Taking Easter Seriously

The infographic above and the following text are sourced from Matt Barsotti’s post named “Taking Easter Seriously – Revised & Enhanced”, which is published on his excellent blog entitled “Jericho Brisance: Writings and Resources on Religion, Science, and Politics”:

Many Christians read the Easter stories year upon year, as I did for several decades, yet we never compare them in detail. As a consequence, we often do not realize that they are not telling the same story. There are indeed contradictions in the texts, but it is very important to move beyond “mere contradiction” — the issues with our gospels are far more extensive than that. Comparison against the historical record and assessing the gospels for trends of legend development are probably far more crucial. As with many non-believers, I left Christianity specifically because of the Bible, and because I considered and examined its content very seriously indeed.

Perhaps it is time for more Christians to take the Bible and our Easter stories seriously.