The New Testament Contains No Genuine Contradictions of Consequence

Continuation of Refutation of Contention 2)Another aspect of the resurrection story that my opponent is calling into question is the sequencing. We must acknowledge the limitations of eye witness accounts here, as none of the Gospel writers were eye witness acounts themselves. They are recounting the story from different perspectives, likely having spoken with various people directly involved. When different witnesses retell the same story, they emphasise things in different places. This accounts for why one Gospel says they left with fear, while another may say they left with joy. One Gospel writer was capturing the emotions of one of the women who felt joy, the other was capturing the emotions of one of the women who was overcome with fear. We would not call this a contradiction if two different news articles quoting two different witnesses reported different emotional responses, why would we treat this source differently?When John says "Mary came back and told us about it" he is not excluding that other women were with them. He is simply highlighting that it was Mary Magdalene who spoke to them when the group of women returned.When the other Gospels leave out the portion of the story where Peter and John return to the tomb to find it empty, they are not saying it didn't happen... rather they are just not talking about it. Allow me to propose a timeline that harmonizes the accounts.-The group of women return to the tomb to prepare Jesus' body for proper burial-While the women were traveling to the tomb there was an earthquake and the angel rolled the stone away-When the women arive, they encounter an angelic being who informs them that Jesus has risen from the dead-The women leave the tomb, and on their way back to the place the disciples and Jesus' followers were gathered, they encounter Jesus who instructs them to return to the disciples and tell them of the resurrection-Mary and the other women return to the disciples and inform them-Peter and John return to the tomb to find it emptyThis incorporates all of the components of the resurrection story in the correct order. We must remember that just because one account leaves a detail out, or refers to it in a slightly different way, does not mean it is contradictory. Just a different perspective.This also accounts for the various descriptions of the messengers who informed the women of the resurrection. Mark records one Angel, Matthew says two, while Luke says it is two men in dazzling apparel. This is quite simple to explain, There were two angels who had taken the form of men. Mark and Matthew both explain that they were angels, while Luke stays with the descriptors likely given to him by the witnesses. If there are two angels, there is also one angel.Mini-Contraditions1) This is pointing to the difference between an ontological (existential) statement, and a functional (economic) statment.The first statement is describing the way that things exist. Jesus and the Father are of one nature and unified in a unique and powerful way. The second statement is describing the relationship that the Father and Jesus have, one of functional subordination.Consider this: If I say that my boss is my superior, does that mean he is more human than I am? Am I somehow less human than he? Of course not... I am not making a statement of onotology, I am making a statement about how our interactions work in the workplace. This is the same thing.2) This is a contradiction to point at. My opponent says "a man who is running on the road vs. a man who is near the end of the road (and is still running).While the statements place emphasis on different aspects of the situation, they in no way contradiction each other. The man who is running on the road near the end of the road, is still running on the road.Just like Jairus's daughter who was at the point of death, was still in the process of dying.I would like to thank my opponent for this lively debate, as well as gently remind him that according to the rules of the debate established in round 1, he is not allowed to post rebuttals or new arguments in round 4. Doing so will result in an immediate loss and the voters should vote 7 points to Pro.Thank you for reading.