Contradictions among Gospels Part 3:Gospel According to Luke John

Gospel According to Luke

Christian tradition suggests that this Gospel is attributed to “Luke, the beloved

physician” (Colossians 4:14), who is one of the “fellow laborer” (Philemon 1:24)

mentioned by Paul. Also, the Acts of the Apostles is credited to Luke. Most Christian

scholars accept Luke's authorship of both works. Some scholars suggest that Luke was

one of Paul’s disciples. Others doubt that Luke and Paul were closely associated during

Paul's missionary work, because of contradiction between Paul's letters and the stories

of Paul in Acts.

Many scholars suggest that this Gospel was written for the Gentiles, while others

imply that it was written for the Greeks or the Egyptians. Most scholars agree that the

writing of this Gospel is from 70 to 80 AD. Other possible dates might be 53, or 63, or

65, or the end of the first century. It is also unknown whether the Gospel was written in

Rome, Asia Minor, or Greece.

This Gospel is an expanded version of the Gospel of Mark. Most scholars agree that

Luke used the source “Q” as well as an oral tradition, sometimes known as “L” collected

by or known only to Luke. Luke has some exclusive stories that include the annunciation

(1:26-38); the visit of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Elizabeth, the mother of John the

Baptist (1:39-56); the birth of John the Baptist (1:57-80); Jesus' circumcision and

presentation in the Temple (2:21-40); Jesus' appearance in the Temple at 12 years of

age (2:41-52); Jesus' last words to his disciples (22:21-38), his words on the way to the

cross (23:28-31), the words of the two crucified criminals (23:39-43), the appearances of

the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus and in Jerusalem (24:13-49), and Jesus'

ascension (24:50-53).

Luke introduces a genealogy of Jesus that is different from that of Matthew. Luke

locates the place of Jesus' Great Sermon on a flat place (6:17), while Mark states a

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hilltop (6:20-49). Luke attributed different last words of Jesus on the cross from those of

Matthew or Mark (23:46).

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.

Gospel According to John

The Gospel according to John is another story. The author explains his reason of writing

this Gospel, 20:30-31: he states many miracles of Jesus for the reader to believe that

Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. John did not introduce the trinity, but confirms

the “duality of God.” Both father and son are gods. This Gospel was not included in the

acceptable documents of the Fathers of the Church in the second and third century.

Scholars suggest that this Gospel is written in the latter part of the second century,

possibly in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus. There are many serious questions about

this Gospel. Why did the author of this Gospel choose completely different direction

from the synoptic Gospels? Why did he emphasize the divinity of Jesus? It is a fact that

this Gospel was written after the synoptic Gospels. This indicates that many Christians

did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, before writing this Gospel. Some scholars

suggest that bishops that believed in the divinity of Jesus asked the author of John to

write a Gospel that states clearly that Jesus is divine. Other suggests that the author

was a philosophy student in Alexandria, who had been asked to write a Gospel that

brings Greek philosophy and Christianity closer together. We may never know the truth

about this Gospel, but the fact is this is very different from the rest of the New

Testament.

The author establishes from the start that he follows the Greek philosophy and the

concept of the Logos (1:1-18). Jesus Christ is the incarnation of “the Word” who has a

pre-existent life before his mother and anyone else for that matter. Jesus’ death is the

return of the incarnate Son to the Father. The Gospel tells a story of a woman caught in

adultery (7:53-8:11). The Easy to Read Bible has a footnote stating that this incident is

not included in the best Greek copies. Again, the question is: why then were these words

added?

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To establish that Jesus is the Logos, the author states many miracles: the changing

of water into wine for the wedding at Cana (2:1-11); the healing of an official's son (4:46-

54); the healing of a man who had been sick for 38 years (5:1-9); the feeding of about

5000 men (6:1-15), the only miracle recorded in each of the four Gospels; the healing of

a man who had been blind from birth (9:1-7); and the raising of Jesus' friend Lazarus

from the dead (11:1-46); Jesus walking on the sea (6:16-21); his death (19:30) and

appearances as the risen Christ (20:1-29).

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. The Gospel focuses

on the duality rather than the oneness of God, and the Gospel follows the

Greek polytheistic philosophy to introduce a monotheistic religion. Yet the

Church wants us to believe that the Almighty inspires the whole Bible, word for word.