Do the contradictions for Jesus' Resurrection make the story invalid?

[AgnosticBoy]

On another forum, there was a discussion where a big deal was made out of the resurrection account containing contradictions. It seemed that one member saw the contradictions as discrediting the resurrection, while the other saw them just as minor issues:

So essentially, whether you dismiss or deny it, the gospel resurrection claims are invalid, as they contradict

- Posted here

You have pointed to (ad nauseam) what you see as contradictions, minor inaccuracies, omissions, etc. If I were to grant for the sake of argument every single one where would that leave us? Clearly you see these issues as sufficient to render the Gospels as generally unreliable. What you aren’t showing is why that is the case; why those issues force us to conclude they are generally unreliable. All I have to do, at this point, is counter argue that other ancient texts, thought to be generally reliable, also have contradictions, minor inaccuracies, omissions, etc. We are then left with either throwing out most of ancient history or accepting the Gospels along with other ancient texts as generally reliable.

- Posted here

For Debate:
1. Are there contradictions in the resurrection account?
2. Do the contradictions discredit the resurrection or prove that the accounts are all false? Do you agree with the any of the two explanations that I quoted above? If not, how should these contradictions be viewed?

 

[AgnosticBoy]

I'll break the ice and say that for a story to be judged as unreliable because of contradictions would depend on how many contradictions there are and the severity of them. An example of the latter point would be Mark saying that Jesus was resurrected while John says that Jesus' body was stolen. That's a big contradiction because it has a lot of impact on the story. However, if the conflict is based on a minor detail, like just getting a date or time wrong, perhaps both accounts are only off by 1 day, I doubt any reasonable person would reject a story because of that.