Contradictions among Gospels Part 1 :Gospel According to Mark

Gospel According to Mark

The Gospel begins with ”The Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God...” The

Easy to Read Bible has a footnote stating that some Greek copies omit the “Son of God”

from this verse. Taking into consideration that “the son of god” is the most important

statement in Christianity, how can it be added or omitted from the Gospel of Mark? Did

Mark or did he not write this statement? Is it possible that the statement “the son of

god”, in this verse is a Hebrew expression that meant intimacy with God? There are

many references in the Old Testament about prophets being called Son of God.

The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. In the third century the

Christian historian Eusebius of Caesarea, relates this Gospel to Mark, using a statement

from an earlier writer named Papias (60? -125?). Papias suggested that Mark was John

Mark, cousin of Barnabas, mentioned in Acts 15:37-39, in several letters of Paul,

(Colossians 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:11; Philemon 24), and in 1 Peter 5:13. It is extremely

difficult to confirm that Mark was actually John Mark. Some Christian scholars think that

an unknown Christian named Mark wrote this Gospel.

In chapter 13, Mark refers to the destruction of Jerusalem, which makes the

writing of this Gospel to be around 70 AD. Clement of Alexandria stated that Rome was

the place of writing, while other scholars suggested that it might have been written in

Galilee or Syria.

This Gospel does not include any information about Jesus’ childhood. It starts

with his baptism by John the Baptist. The story goes on until his arrest, crucifixion, and

burial. Mark (8:11-13) is in contradiction with Matthew and Luke with regards to the sign

of Jonas. In Mark, Jesus says that there will be no sign without any exception. Mark

states that during crucifixion at noon the whole land became dark (15:33). Mark reports

the saying of Jesus on the Cross as follows:

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani?” (Mark 15:34), which is identical to Matthew 27:46.

There are two versions for ending of this Gospel. Most of the Greek manuscripts

have the “long ending,” closing at 16:20. The second version with the “short ending”

extends only through 16:8. Most scholars believe that the short version is the correct

one. Verses 16:9-20 are not included in the two oldest manuscripts of the Gospels,

Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus. There was a sudden and improper ending of the

Gospel of Mark. Verses 16:9-20 are added from the Gospel of Luke to have a

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reasonable ending! What a blunt admission is provided for us here? Human

manipulation of the texts of the holy inspired Scriptures is just outrageous!

The conclusion is that the author of this Gospel is unknown, the place of writing this

Gospel is unknown, the time of writing this Gospel is unknown, and the Gospel

contains stories that contradict other Gospels. Yet the Church wants us to believe

that the Almighty inspired the whole Bible, word for word.