How do we know the gospels aren't fiction?

Question

The gospels of mark, matthew, luke and john were written many decades after Jesus' birth. Also they were written in greek which wasn't the language used in the Biblical lands in the time of Jesus. On a further note, the gospels all give different accounts of Jesus' life, which one should you believe.

Answer 1

It's very, very likely that they are fictional. However, we cannot absolutely know for sure.

Answer 2

We can't know anything in the past we haven't experienced ourselves is not fiction.
And then, as other replies have said, someone else who went through the same event would record their experience of it differently, as M, M, L & J did of Jesus and His (Virgin?) Birth/Incarnation, Life, Death and Resurrection.

We CAN know that, even if written some decades after Jesus' dying on a cross and (maybe) rising again, there are more - and earlier - entire copies or fragments of the Gospels than any other 'work' of Ancient Times, fiction or non-fiction. Sceptics/atheists, etc, decry Jesus' very existence, while believing fully in Caesar, Socrates, Archimedes, etc, but the earliest copies of their works or works about them are well into the CENTURIES after their times or even the time of Jesus.
If the only proof is written - then you should equally ask if Julius Caesar or Socrates ever existed and/or if the stories about them are fiction. In Caesar's case, we already know Rome had invented the Romulus & Remus and the she-wolf story; why couldn't the first emperor(s) have invented Julius as a way to 'legitimate' their seizing real power from the Senate? And so on.
Greek was, by the way, the common language of the eastern parts of the Roman Empire, thanks to the "Hellenising" ('making Greek') of the areas that had been part of Alexander the Great's empire. If Jesus didn't speak it, he probably understood it. Luke was Greek and wrote the Gospel and 'Acts' for a Greek-named person 'Theophilus'; Matthew (if the Gospels ARE true) had been a tax-collector so would have probably spoken Aramaic, Greek and Latin - and the linguistic studies show signs of the words and sentences being Hebraic/Aramaic in original format and then put into Greek; John's work is quite scholarly - and Greek was the language of 'philosophical'/religious thought, even among the Romans.
The very Greek used was called, for centuries, "Holy Ghost [or Spirit] Greek", because it was so different from 'Classical Greek'. It was meant to be a 'special' Greek used just for the NT. It was not until archaeology began uncovering hordes of other documents from day-to-day life and business that it was realised the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament were written in "Koine"/'Common' Greek that this view faded.
Without being rude, the difference is like that between "The Queen's English", used by a rich British person, and and a street-kid in a ghetto. And Christianity was mainly a poor(er) person's religion, in its early spread. Using a 'simple' language, not 'high-faluting', made it accessible to the people.

And lastly, they were only written a few decades after His dying (and Resurrection), so that takes at least three decades/30 years off the time-frame in your question, as His Resurrection was the important thing, not His time of birth - even if there were miraculous things attached to that, as well.

Answer 3

Wow, where does one start?

1. The gospels were written as a witness to the life of Jesus Christ, this would have been impossible to do at the birth. They had to be written after his death.

2. Greek was the language used in the Biblical lands in the time of Jesus. Alexandra the Great Hellenise the whole of the known lands at that time.

3. There are no conflicts in any of the gospels. A statement I make from my own experience of reading and studying them all.

I do not know where you have had your information from but it is incorrect.

Answer 4

The doubt is deeper than that. Rather than say they were written 'after his death', it would be better to say the stories were set in the decades in the past. Jesus may never have existed, at all.

The very name, Jesus, is just a plagiarism of Zeus. The virgin birth thing is a plagiarism of the story of Zeus, the god, fathering a child by Alcmene, a mortal woman, and so it goes on and on. Older stories where plundered wholesale in the compilation of the whole bible, not just the new testament. The themes had already been covered by other people ages before. Really, the bible is a collection of ripped off ancient stories with changed names, places and dates.

It's amazing how a few cosmetic changes can bedazzle people to think they've never seen anything like it before. Casablanca and Barb Wire are the same film, for example. The differences are only superficial.

Answer 5

Jesus asecended around 30 a.d. and The Gospels were written about 50-90 a.d. The 21 letters of the New Testament were written from 40-60 a.d, which explain the gospels. The four gospels are written from different perspectives, but they teach the same thing. Like 4 news stations each write their version of a story. God bless.

Answer 6

It was written about 400 years after Jesus supposedly lived and died. Apparently there were more than just the four gospels. There were a lot of them, but only those four were used.

The gospels were apparently written on the orders of the Emperor Constantine to incorporate a lot of the myths and legends of the time but to enforce the idea of one god and to get his subjects away from worshipping multiple gods. He felt that this would strengthen his standing as their one and only emperor.

I find it quite amazing that supposedly educated people still believe this fairy story is real all these years later.

Answer 7

We'll never know with 100% certainity, but that's not what the bible is about.

There are a lot of things in all 4 gospels that are probably not historical truth. But that doesn't mean the writers of the gospels were out to deceive anybody and it doesn't mean that there isn't any truth in them.

It just means that they didn't look at history the way we do today. It means that God's truth can shine out of the gospels no matter how many discrepancies and inconsistencies there are.

Answer 8

The gospels are written in a very matter of fact, almost dry fashion. They sound exactly like eye witness accounts of events without any of the flourishes one always finds in literary fiction. The fact that the four gospels are not perfect copies of each other actually supports their authenticity, since we know from experience that accounts of the same event from different witnesses always have small differences due to the perspective of each witness. But the real clincher as to the veracity of the gospels is that so many of the apostles and early disciples went to their deaths to vouch for their authenticity. It is very hard to believe that so many strong and dedicated people would sacrifice their life for something that was false.

Answer 9

Believe what you are raised on, it'll be easier that way. When a new tyrant comes to kill all christains that believe jesus was in Motias on june 15, but not june 16.. then you will be able to give a better answer than "I don't know". Believe in a god tho, not the writings of man. Or believe in nothing.

Answer 10

We can't know for sure.

My personal opinion is the preacher we know as Jesus did exist and preached until the Romans decided to execute him, but the miracles and literal son-of-God elements were later embellishments of his life story.

The gospels were originally written in about 60-90 AD but not compiled into the form we know until the late 4th or early 5th centuries AD.

Answer 11

Believe all in the writings of the four evangelist (Mark, John, Luke & Matthew) because what they wrote was commanded by the Lord.

1Corinthians 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

No more. No less.

1Corinthians 4:6 Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.