Eyewitnesses of the Gospels
The four gospels that we are familiar with in the New Testament are not actually written by their namesakes — they are anonymous. It is common knowledge that these gospels were written in Greek. The authors are, in all likelihood, according to most Bible scholars, Greeks. The disciples of Jesus spoke as their first language, Aramaic or maybe Hebrew — but probably not Greek. The writers of the four Gospels were not likely actual eyewitnesses of Jesus and his teachings. Scholars believe that the four canonical Gospels were written somewhere between 70 AD and 110 AD, beginning with Mark and ending with John — all written in Greek.
If Jesus was crucified in 33 AD, then the gospels had to have been written 40 to 70 years between Jesus’s crucifixion and the first writings of the gospels — that is IF these “gospels” were the same as what we have today. Not only do we not know exactly when the gospels were written, nor who wrote the gospels, we have no idea where the original manuscripts are, that is even if they do exist. Which means that the first manuscripts of the gospels that we do have, which are not from the first century but the third, seem to have been radically modified to suit the Church’s motives. Worst of all, we have no way of knowing how much of the New Testament are all the actual words and teachings of Jesus — although much of it evidently is.
Inconsistencies and Contradictions
All of these writers, though having similar themes in their writings, the differences, inconsistencies and even some contradictions are great. Though there are similarities among all of them, they most likely have gotten the information for their stories: some things from an original writing that no longer exists, some things from “word of mouth”, other things they may have borrowed from other existing gospels and still more they just plain invented or forged — besides that we already know about. Then to top that off, each time a hand copy was made mistakes were made by the scribe and passed on to the next copy and the original was lost or whatever (probably so we couldn’t compare the copies).
This is not to mention teachings by Jesus that that were completely cut out or badly corrupted. There are sections of Jesus’ teaching that have been found quoted in the writings of church fathers and/or extant manuscripts of gospels — that are not found in the New Testament anywhere, but obviously they did actually exist at one time and were read or still being read by Christians — and not a thing has been done about it. These teachings of Jesus that were found were not just some insignificant things, but some are very important doctrines that were contrary to doctrines of the church at the time, and/or are still in disagreement to church dogmas of today.
However, since so much time has passed since the originals were written, how can it be known which are originals and which are just inventions of a later date — except by intuition? By comparing the gospels side by side and noting the contradictions and inconsistencies between one and another, the inconsistencies and contradictions stand out even more. In comparing some similar passages, it can be noted that either parts were incorrectly copied or parts were completely changed — not to mention entire sections that were fabricated centuries after the time of Jesus, and simply added. And these are not merely differences in writing style or errors in copying. It becomes obvious there were deliberate changes or additions to existing texts — when compared one to another.
Gospel of the Hebrews
There is a gospel written by the actual disciple Matthew, written in Aramaic, which we know existed because several church fathers quoted from it. The Gospel of Matthew, also known as the Hebrew Gospel, which was actually written by the a disciple of Jesus. Having been written in Aramaic is a sure sign that it predated the four gospels of the Bible and also a higher probability that it was actually written closer to the time Jesus was around than were the canonical gospels. However, as you might have guessed, it is nowhere to be found! It has either been lost, destroyed or maybe even hidden — in my opinion — on purpose.
Gospel Forgeries
Scholars believe that there was an unknown source that all the four gospels burrowed from — could it have been the Gospel of the Hebrews? There are passages from this gospel that are very similar and others that completely contradict the biblical gospels. Could it be that there were things in it that the Church didn’t want made public? Could it be that it was destroyed or hidden from public knowledge so that people wouldn’t know things that the Church didn’t want them to know? Could it be that an early copy of this gospel is hidden away in the Vatican Library?
We may very well see it one day and discover the truth about a lot of things that have been hidden from the world. It is possible to see the forgery in the biblical gospels if one looks hard enough. Could it be that there are more forgeries that we don’t know about? There are gospels written by some of Jesus’s own disciples that were not included in the Holy Bible. Why? Could it be that they wrote things that contradicted doctrines of the Church or included stories that were blatantly inconsistent or contradictory to what was written in the four gospels?