Have you ever wondered whether the Gospel of John is reliable? It's different from the Synoptic Gospels (the other three canonized Gospels). Have you ever thought why is it different?
These questions are important if you are a Christian who uses the Gospel of John as a proof text to believe that Jesus is God.
I have prepared a short video looking into the historical reliability of the Gospel of John. /did you know the New Testament scholar, Mike Licona (an evangelical Christian) believes John changed the Gospel story for theological reasons. What else did he change?
Christian Scholar Admits Gospel of John is not Historically Reliable
From Dr Shabir Ally we see:
The ‘spear thrust’ in the Gospel of John (19:34) is not considered historical thus, even within the Gospel accounts, there is nothing which could have killed Jesus. Within the story, Pilate wondered whether Jesus had died too.
Why did the early Christians wind up believing Jesus was
divine, largely because of the theological developments in the Gospel of John.
From Ali Ataie:
John waits till roughly the year 100 AD to write his Gospel
and is roughly 100 years of age at the time. John had been illiterate till the age of 35. Why wait
so long to write his Gospel. Ali Ataie believes he probably did not write it.
From Paul Williams:
It’s widely agreed amongst NT scholars that Jesus did NOT
think of himself as divine and nor did he teach the doctrine of the
incarnation.
The following New Testament sayings which Christians use to claim
Jesus claimed divinity are all from the Gospel of John and it’s widely agreed
amongst scholars that these sayings cannot be responsibly attributed to Jesus:
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me. 7 If
you really know me, you will know[a] my Father as well. From now on, you do know
him and have seen him.” [John 14:76 NIV]
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a
long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show
us the Father’? [John 14:9 NIV]
Of course, if they cannot be attributed to
Jesus then they are forgeries.
From Dr Mike Licona (evangelical Christian New Testament
scholar) we see:
Ancient biographers took liberties hence the discrepancies
in the Gospels. Mike Licona believes John altered the Gospel in order to make a
theological point (specifically on the Gospel account’s day of the crucifixion)
Mike Licona basically admits the Gospel of John is not
historically reliable.
Considering all the information being offered how can
Christians trust the Gospel of John? The answer is they cannot. It is unreliable.
What’s the solution here?
Upon seeing the lack of reliability of the New Testament one should not become disheartened. You may well have devoted many years of your life to those teachings believing them to be faithful teachings.
Where to go next?
Upon seeing the lack of reliability of the New Testament one should not become disheartened. You may well have devoted many years of your life to those teachings believing them to be faithful teachings.
Where to go next?
Well there is a group of people who believe Jesus is not
divine, he is a Prophet of God, the Gospels are not reliable, Jesus was not
killed and there is only one God. This group of people are the Muslims.
Muslims have the correct beliefs about God and all the Prophets including Jesus. Please look into Islam
further:
Reza Aslan on Gospel Writers, Luke and Matthew
Title "Son of God" does not mean Divinity
Reza Aslan: Illiteracy rates at time of Jesus p
Reza Aslan on Prophecies of the Messiah
What does the Aramaic word name for Jesus tell us?
Sharia Law against terrorism
Christians having dreams and converting to Islam
Learn about Islam
Email: yahyasnow@yahoo.co.uk
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