Brother Elmer, thank you for your illuminating explanation. Occam's Razor teaches us to look for the simplest possible explanation, and since we know the Bible has no contradictions, when contradictions seem to appear there has to be a simpler explanation, and your multiverse explanation seems simple enough to me!
For example, it did always fascinated me that Joseph seemed to have two different fathers - while being adopted would be another plausible explanation, multiple universes seems much cooler!
This also explains the apparent multitude of Apostles - some of them must have existed in different universes, while the others were somehow present everywhere.
Below, in
blue names which appear in every account; in
green the ones that appear in the first two accounts; and in
lavender the ones that appear in the latter two accounts.
Matthew 10:2-4
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
Mark 3:16-19
16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:
18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.
Luke 6:14-16
14 Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
15 Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
16 And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
Acts 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
Notes:
1. While the last verse does not mention Judas because this was written after his death, he is mentioned a few verses later (Acts 1:16) and a new 12th Apostle is subsequently appointed in Acts 1:26 - Matthias.
2. It is also possible that Simon Canaanite and Simon Zelotes are the same person with two nicknames - but it would be weird that some writers would know the guy only with one nickname, and the same nickname would be totally unknown to other two writers. Occam's Razor again - the multiverse is the simplest, most logical explanation.