has a lot of wrongs lol
How many of these contradictions have you refuted? I hope many skeptics read this!
Love in Christ.
Thanks! Hang in there with the lockdown Maw Maw!
Hanging 10, Heart Grand.hehe
Wow, they’re grasping at straws again. It never occurred to me that the second passage meant Mary continued to weep AFTER seeing Jesus. Do these people not understand verb tenses, or do they think we don’t know how to read?
“It never occurred to me that the second passage meant Mary continued to weep AFTER seeing Jesus.”
—————————————————————
But isn’t that exactly what the passage says?
20:14 When she had said this, she turned around
and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
She kept weeping AFTER seeing Jesus because she didn’t know it was Jesus. And we know she kept weeping because Jesus asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
Mary answers “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Even though she’s talking to the risen Jesus, she hasn’t figure out the resurrection so naturally she continues to be upset until in verse 16 Jesus addresses her by name.
One would think that our skeptic would be embarrassed about trying so hard to make these verses out to be contradictions.
He ought to blush but after so many of these on our blog I don’t think of highly of his integrity and rationality very much…hang in there brother with the lockdown, we have another week down!
The ironic thing about the lockdown is I had to reschedule a doctor appointment since it was a routine checkup. The lab wouldn’t do tests except in emergency cases.
LOL. No kidding, RG2Cents.
I searched and notice you wrote a lot of these is there a place one can find all your responses?
You can find them here: https://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/collection-of-posts-responding-to-bible-contradictions/
Thanks!
The skeptic has no shame if looking like a fool.
Thank you for another win for the truth of God’s Word.
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Great analysis of the scriptures. Thanks for clarifying the confusion from the skeptics!
It boils down to what you said: “Since the skeptic has no basis from John 20:11-15 to say Mary Magdalene was sad when she saw the risen Jesus this means there’s not a Bible contradiction with Matthew 28:1-9. “
Grade of 100%. A+ answer.
It s a shame people would try to twist the Scripture
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John 20:14-15 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?…
So Mary saw Jesus and he asked her why she was crying.
So when Mary saw Jesus, she was crying.