Isabella said:
I DID a brief Google search and read Wikipedia, that's not what it says there about NT history, so if this is commonly accepted why doesn't it say so?
Here is what I found on Wikipedia with 15 seconds of searching (I type slow...):
The identities of each author were agreed upon at an early date, certainly no later than the early 2nd century. It is likely that the issue of the authorship of each gospel had been settled at least somewhat earlier, as the earliest sources are in complete agreement on the issue. Indeed, no one questioned the early 2nd century consensus until the 18th century.
<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_testament> (in the section about "Authorship.")
This same section says that the authorship is as John Whitten said in his post.
Isabella, IMHO
(and I hope my opinion is wrong), you don't really want to know truth, you want to justify your anti-Christ lifestyle and belief system. When you asked for documents and books supporting what we believe, you rejected those offered by Dr. Allen and others because the authors of those documents are "biased." You rejected the work of Josh McDowell, whose anti-Christ-biased research changed his bias from anti-Christ to pro-Christ, and dismissed his extensive and scholarly work with a flippant:
That's nice Dr. Allen, I am sure this man is much happier now that he doesn't have to waste his time expending energy trying to undermine the belief system of other people. Why not just appreciate that not everyone thinks the same as you do and leave it at that?
"Why not just appreciate that not everyone thinks the same as you do and leave it at that?" Because we who are born-again believers in Yeshua Ha'Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah) care about those who will end up spending eternity separated from their Creator if they do not accept Jesus the Messiah, God's only begotten Son, God come in the flesh, as Lord and Savior.
As for undermining the belief system of other people, isn't that what the atheists, evolutionists, and other anti-Christ people and groups (including McDowell before his bias changed) attempt to do on a daily basis? And in schools funded by tax dollars, using "research" also funded by tax dollars, at that. They teach that fairy tale called "evolution" as if it were proven scientific fact.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to get a simple translation of the Bible, such as the Bible in Basic English, and read the Gospel of John. John, the author of the Gospel bearing his name, was not only one of the original 12 disciples, but was the disciple to whom Jesus gave the care of His mother while He was hanging on the cross, and was the first man to see the empty tomb. (The empty tomb was first discovered by some women who followed Jesus, not by His male disciples! Read about it in the Gospel of John.) In other words, stop reading
about the Bible and just
read the Bible itself. Its ultimate author, our Creator, says it best. (But He is
very biased!)
You can find the Bible in Basic English to either read online or download here:
<
http://www.o-bible.com/bbe.html>
A print version is available from Amazon here:
<
http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Basic-English-Paperback/dp/0521506948> but it is out of print and availability is limited.
And you can read
about the Bible in Basic English in this Wikipedia article:
<
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_in_Basic_English>
The NIV is also easy to read, but is not a real accurate translation of the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that was written by the human authors in the first century AD (New Testament) and approximately 1500 to 500 BC (Old Testament). (That is a major debate in itself and should probably be kept to private discussions among those interested in debating the merits and demerits of one translation or another.) However, it is accurate enough to tell us why we need a Savior, Who that Savior is, and how to be saved.
My personal favorite translation is New King James (NKJV), although it is also not totally accurate. (Actually, no translation from one language to another, whether the Bible or any other literature, can be totally accurate.) The original King James Version is written in what is now ancient English, and the meanings of many words in the English language have changed over the four centuries since it was translated. But if you happen to be a Shakespearean scholar, you will be right at home in the KJV.
Romans 10:9 NKJV ...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
