CHRONOLOGICAL ERRORS BETWEEN GOSPELS OF MATHEW AND JOHN
Most Christians believe the bible to be an error free book. And they think that there exists no contradiction in the bible. But critical examination of the bible has resulted in exposing the Christian’s claim that the bible is a perfect word of God.
Lets see these clear contradictions,
First when we come to read chapter 4 of the gospel of Mathew we read
“12When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."[e]
17From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
18As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 20At once they left their nets and followed him.
21Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
(Source http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=4&version=31)
From the above passage one can easily notice
1-Jesus called the disciples Simon and his brother Peter AFTER HE HEARD THAT JOHN HAD BEEN PUT IN PRISON.
2-No body directed the two brothers (Simon and his brother Peter) to follow Jesus.Its Jesus him self who told them to follow him.
3-Jesus called the two brothers at the same time. And they followed him at the same time (Mathew 4:20).
Now lets move to the gospel of John’s version of this same story and see what will happen.
John 1:35-42 reads as following
“35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"
37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"
They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"
39"Come," he replied, "and you will see."
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter[j]).”
(Source http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=1&version=31 )
From the above verses from the gospel of John we can point out
1-Jesus began to collect disciples while John was not yet imprisoned. (John 3:22-30 talks about John’s testimony about Jesus. It means that John was not yet put in prison. And John 3:24 (It says, “This was before John was put in prison.”) specifically informs us that John was not imprisoned till that time)
2-Jesus first got Andrew (Simon’s brother) then Simon (John 1:40)(He didn’t get them at the same time as stated in Mathew 4:20).
3-Andrew followed Jesus after hearing John’s word (John 1:35-37)(in other words Andrew was directed by John to follow Jesus).
Now lets see the clear contradictions between the gospel of Mathew and the gospel according to John.
| Gospel of Mathew | Gospel of John | |
| 1-Was John the Baptist imprisoned when Jesus got his disciples Andrew and Simon? | Yes (Mathew 4:12) | No (John 1:35 & John 3:24) |
| 2-Did Jesus found the disciples Andrew and Simon at the same time? | Yes (Mathew 4:20) | No, He got Andrew first then Simon (John 1:40-42) |
| 3-How did Andrew follow Jesus? | Being called by Jesus himself (Mathew 4:18-20) | Hearing John’s word (was not called by Jesus at all)(John 1:37-40) |
So as its seen in the above table its evident that either Mathew or John has made grave errors. Which version of the story do Christians want us to believe? Can we then safely consider the two contradicting versions of the story to be PERFECT WORDS OF GOD?
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in News & views by Arwa, 31-07-10 13:24
