Inconsistencies - Part Deux

Composed by Cygnus on May 04, 1999

Today we will be looking at the early childhood of Jesus. A few of you have commented that the inconsistencies from the beginning of Jesus' life are unimportant for one reason or other. I see this as a simple Christian tactic of donning the blinders so that these problems do not have to be dealt with. The gospels are our only way to read about the life of Jesus and if there are parts that are not true (as there must have been at least one part in either GMatthew or GLuke as pointed out in the post of yesterday) then how can we know that the rest of the stories are true? It is not as if we can point to an outside source and find some corroboration.

I am hoping that through the pointing out of the many inconsistencies in the Jesus story that the Christians on this board (and elsewhere as I plan on putting these essays live on the site) will not just believe what they read in the gospels at face value. I am hoping that Christians will give the Christian story some further examination as I have and see that there is something not quite right here.

Enough rant. On with Part 2.

The youth of Jesus was not really recorded in the gospels for the most part, but there are two accounts of bits and pieces from his youth in GMatthew and GLuke. There are several details given in each account but only two details match up from the accounts:

Jesus is born (in Bethlehem, though this is believed to be untrue by many modern scholars)
Jesus goes/returns to Nazareth

Here is a chart (stolen from my site - previously posted in this forum) that shows the inconsistencies in the youth of Jesus:

The Gospel of Matthew	The Gospel of Luke
Mary is found to be with child prior to living with Joseph. (1:18)	The angel Gabriel visits Mary and let's her know that she is with child. (1:26-27)
An angel visits Joseph in a dream and tells him who the child will be, so Joseph sticks with Mary. (1:20)	No visit from any angel to Joseph in drea or in waking.
Joseph learns that he should name the child Immanuel according to scriptures. (1:23)	Mary learns that she should name the child Jesus. (1:31)
Joseph does as the angel tells him and marries Mary. (1:24)	No marriage - they are still unmarried when they leave for Bethlehem. (2:5)
No census.	Emperor Augustus calls for a census to count the inhabitants of the Roman Empire. (2:1)
No trip to Bethlehem.	Joseph takes his pregnant fiance with him on a trip to his hometown of Bethlehem. (2:4)
Jesus is born. (1:25)	Jesus is born (2:7)
Three wise men come from the East. (2:1)	No wise men from the east.
They question King Herod about the "King of the Jews". (2:2-6)	No questioning of Herod.
Herod commands the wise men to find this child. (2:7)	No wise men, still.
Wise men travel southwest (following a star in the East). (2:9-10)	Still no wise men.
No shepherds.	An angel visits some shepherds living in the fields. (2:10)
No angels or shepherds.	The angels tell the shepherds about a child born in Bethlehem and tell them that they will go visit this child. (2:10-14)
The wise men find the family in a house. (2:11)	The shepherds find the family in a manger. (2:16)
The wise men give the family gold and valuable spices. (2:11)	No gifts from the shepherds.
The wise men leave back to their own country, fearing King Herod. (2:12)	The shepherds, having no fear, proclaimed the things which they had seen to everyone they could find. (2:20)
No circumcision.	Jesus is circumcised and officially named. (2:21)
No presentation in the temple or sacrifice.	Jesus is presented in the temple and a sacrifice is made for him of 4 birds. (2:22-24)
No Simeon in Jerusalem.	Simeon, a man from Jerusalem, meets Jesus and his family and tells them that Jesus is the messiah. (2:25-35)
No female prophet.	Anna, a female prophet, also speaks great things about Jesus. (2:36-38)
An angel visits Joseph in a dream and tells Herod to take the new hamily and flee to Egypt. (2:13)	No dream, no angels.
Joseph Flees with his family.(2:14)	No flight.
Joseph and his family remain in Egypt until King Herod dies. (2:15)	No Egypt. Ho Herod.
Herod, angry that he had been tricked by the wise men, ordered all of the infants under 2 murdered. It is carried out. (2:16-18)	No massacre of children.
An angel appears to Joseph and tells him to return to Israel. (2:19-20)	No angels - no return.
Joseph takes his family back to Israel but becomes afraid and turns North towards the Galilee. (2:21-23)	No return from Egypt.
No festival.	Jesus' family goes to Jerusalem for the Passover festival at the age of 12, though there is no mention of them ever leaving the area. (2:41-42)
No return from Jerusalem.	Jesus' family leaves after the festival ends thinking that Jesus is with them. (2:43-44)
No panic.	Jesus' family panics when they find that he is not with them. (2:45)
No temple scene.	Jesus' family finds Jesus in the temple listening and asking questions of which all were amazed. (2:46-47)
No angry parents.	Jesus' parents are upset that he is there and ask him what he was thinking. (2:48)
No response from Jesus.	Jesus tells them that they should have expected him to be in the house of his Father. (2:49)
No misunderstanding.	Jesus' family does not understand what he means by this. (2:50)
Jesus goes to Nazareth (first time the city is mentioned in this gospel) from Egypt. (2:23)	Jesus returns to Nazareth with his family. (2:52)

Remember that we are talking about the person that is supposed to bring salvation to the world. With such divergent stories, how is it that we are supposed to just believe?

Cygnus