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Bible Contradiction? When did Jesus ascend into heaven?

March 18, 2020 by SLIMJIM

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: When did Jesus ascend into heaven?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

On the day of his resurrection.

“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling clothing; 5 and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? 6 He is not here, but He has [a]risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” 8 And they remembered His words, 9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. 11 But these words appeared [b]to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings [c]only; and he went away to his home, marveling at what had happened. 13 And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was [d]about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. 16 But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. 17 And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You [e]the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?” 19 And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. 22 But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” 25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary for the [f]Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning [g]with Moses and [h]with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. 28 And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He were going farther. 29 But they urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day [i]is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. 30 When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from [j]their sight. 32 They said to one another, “[k]Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was [l]explaining the Scriptures to us?” 33 And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, 34 saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 They began to relate [m]their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be to you.” 37 But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your [n]hearts? 39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 While they still [o]could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 43 and He took it and ate it before them. 44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their [p]minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance [r]for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed [s]in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:1-51)

“Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. 10 She went and reported to those who had been with Him, while they were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they refused to believe it. 12 After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country. 13 They went away and reported it to the others, but they did not believe them either. 14 Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. 17 These [b]signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” (Mark 16:9-19)

At least eight days after his resurrection.

“After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:26)

Many days after his resurrection.

“and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people.” (Acts 13:31)

Forty days after his resurrection.

“until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:2-3)

“And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” (Acts 1:9)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptics cited four answers to the question “When did Jesus ascend into heaven?”  Just looking at the answers the skeptic cited without looking up the verses we see not all four questions are mutually exclusive and thus not necessarily contradictory.
   1. The third claim “Many days after his resurrection” is compatible with the second claim “At least eight days after his resurrection.”  “Many days” is more general while “at least eight days” is more specific.
   2. The third claim “Many days after his resurrection” is compatible with the fourth claim “Forty days after his resurrection.”  “Many days” is more general while “at least eight days” is more specific.
   3. Also the second claim “At least eight days after his resurrection” can be compatible with the fourth claim “Forty days after his resurrection.”
4. Seeing how the second, third and fourth claim are not necessarily contradictory with one another we do note that the first claim that Jesus ascended “On the day of his resurrection” is not compatible with the second, third and fourth claim and thus contradicts the second, third and fourth claim.
5. Yet when we look more closely at the two passages cited by the skeptic that Jesus ascended “on the day of his resurrection” we see that the skeptic did not interpret these verses properly to establish the claim that Jesus ascended “on the day of his resurrection.”
   1. Luke 24:1-51 actually doesn’t specify that it was “on the day of his resurrection” that He ascended.  While it does record Jesus ascending to heaven it doesn’t say what day that occured.  One shouldn’t take the passage’s silence of when the ascension happened as the same thing as the passage saying the ascension happened “on the day of his resurrection.”
   2. Likewise Mark 16:9-19 actually doesn’t specify that it was “on the day of his resurrection” that He ascended.  While it does record Jesus ascending to heaven in the last verse that verse doesn’t say what day that happened to be on.  Again one shouldn’t take the passage’s silence of when the ascension happened as the same thing as the passage saying the ascension happened “on the day of his resurrection.”
   3. Also Luke 24:1-51 shouldn’t be interpreted as teaching Jesus ascended “on the day of his resurrection.” The Gospel of Luke continues with the book of Acts.  Really Luke-Acts are companion set by the same author Luke who wrote on the history of Jesus and the Early Church.  Right after Luke 24:1-51 is Acts 1 and there in Acts 1:2-3 it specify Jesus ministered for forty days and forty nights before he ascended according to Acts 1:9.  Thus while the ending of the Gospel of Luke mentioned in general that Jesus ascended to heaven in the next chapter in Acts 1 it tells us more specifically how many passed before Jesus ascended to heaven.
6. In conclusion there is no contradiction here.  The skeptic needs to learn How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
7. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

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Posted in Apologetics, Bible, Bible contradiction, bible difficulties, christian apologetics, Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, Reformed, Theology | Tagged Apologetics, Bible, Bible contradiction, bible difficulties, christian apologetics, Christianity, God, Jesus Christ, Reformed, Theology | 31 Comments

1. on March 18, 2020 at 2:35 am | ReplyCollection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions | The Domain for Truth[…] When did Jesus ascend into heaven? […]
2. on March 18, 2020 at 2:45 am | ReplydepatridgeReblogged this on The Searchlight.
3. on March 18, 2020 at 4:19 am | ReplyTomThanks for systematically examining another one of Steve/Stephen Wells’ alleged contradictions. I appreciate all of the work you put into analysing Wells’ cherry picking.
   • on March 18, 2020 at 9:46 am | ReplySLIMJIMYou’re welcome. Steve Wells’ site and book has so much cherry picking you think it’s a cherry farm! How long is your library close for? Do you have enough reading stock up?
     • on March 18, 2020 at 12:20 pmTomRE: cherry farmLOL! Wells is the poster child for “cherry picking.”RE: library closedClosed indefinitely. No reopening date. I had a nice, thick book about my favorite Am Rev War general, Nathanael Greene, on hold and ready to pick up. I do have a couple of books in the queue and there’s a couple of ebooks I want to read that I can always download to my Kindle.
4. on March 18, 2020 at 7:31 am | ReplyBible Contradiction? When did Jesus ascend into heaven? — The Domain for Truth | Talmidimblogging[…] via Bible Contradiction? When did Jesus ascend into heaven? — The Domain for Truth […]
5. on March 18, 2020 at 8:34 am | ReplyMichael WilsonWow! Very well done. How about we just stipulate he is a ding dong with no credibility. Blessings. Love this series.
   • on March 18, 2020 at 9:56 am | ReplySLIMJIMThank you. Thank you for your boldness in sharing and defending the Gospel. How are you guys doing with everything going on, are you guys able to do shopping for food, etc?
     • on March 18, 2020 at 4:32 pmMichael WilsonAll is well. We had one employee and her daughter fly back from Germany and now are in quarantine. There is plenty of food plus since we have a restaurant, we get big shipments and put it in the freezer. Our programs are on hold since we can have groups (from the outside) larger than 10. We have about 20 employees on premise working. With 40 acres and 7 buildings, there is plenty of work to do.Is your church able to meet?
6. on March 18, 2020 at 10:08 am | ReplyThe Old HeraldThat’s a good response for those who are critical thinkers and want the truth. Lets see some skeptic explain their way out of their error in saying this is a contradiction.