I was just wondering how anyone can put faith in Jesus, a character in a book where even the only eyewitness accounts we have disagree with each other on these very important details.. "Who found the empty tomb? A. According to Matthew 28:1 , only "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary." B. According to Mark 16:1 , "Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome." C. According to Luke 23:55, 24:1 and 24:10, "the women who had come with him out of Galilee." Among these women were "Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James." Luke indicates in verse 24:10 that there were at least two others. D. According to John 20:1-4 , Mary Magdalene went to the tomb alone, saw the stone removed, ran to find Peter, and returned to the tomb with Peter and another disciple.
There are no contradictions here. You're just not reading it properly, and reading too much, or not enough, into what John wrote.
You're assuming, based on John 20:1-4 that Mary went alone, but it doesn't say that anywhere; you're inserting that word. Start with Luke 24:10 and it makes sense. Just because John mentioned Mary Magdalane and not the others, and wanted to emphasize her, doesn't mean the others weren't there as well.
Begin with Luke and Mark and you'll see that it was a group that included Mary, the other Mary, and Salome, Joanna, and others. Based on this group, it is therefore true that a) Mary Magdalene went to the tomb; nothing indicates she went alone, b) Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James, and Salome went to the tomb, because they were part of the group, and c) all the women, plus some unnamed went to the tomb. It was a group. There's no contradiction.
2. Who did they find at the tomb? A. According to Matthew 28:2-4 , an angel of the Lord with an appearance like lightning was sitting on the stone that had been rolled away. Also present were the guards that Pilate had contributed. On the way back from the tomb the women meet Jesus ( Matthew 28:9 ). B. According to Mark 16:5 , a young man in a white robe was sitting inside the tomb. C. According to Luke 24:4 , two men in dazzling apparel. It is not clear if the men were inside the tomb or outside of it.
D. According to John 20:4-14 , Mary and Peter and the other disciple initially find just an empty tomb. Peter and the other disciple enter the tomb and find only the wrappings. Then Peter and the other disciple leave and Mary looks in the tomb to find two angels in white. After a short conversation with the angels, Mary turns around to find Jesus."
Again, there is no contradiction. You're just can't see what is being said, and aren't analyzing it properly, and reading too much into it, or not enough. You're assuming that the young man inside and the angel who rolled away the stone on the outside are the same, but they're not. The outside angel who rolled away the stone told the women in verse 6 "Come and see the place where he lay," indicating, obviously that he went inside the tomb with them, where they found the young man, also an angel. Thus, there are two men in dazzling apparel, at first one outside and one inside, and then both inside.
The fact that they are called men does not mean they are not angels, which they clearly were. Recall the men who approached Abraham, two of them journeying on to Lot? They also were angels. No contradiction. Mark never claimed there was no more than one angel, and John's perspective was what Mary Magdalene saw while she was alone; Mark, on the other hand, wrote about what all the women saw. You're also assuming incorrectly, that the two angels must have made themselves visible to Peter and the other disciple, that there is a contradiction, though it's clear they chose not to appear to the men. For reasons unknown they didn't materialize to the men, but that is no grounds for claiming a contradiction. http://144000.110mb.com/trinity/index.html