why do christians believe?

Question

that the authors of the gospels are eye witnesses to the events and are in fact the apostles, when we know they were written some 70-100 years after the alleged events?

Answer 1

Faith,

why do you question faith,

are you hatred,

are you judging,

What makes you think you are god?

Answer 2

Not sure what stance to take when aswering a question like this. I will answer your question with a question first. Do you believe that history book you read in school on ancient Egypt was written by people that were there? Were these eye-witness accounts of Egyptian history false simply because they were not recorded immediately or even not written by the eye-witnesses at all?

If you take a philosopher's view on everything, than you can believe nothing except that which you yourself have experienced within your miniscule time in the grand scheme of any cosmic or theological timeline you choose. If you accept the fact(s) that many global cultures have recorded similar events to those in the book you question, does that not provide at least some evidentiary basis for believers to put their trust and faith? Take any given timeline and examine the recorded evidence of that time and you will get a multitude of differing views. I think that even you would choose which is most believable to you. Choosing what to believe is human nature. Some believe the gospels to be the accounts of the apostles that walked with Jesus... some people believe they are not; just as some people believe in ghosts or aliens while others do not.

Answer 3

Not all Christians believe that. I'm a christian, and am fairly knowledgeable about the history of the formation of the New Testament canon(the New Testament books "officially" recognized as divinely inspired) Luke, the supposed author of the Gospel named after him and Acts was not an eye witness nor apostle.

I think some Christians believe that the writers were all eye witnesses, etc. because it bolsters their faith in the accuracy/reliability of all the things recorded in the New Testament. Some believe it because they've never heard/learned anything different, and probably think the books were actually written right when the events they describe took place-by apostles only. Oh well...

Answer 4

And you know this because - how?
Why do you think your facts are true and ours are not?
The Bible was written by men who actually lived in that time and it was written over many years and then came together to be the Bible. Now if it wasn't meant to be and it wasn't true - then do you think that it would have all came together that way with many years between each book?
There is fact out there that has been discovered that actually tells that the Bible is real - like some of the ten commandments found on the stone and different things that are in the Bible and places and how do you explain all the things that has happened like the fall of Babylon - the Bible said it would happen and all the other things that have happened.
The truth is - God exists and so does the Bible and the sooner you stop fighting the facts and making up your own - the better off you will be. That is also fact.

Answer 5

Why does the chronology of the writings matter at all? If the prophets of God were found to be liars, they were stoned to death just as a king's seers might be in the same position! Several of God's prophecies were intended for the generation that would live to see the End of Days, so what would it matter to the people who lived in the Bible days? It was their charge to see to it that the Word of God survived so that the last generation would have the FULL BENEFIT of knowledge, wisdom, and interpretation of the Scripture! Daniel was told to "Go your way Daniel and SEAL THESE THINGS up until THE END OF THE AGE (Church era) when men will run to and fro and their KNOWLEDGE WOULD INCREASE". The only chronology that was important to the events written about in Scripture was the timing involving the generations that would see certain things come to pass! The very day of Christ's crucifixion was predicted in the OT several hundred years before his BIRTH! Therefore, chronology has it's place in interpretation and prophecy, not necessarily in the time of the actual writing. As for certain "eye-witness" accounts, people DID actually see Jesus ascend into Heaven after He arose. An angel even appeared to them afterward and said, "Why stand ye here gazing into Heaven? This same Jesus that you saw ascended, will COME AGAIN IN LIKE MANNER". Meaning He will return BODILY to the same place (near the Mount of Olives) that He ascended from. These authors WERE eyewitnesses to the events, though they may not have been the ones who actually put pen to papyrus as it were......

Answer 6

For one, these were not actually written by apostles. It is highly unlikely that the written copies came from the original apostles, because for the most part, they were fishermen. Probably without the formal education to learn writing. However, evidence points to the fact that these were indeed written by "scribes" (I have no idea what they called them at that time) who took part in interviews of apostles. The actual writing process began after people realized that they needed a written copy for historical purposes.
You don't seem to refute the idea that history books written in the 1900's are not believable because they wrote about events in the 1500's.

Answer 7

You have no idea what you are talking about!

Starting in about 40 AD, and continuing to about 90 AD, the eye-witnesses to the life of Jesus, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter and Jude, wrote the Gospels, letters and books that became the Bible's New Testament. These authors quote from 31 books of the Old Testament, and widely circulate their material so that by about 150 AD, early Christians were referring to the entire set of writings as the "New Covenant." During the 200s AD, the original writings were translated from Greek into Latin, Coptic (Egypt) and Syriac (Syria), and widely disseminated as "inspired scripture" throughout the Roman Empire (and beyond). 5 In 397 AD, in an effort to protect the scriptures from various heresies and offshoot religious movements, the current 27 books of the New Testament were formally and finally confirmed and "canonized" in the Synod of Carthage. 6

Answer 8

Though some say that the New Testament was written 100-300 years after Christ died, the truth is that it was written before the close of the first century by those who either knew Christ personally, had encountered him, or were under the direction of those who were His disciples.

Paul the Apostle was a convert to Christianity. The book of Acts speaks of his conversion in Acts 9. Since Acts was written before 70 A.D. and Paul wrote the Pauline Epistles and we know that Paul died in 64 A.D., the Pauline Epistles were all written before that date.

There are many sources of those who were not Christ followers that wrote about Him, the disciples..etc...that were also eye witnesses..

Flavius Josephus (AD 37?-101?, a Jewish historian) mentions John the Baptist and Herod - Antiquities, Book 18, ch. 5, par. 2

Thallus Circa AD 52..Thallus wrote "On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun." He was a witness to the death of Christ and what happened after...why would he write this if it were not true?

Pliny the Younger mentioned Christ. Pliny was governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor. Pliny wrote ten books. The tenth around AD 112.

"They (the Christians) were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food—but food of an ordinary and innocent kind."

Lucian (circa 120-after 180) mentions Jesus. Greek writer and rhetorician.

"The Christians, you know, worship a man to this day—the distinguished personage who introduced their novel rites, and was crucified on that account. .

Answer 9

2 + 2 = 5

Answer 10

You need to check your facts a bit more carefully. The authors of the gospels are themselves mentioned in the gospel accounts; that is one clue as to their date. And secular (non-Christian) historians are pretty much in agreement that the accounts were written shortly after the fact.

Answer 11

Not all Christians believe that the gospels are eyewitness accounts. Although quite a few believe that the gospel of John is an eyewitness account or has several eyewitness accounts in it.