CeT-To wrote:Apparently from the earliest reliable manuscripts found of G according to Mark it stops right after Mark 16:8 (NIV) "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid."
Obviously the women did tell what they saw; otherwise, we would not have their account in Mark. You are correct about the ending of Mark. Bishop Tom Wright believes the original ending (after verse eight) was lost probably at the first copying.
CeT-To wrote:
My actual question concerns to the verse i have just written in this post. If the women never said anything to anyone why is it told differently in for example Luke where the women did tell the Eleven and why is there different people in the tomb in the different Gospel accounts?
http://www.rationalchristianity.net/contra8.html#81
81. There was but one woman who came to the sepulchre
"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance." [John 20:1]
There were two women who came to the sepulchre
"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the other tomb." [Matt 28:1]
This is a case where a contradiction is read into the account. John does not report that ONLY Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. Failing to mention someone does not necessarily mean that no one else was present. In fact, had the critics read further, they would have seen that Mary was not alone:
"So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they put him!" [Jn 20:2]
If Mary was alone, then who is WE? Clearly more than one person went with Mary. John just doesn't mention them.
82. There were three women who came to the sepulchre
[Mark 16:1]
There were more than three women who came to the sepulchre
[Luke 24:10]
Again, the same reasoning applies. See my previous story about going for a ride in the car.
83. It was at sunrise when they came to the sepulchre
"Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb."[Mark 16:2]
It was some time before sunrise when they came.
"Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb." [John 20:1]
I see no contradiction. Mary could have left a little earlier than the others. Or they could have left while it was still dark and the sun began to rise while they were on their way. I've worked my share of nightshifts to know that one can leave the job while it is still dark,and get home after the sun has risen!
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Matthew 28:1
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
Mark 16:1
When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.
Luke 24:10
It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
John 20:1
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.
Putting Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:10 together, at least five women visited the tomb, four of whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome and Joanna. While John's account only refers to Mary Magdalene, it implies other women went with her to the tomb, since Mary's words to Peter and John are, "We don't know where they have put him!" (Jn 20:2). Some possible harmonizations of the visit to the tomb have all the women arriving together; other harmonizations have multiple groups of women going to the tomb at different times.
http://www.rationalchristianity.net/num_women_tomb.html
I found the following article very helpful.
http://www.answering-islam.org/Andy/Res ... rmony.html
It is full of diagrams.
