If you want to ask a question

Rosequartz you might be interested in this- The Lost Books of the Bible and the forgotten books of Eden: Banned Books from the Bible. By JB Lightfoot. Its on a well known site beginning with A.
Alex

Dates gospels were written -

Mark - probably written c.66–70 AD, during Nero's persecution of the Christians in Rome or the Jewish revolt, as suggested by internal references to war in Judea and to persecution.

Luke - Most scholars agree, following what is known as the "Marcan hypothesis", that the authors of Luke and Matthew used Mark as a source when writing their gospels after the Gospel of Mark was completed (written 60-75 AD)

Matthew - The majority view among scholars is that Matthew was a product of the last quarter of the 1st century.This makes it a work of the second generation of Christians, for whom the defining event was the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD in the course of the First Jewish–Roman War (66-73 AD)

John - apparently written near the end of the 1st century. The so-called "Monarchian Prologue" to the Fourth Gospel supports AD 96 or one of the years immediately following as to the time of its writing. Scholars set a range of about 90–100AD

^From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gospels^ That page also mentions MANY other gospels.

A very short time afterwards if one is looking at it from 2, 000 years on, but long enough afterwards for the facts to be embellished, romanticised and added to to spread the word.

I wish we could easily read some of the books of the bible that were discarded (by humans, not rejected by God) In some cases they describe the same things as the books that were kept in, but from a different perspective and with different details.

I shall have a look on the internet for them (I have certainly seen some transcribed there) and post links if I find anything interesting.

I think the four gospels we can safely say were written very close to the time it all happened. Probably not by the disciples themselves, but hey!

Isn't it the other way round, durhamjen That some of the vegetarians you know are also Methodists?

In his mouth. Not on

Blimey! I would regard myself as more Methodist than anything. Never heard that about vegetarianism. There used to be, years ago now, a sign outside our Methodist church which said some thing like, "Alcohol is a poison man puts on his mouth to take away his brain". Long gone now. Praise the Lord.

But many of the books which were written were discarded. The ones chosen were chosen for particular reasons by men - who is to say they had any more right to say that is God's word than another believer?

durhamjen - I dont think I know any methodists that are vegetarians. But like all things in life, things can be done differently across the country.

feetlebaum - I agree to differ on that.
The bible says that all scripture is inspired by God.
I cant believe that He would let His own bible be wrong. That would be rather a ridiculous thing to do.

Faye, I asked soon if she was vegetarian because she said she was methodist. Wesley did not eat meat, but did not make it an ideological issue for all methodists. I just wondered because many methodists I know are vegetarian.

@Soon - "There are eye witness accounts, and writers writing."

What eye-witness accounts? Certainly there are none for the stories about 'Jesus' - and as for writers - we have no idea who cobbled together most of the documents found in the NT. It was common practice to append a well-known name to your document, as a sort of 'come-on' to the reader , as in the case of the four synoptic gospels.

Wow! All those different bible translations! I had no idea. Like the good old King James one best.

Good link there soon. Thank you.

If anyone is not interested in the thread, may I politely suggest that they stay off of the thread.

#obviousreally

ethel it sounds as though you've unfortunately come across some odd people. I've heard of Christian organisations refusing to rent space to Yoga teachers who also taught Hindu beliefs and to crystal healers who appeared to be using magic but I've never heard of opposition to reiki. I'm no expert on East Asian cultures but I do have access to experts and my understanding is that reiki was invented in the last century as one of a whole range of healing practices, often from the mysterious East via California, that appear to have no scientific or historic foundation. I do believe that people can gain benefit from a whole range of healing practices which don't respond to any kind of rational analysis. But many posters on GN would say the same of Christianity so who am I to criticise?

Gransnet HQ were happy for me to answer questions.
And I hope that some posters have derived some benefit from the thread.

Of course they do not know all the answers, but in the main they do not set themselves up to answer them. Enjoy your private faith soon - I respect your genuinely held beliefs.

I know a lot of posters dont like links, but in this case I will give one

biblehub.com/romans/11-33.htm

The bible itself doesnt give all the answers by a long way.

No Christian knows all the answers Mishap.

The concepts of god and devil are representations of good and evil - they do not actually exist. They are metaphors.

Soon - I am sorry but I do not find your answers have any logic at all, and do not think they actually answer the questions.

Now, it may be, and probably is, that these questions have no answers and are just part of our search for some sort of understanding; but, to be honest - and I hope that this does not sound harsh - I do not think you should invite questions by starting such a thread if you do not know the answers.

I respect your faith and your right to your belief.

No need to apologise!
I am at the moment (in general, not with this thread)
I have a tired brain too.

I understand what you are saying. He doesnt have that power.

soontobe, if the devil can give me my life back I will happily don a pair of horns and dance naked under my elderberry tree at midnight or anytime and wear an upside down cross etc etc

Oh right.

Tired brains all round.

Night night.