This is a rebuttal to the 25th alleged Bible contradiction

Question 25: Did Jesus and Pilate have a conversation?

These are the verses Evans presented to make his claim.

In the 'no' category, we have

Matthew 27:13-14.

John 18:33-38.

My standard prefacing comments:

• God's dealing with Mankind has been chopped up into various dispensations,
  starting with that of Adam, then to Noah, then to Abraham, then to Moses,
  then to Jesus (who gave us the Church Age), then to the Millennial Reign
  of Christ, etc. The moral constraints that God places on the people of the
  earth are primarily dictated by the dispensation the individuals were born
  within and their undefiled consciences.
• The Bible reveals the big doctrines of God progressively over time,
  such as heaven, hell, angels, devils, salvation, the Messiah, etc. As a
  consequence, the verses in the back of the Bible (i.e., the Gospels on)
  tend to be more authoritative than those in the beginning of the Bible.
  As a corollary to this, often part of the revelation given to the prophet
  will not make any sense to the prophet or even to the people of his own
  generation. In my novels I refer to these verses as 'praega talleas' or
  hidden gems, not capable of being appreciated or even understood until
  centuries or even millenia later.
• Not all verses are equally authoritative. What Jesus said trumps every
  other writing in the Bible.
• Not all people are equally equal. Jesus Christ is not just another man
  among the billions of people. Jesus, not you or me, is God in the flesh.
  In the Church Age, the true followers of Jesus, by the grace of God, are
  partakers of the divine nature [2 Peter 1:4], but they are not themselves
  divine. See also Galatians 5:16.
• Just because a certain action or claim is recorded about someone in the
  Bible, doesn't mean that God approved of it. They may even be sincere
  and still get it wrong. Remember Job's friends who came to Job to
  commiserate with him and later to advise him on righteousness and the
  nature of God? They assumed that they were acting as the oracles of God,
  but God gave them a stern rebuke for their errors. But even if God did
  not approve of some claim or action, that does not mean that the Bible
  specifically condemned it in the attending verses.
• My favorite way to attempt to resolve controversial doctrines or claims is
  to collect all verses on the matter and then consisticize them so as to reduce
  the number of apparent contradictions, if there are any. Like it or not, the
  Bible has to be interpreted by the Bible.
• I am not a Christian apologist. It may take twenty years of hard study
  to be good at Christian apologetics, and I'm too old to start education for
  that now. I'm just a Christian who has had to deal with some of these
  hard questions on my own.
• I do not demand that the scriptures are inerrant, though they may have
  been in their original forms. The reason I am not going to claim that
  they are inerrant is simple practicality: I am not prepared to rigorously
  defend that claim. That would take a lot of knowledge that I do not have.
  So I leave that claim up to the apologists to defend as they choose to do so.

On the No side:

13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they
witness against thee? 14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch
that the governor marvelled greatly. -- Matthew 27:13-14

On the Yes side:

33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus,
and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 34 Jesus answered
him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? 36 Jesus
answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of
this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered
to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 37 Pilate therefore
said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of
the truth heareth my voice. 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and
saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. -- John 18:33-38

My answer

When taking all the gospel accounts together, its clear that Jesus and
Pilate had quite a good chat. However, Matthew's account is just
very short. I'm not aware that Matthew was under obligation to present
a lengthy account of their meeting. It's true, and is attested to in other
gospel accounts, that Jesus kept His mouth shut at some critical
moments, when Pilate was amazed that He refused to answer. Jesus
refused to answer the specific charges against Him as made by the people.
THAT is what Jesus did not reply to. Is this really so hard to understand?

6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they
cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto
them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought
to die, because he made himself the Son of God. 8 When Pilate
therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; 9 And went
again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art
thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Then saith Pilate unto
him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11 Jesus
answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me
unto thee hath the greater sin. -- John 19:6-11.

So, if Matthew's account of when Jesus met Pilate face-to-face was
the only gospel account, then we might suspect that Jesus never spoke
to Pilate. (There is a non-gospel account of this chat. [1 Timothy 6:13])
But the other gospels say otherwise. In John's account we see that at
times Jesus refused to speak, and Pilate even made an issue of it; but
at other times, Jesus did speak to Pilate. I think that Matthew merely
emphasized that Jesus kept quiet in those critical moments.

By the way, what were the accusations that the people brought against
Jesus before Pilate? Matthew gave us a hint of some of the false
accusations made against Jesus at His arraignment before the Sanhedrin:

59 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council,
sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; 60 But
found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found
they none. At the last came two false witnesses, 61 And said,
This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God,
and to build it in three days. 62 And the high priest arose,
and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which
these witness against thee? -- Matthew 26:59-62.

According to Jesus, if you don't have the intuition in your soul
that Jesus is the Messiah He claims to be, it is because you haven't
made a commitment to the Truth, and placed it high in the list of
your priorities in life: Every one that is of the truth heareth
my voice.

Question 26: Was Jesus cruficied before or after the passover?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.

Question 27: At what hour was Jesus cruficied?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.

Question 28: Was the sun up or down when Mary Magdalane visited Christ's tomb?
For the time being, I will leave this question for the apologists to deal with.

Question 29: How did Judas commit suicide?

Remember this: The righteous are mindful of the poor and help them; the wicked do not! (Proverbs 29:7)

You either get control of your lusts and feelings of entitlements or they will get control of you. -- Ilfinor