BrianS

Answers to a few:

God is good to all, or just a few:
Goodness requires justice. Does a judge cease to be good when he sentences a criminal to prison or even death?

War, or peace:
Sometimes the path to peace is war. Should the United States have let Hitler continue in the name of peace? Peace came through war with Hitler.

Who is the father of Joseph:
Anyone who's married can understand how it's possible to have two fathers. These are excerpts of two different geneologies, one through Joseph as a legal heir and one through Mary as a physical descendent. Remember that Jesus was born physically from Mary, but not from Joseph. Joseph would be a legal father, though. Matthew was interested in showing Jesus rightful claim to the throne of Israel and gave a geneology from Joseph as a legal heir. Luke was a physician and thus gave a physical geneology of Jesus through Mary. The link to Joseph in Luke's account is as an in-law.

Who was at the empty tomb:
If I say that I was in the crewroom talking to Joe that doesn't necessarily mean Joe was the only person there. I could be talking to three people but just mentioned Joe. If Joe mentions the same conversation but names everyone it doesn't contradict my account.


OK these are perfectly natural explanations for 4 supposed contradictions. Only one of those requires any special knowledge to answer. I'll bet a grade school student could come up with the answers to 3 of those contradictions. Why is it that people use common sense in reading everything but the Bible?