5.23.2011

Any last words, Jesus?

And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). Mark 15:34 
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli,t lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). Luke 23:46
Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. Matthew 27:44
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30


     The fact that from the four Gospels writers, we've been given three separate collections of Jesus' last words, poses very little problem for believing Christians that are actually aware of this somewhat glaring discrepancy. Most commonly one might hear an explanation of the dilemma as, "Would you expect the writers' accounts to match? It would be like four independent descriptions of a car crash. Naturally, there would be discrepancies." That's all well and good, however, being that thousands of direct quotations from Bible characters, as well as narrators, are used to promote, defend, or enact certain dogmatic ideals, it seems relevant whether the statements or quotations being utilized were actually spoken or not. 
     For Jesus' last words, there are five options. 1) Mark and Luke were accurate. 2) Matthew was accurate. 3) John was accurate. 4) None of them are accurate. Jesus spoke some other words. 5) The story was invented.
     For Christians, this begs the questions as to what of the Bible is real and what of the Bible is invented, what of the Bible has been passed down and interpreted correctly and what has not, and perhaps most importantly, whether the "truthfulness" of the Bible in whole or in part even matters to an particular individual. Since such matters tend to be complicated, it's no wonder that so many Christians accept IT ALL to be true without regard for book's accuracy or viability. 
     In short: Is it true? Is it not true? Do you care?

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