Podcasts are the best.
I especially like listening to The Rewatchables, which is a podcast where a group of 2-4 people discuss their favorite “rewatchable” movies.
During the last episode I listened to they were talking about Ghost. (A movie I haven’t seen before… I know, I know, I should make it a point to watch it.) Since the movie is about someone’s loved one being killed and then returning as a ghost it didn’t take long for the conversation to come to a discussion about the afterlife.
When working through lists of biblical “contradictions” it doesn’t take long before you run into the one with Judas and his death.
The indictment usually goes something like this. In Matthew’s gospel, he tells us that Judas hung himself. But, in Acts, Luke tells us that Judas fell headlong and his body burst open with his intestines spilling out. The “contradiction”—they tell us—is obvious. He can’t both die by hanging and falling headlong at the same time.
The ones leveling this accusation of a “contradiction” often lament that even two gospel writers couldn’t get their stories straight.
What in the world could the Ethiopian eunuch and Philip have to do with English Bibles?
I hear you, I hear you. Let me explain.
In Acts 8 Philip is told by an angel of the Lord to go south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza (v. 26). On his way to the road he met an Ethiopian eunuch who was in his chariot. The Holy Spirit told Philip to go to the chariot and stand near it (v. 29). As Philip ran to the chariot, he heard the eunuch reading from Isaiah (v. 28), so Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading (v. 30). The eunuch said he couldn’t unless someone explained it to him (v. 31). So, Philip took the passage the eunuch was reading (Isaiah 53:7-8) and explained to him the good news about Jesus (vv. 32-25).
“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:22-24)
Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to Jerusalem.
