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#1.
| 1. First, Judas tried to kill himself by hanging
himself. And this is not always a successful way. Maybe
he tried, and failed (as have many others who have tried
to commit suicide by hanging). Then after some time, he
threw himself off a cliff and fell upon some jagged
rocks. Keep in mind that it is not uncommon for people
who commit suicide to have tried it before.
2. Judas could have tied a rope to a tree branch that
extended over a cliff (after all, you have to get some
space between your feet and the ground to hang
yourself). In this situation, the rope/branch could have
broke before or after death, and Judas plummeted to the
ground and landed on some jagged rocks. |
Let us first take their first attempt at resolving this
contradiction. Where in the Bible do you find anything even
remotely close to this? Matthew said he went and hung himself,
Luke said he fell, burst and his bowels gushed out. It doesn't
say anywhere that the attempt failed. If that were the case,
what was the purpose of recording it? Why would Matthew record
the attempt but not the act? The bible says nothing of a cliff
or "jagged rocks."
As for the second attempt, again, there was never a mention of a
cliff or jagged rocks. There is no mention of a broken rope.
And even if the rope broke, the law of physics make it impossible
for Judas to have fallen headlong. You would land on your
feet, and probably shatter your legs, but never on your head.
Both these attempts at explaining away the problem are weak at
best. They both make it necessary to add to Gods word.
The problem with this is that we know from the Bible that you don't
add to Gods word:
"Every word
of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.
Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a
liar." Proverbs 30:5-6
"If anyone
adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are
written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of
Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in
this book." Revelation 22:18-19
The explanations above violated God's
warning. It added what was never in either account.
There was no mention of a cliff, jagged rocks, broken ropes, or
multiple suicide attempts.
#2.
There is no
contradiction here at all because both are true. A
contradiction occurs when one statement excludes the
possibility of another. In fact, what happened here
is that Judas went and hung himself and then his
body later fell down and split open. In other
words, the rope or branch of the tree probably broke
due to the weight and his body fell down and his
bowels spilled out.
Also, notice that
Matt. 27:3-8 tells us specifically how Judas
died, by hanging.
Acts 1:16-19 merely tells us that he fell
headlong and his bowels gushed out. Acts does not
tell us that this is the means of his death where
Matthew does. |
Here, the missionary uses a diversion tactic.
First he starts off with "There is no contradiction here at all
because both are true", then he uses words like "In fact" hoping
to take attention away from the problem by making it sound like
it's an established misconception. Notice, he uses these
expressions before the solution. His intentions are to
cause a preconceived idea before beginning with his weak
explanation.
As for his reasoning. Again, how can the
rope break and Judas fall on his head? Physically
impossible. Where does the Bible say the rope broke?
Why does he need to add to the Bible to make his very weak
theory work? Then the author goes on to say
"Acts
1:16-19 merely tells us that he fell headlong and his bowels
gushed out. Acts does not tell us that this is the means of his
death where Matthew does."
So what the
author is trying to tell us is that back in the first century
C.E., a man managed to survive after being disemboweled.
This argument, again, doesn't hold up.
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