Posted by Bibleman [Bibleman] on November 12, 1999 at 17:41:35 {CkRQXOxAaIMRXA6xmpscslyACFuF8c}:
In Reply to: **Jesus' Resurrection posted by KC on November 12, 1999 at 10:16:20:
That's right.
What you need to simply accept is that this problem goes away totally and completely and we get an entirely different message when we accept there are three Mary Magdalenes.
Often mistakes are made based upon superficial presumptions without taking into consideration the actual culture.
Another incredibly profound case of this involves the presumption that the Jewish day began and ended at sunset. The superficial interpretation of scripture as translated makes this seem the case. That's because "from evening to evening" in English tends to be "exclusive." But in the Jewish culture, from "evening to evening" was inclusive and thus it meant something different.
The problem is, is that "evening" in that culture was a specific "period of time" rather than a specific time of day. So when the Bible says from "evening to evening" it meant that the sabbath day would have two evening periods. It is similar to us saying there was an 8-day assembly "from Sunday to Sunday" only we understand it is from Sunday "through" Sunday.
But few bother checking out current or ancient Jewish custom which would reveal that the actual regular week days began and ended not a sunset, but at NIGHTFALL. And in addition, the actual calendar day was not changed until Midnight. It is only the SABBATH days that began at at sunset in the evening, but still didn't end until nightfall.
So when you check current Jewish custom even now, you'll see the sabbath days are longer than the usual days. They begin at sunset but don't end until nightfall the following day when a candle is lit symbolizing the beginning of the next day.
But do you think that Christian Bible commentators have bothered to check this out? Of course not!
It's easier for them to presume there is a total contradiction than for them to do a little extra research. The result is that they're contradiction is the result of their own error and lack of professionalism in many cases.
For instance, the term "preparation for Passover" is equally applicable to either Nisan 14th or Nisan 20th in the 1st Century culture where "passover" was more of a common term for the entire week's festival events and not specifically to the formal Seder meal held on the first day of unfermented cakes. But rather than realizing this, they presume that three of the gospels are incorrect to show Jesus ate the meal on the 15th, and John must be correct when they presume that it refers to Nisan 14th instead of Nisan 20th. The result is, though, they invent a "pre-Passover" meal in order to make it work. Adding error on top of incompetence.
Anyway, there is no difference in presuming there were NOT three Magdalenes than presuming there WERE three Mary Magdalenes. It's a choice. The text implies there were only if you presume these men were not morons and were totally confused over these visits to the tomb.
At any rate, this "contradiction" is completely resolved with that interpretation so the implied contradiction is DISMISSED as far as "advanced" Biblical interpretation goes.
:>
The rule is that the smarter you think the writers are, the less errors there are. The dumber you think the writers are the more errors there are. So ultimately those who are dumber tend to see more errors. Those who are smarter see less errors.
So, I'll let everybody sort themselves out...
Cheers,
Bibleman