Christmas

[truthpaste]

They are time travellers ?

I like a good debate but come on

Jesus ?

First of all if he did exist he was a chilled out hippy that's all

And how do you know that this bloke called jesus asked anyone anything ?

The stuff he is supposed to have said was written 200 years after he died

If you like a GOOD debate then realise that you'll need to bring facts to the table, not your suppositions.

The Gospels were written in the lifetime of the eye witnesses to ALL His miracles and the things that he said.

So in the interests of accuracy, would you care to do 5 minutes verification and we can move forward?

[lardy]

If you like a GOOD debate then realise that you'll need to bring facts to the table, not your suppositions.

The Gospels were written in the lifetime of the eye witnesses to ALL His miracles and the things that he said.

So in the interests of accuracy, would you care to do 5 minutes verification and we can move forward?

Bringing in facts. Brave move.

[Baloo]

The Gospels were written in the lifetime of the eye witnesses to ALL His miracles and the things that he said.

just so it's clear, what dates are you using to calculate that? I.e. date range for Jesus's miracles and dates for the writing of all the gospels, as I understand they weren't all written at the same time.

[Canton Kev]

Facts and accuracy? Good one.
You go first

[truthpaste]

Facts and accuracy? Good one.
You go first

No problem, we might have been in the Champions League before Sludge supported his +200 years story!

The website "Got Questions" (below*) talk about the Gospels and when they were written starting with Matthew.
If you are familiar with the 24th chapter of that Gospel then you will already know that the writer records the conversation Jesus had with some of His disciples re the destruction of the Temple (in Jerusalem). From our perspective we know that did later happen in AD70, but the writer only records the words of Jesus predicting that it will be witnessed by the same generation that are asking him about it. The writer of the Gospel of Matthew makes no reference to it as a historical event, or that Jesus was correct! Something he certainly would have done if he had written about it AFTER AD70!

* There are scholars who believe the Gospel of Matthew was written as early as ten to twelve years after the death of Christ. Those who hold to this earlier dating of Matthew believe he first wrote his Gospel in Aramaic, and then it was later translated into Greek. One of the evidences of this earlier dating of Matthew’s Gospel is that early church leaders such as Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius recorded that Matthew first wrote his Gospel for Jewish believers while he was still in Israel. In fact Eusebius (a bishop of Caesarea and known as the father of church history) reported that Matthew wrote his Gospel before he left Israel to preach in other lands, which Eusebius says happened about 12 years after the death of Christ. Some scholars believe that this would place the writing of Matthew as early as A.D. 40-45 and as late as A.D. 55.

Even if the Gospels were not written until 30 years after Christ’s death, that would still place the writing of them prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This presents no major problem with their authority or accuracy. Passing on oral traditions and teachings was commonplace in the Jewish culture of that day, and memorization was highly cultivated and practiced. Also, the fact that even at that time there would have been a considerable number of eyewitnesses around to dispute and discredit any false claims, and the fact that none of the “hard sayings” of Jesus were taken from the Gospel accounts, further supports their accuracy. Had the Gospels been edited before being written down, as some liberal scholars contend, then it was a very poor job. The writers left far too many “hard sayings,” and culturally unacceptable and politically incorrect accounts that would need explaining. An example of this is that the first witnesses of the resurrection were women, who were not considered reliable witnesses in the culture of that day.