So where does all the other books come from...are these just writting from other sorces...how credibal are they....and what are the books of Antiquties?
2006-10-27 13:30:20 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The old testament are the age old collected writings of the Jewish scolars concerning their history and prophets, to include the appocrophia. The Gospels are first and second hand accounts based on personal experience, interviews with persons involved and original source documents (ie letters, royal decrees and records). The rest are copies of letters sent to congregations and circulated among the churches and collected. Overall the credability is high for all the documents over the span of time since their righting. As for accuracy to actual events, many are very accurate to todays standards and methods. (Mark was a doctor and quite thorough and concientious about accuracy). As for the books of antiquity, they may mean the oldest known manuscripts for the books of the bible. These are used to independantly verify todays copies against far older copies, ensuring minimal changes over time.
2006-10-27 13:38:43 · answer #1 · answered by klingongac 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You need to do some more reading. None of the Gospels were written by the person whose name they bare. They were written about 100-200 years after Jesus' time. So what that means is they are not pristine first hand accounts. This is a fact and I encourage you to look it up. Have you ever played that game "Operator" where a person says a phrase to one person and then they pass it on to the person next to then, and so on, until it gets to the last person? Remeber how it's never the same as it started? Now consider how that is in a room of only 10 - 20 people and it's happening all in that moment. Imagine what happens to long detailed story over hundreds of years.
On top of all this there were hundreds (if not more) versions of the gospels circulating around at that time. This is also true of all the other books in the bible. Finally during the time of Constantine a bunch of men got together and voted on which books would be included in the bible. Just think about that for a moment. Think about what that all means.
What millions of people believe today could be different if they voted differently. Pretty crazy huh?
2006-10-27 20:44:57 · answer #2 · answered by DiRTy D 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A widely held theory is that Onesimus, the slave of Philemon, gathered the various "available" letters of Paul. This became the start of the New Testament. We know that we have lost some because what we call 1 & 2 Corinthians actually has part of 3 inserted. Gradually other books were added. The Gospels probably went along the line of Mark, Matthew, Luke, John in terms of date of writing.
One of the tests of the other letters was "apostolic" authorship. In
our time of copyrights, it seems strange how free people felt they could be in terms of "adding" an apostle's name to their work. As late as 1500 a.d. a fierce battle still raged over including James in the Bible.
The books which did not make the final cut because of failing one or more of the "tests" ended up in the either the Apocrypha or (tier 2) Pseudopigrapha - can't help but love that word! The writing is a great deal rougher and repititious.
The OT also has "extra" books if you are interested.
2006-10-27 22:17:04 · answer #3 · answered by Joe Cool 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Matthew and John were disciples of Christ, thus direct eyewitnesses. Mark was also known as John Mark, a cousin of Barnabus. Many believe that His gospel was the first one written. Luke was a physician, who spent considerable time with Paul. Luke also wrote Acts. Paul wrote Romans, 1, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philipians Colosians, 1, 2 Thessalonians, 1,2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Hebrews. These were letters written to churches or individuals Paul was ministering to. James was written by Jesus' brother. Peter was a disciple. Jude was another of Jesus' brothers. John the revelator was the same John who wrote the Gospel and 1,2,3 John.
The OT was written by many different authors. Moses wrote the first 5 books, apparently revealed to him by God when he was in the mountain. Other books were written by holy men of God as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
2006-10-27 20:47:59 · answer #4 · answered by 19jay63 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you're a Christian, the Gospels' credibility is very credible, as we believe the authors of the Gospels were under the power of the Holy Spirit when writing the Gospels.
The Antiquities are a series of 20 books/douments written by Flavius Josephus, who was a Roman-Jewish historian. In fact, Josephus mentions a "Jesus, who is called Christ", which is evidence for the historical existence of Our Lord.
2006-10-27 20:41:35 · answer #5 · answered by Nowhere Man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These gospels were written long after Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, were dead and gone. Most scholars believe that the original disciples were all illiterate so they could not have written anything.
Paul's writings are almost the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. He liked to call himself an apostle, but he never actually met Jesus.
there are several great books available that are well written and informative on this subject.
I suggest you read the book lost Christianities by Bart Erminie.
It is one of the best.
love and blessings don
2006-10-27 20:39:12 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
All of the new testament was completed by the end of the first century, most of it much earlier.
The writers whose names are associated with the various books are known by the church to be the writers of record.
Modern "scholars" who choose to differ have only their opinions to back them up on this.
The church was there when these things were written. The church knew the men who wrote. The church was led by the men who wrote. The church still cherishes the teachings, both written and oral, which these men passed along, for the purpose of our salvation.
2006-10-27 23:35:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Acts is the same thing, it was written by Luke too. It was a history of the early church.
The rest of the New tesament were letters written by different writers to churches or individuals. They were all put together to form the Bible.
2006-10-27 20:40:43 · answer #8 · answered by oldguy63 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The old testament was written mostly by Moses I think. The gospels were written by those who were witnesses to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The rest of the books were written by Paul who when on the road to Damascus Jesus appeared to him He was entrusted to bring the gospel to the gentiles. Also Peter, James and John, wrote some of the books.
2006-10-27 20:34:47 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Current thinking is that they were written in their presently known form several hundred years after the death of Christ. This does not discount the idea that they were compiled from eyewitness accounts, but equally there is no evidence to suggest that that is the case.
2006-10-27 20:35:47 · answer #10 · answered by mad alan 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋