Sunstarr writes,
I don't see the discrepancy.
It's true that there's no discrepancy in Mark's story: three denials are made before the cock crowed twice, just as Peter said Jesus had predicted. Here is the KJV version of the story (the NIV version leaves out the first crowing in Verse 68, but that doesn't matter; the story is consistent with or without stating the cock crowed in that verse).
66 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest:
67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.
68 But he denied [the first denial], saying, I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew;69 And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them.
70 And he denied it again. [the second denial] And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely thou art one of them: for thou art a Galilaean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.
71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak. [the third and final denial]
72 And the second time the cock crew.
The contradiction occurs when one compares what is said in the passage above from Mark, in which a crowing occurred BEFORE all of the denials had been made, with the passage below from a different author, who says that NO crowing at all will occur until all three denials have been made:
Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice. (John 13:36-38)
This should be pretty clear: the author of John 13 thinks that the rooster will
wait until all three denials have been made, then it will crow. However, the author of Mark says that the rooster did NOT wait for all three denials;
the rooster crowed after the first denial, and thus John contradicts Mark.
That is not the only contradiction. The author of Mark has Peter remembering Jesus saying something quite different from what the author of John said Jesus said:
Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept." (Mark 14:72)
Note that this statement from Mark implies that there would be one or more denials between the first crow and the second one; thus, according to Mark, the crow would be crowing before all three denials had been made. This is not at all what the author of John said Jesus predicted:
"The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice." (John 13:36-38). We see here that the author of John said that the crow would do no crowing whatsoever until all three denials had been made, and this directly contradicts the author of Mark 14:72. There are thus at least two distinct contradictions in these stories.
Joseph F. Alward
"Skeptical Views of Christianity and the Bible"
http://members.aol.com/jalw/joseph_alward.html
