Dear Refiner's Fire...

A friend at my work says the Bible is filled with contradictions and he quoted as proof the scriptures below. He says in Matthew Judas died one way but in Acts he died another way. Can you please help me? Thank you in advance.

Matt. 27:1-9: "When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death; and they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, 'I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.' They said, 'What is that to us? See to it yourself.' And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, 'It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.' So they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah (note 8), saying, 'And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.'"

Acts 1:15-20: "In those days Peter stood up among the brethren (the company of persons was in all about a hundred and twenty), and said, 'Brethren, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David, concerning Judas who was guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us, and was allotted his share in this ministry. (Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it', and 'His office let another take.'"

Our Response....

The answer to this question is really very simple:

Yehuda (Judas) buys the field, hangs himself on a tree and is strangled. Then the rope breaks and his body falls onto some rocks splitting out his insides. Notice both citations agree on the place, so they just report different details of the same death.

Same thing goes for several other eye-witness events in the Gospels. If you have four different people witnessing the same event, you will have four "almost similar" accounts, with each coming from a different viewpoint....

The thing is, if someone hates God and the Bible, there is NOTHING you could tell them that would convince them otherwise. We would suggest you don't argue too much with this guy; concentrate your efforts on those who want to know God and learn more....