Why Don't We Have More Genuine Accounts of Christ?

Since Christ had twelve apostles, plus other followers, why aren't there more gospel accounts? It seems logical to us that all twelve should have written their own eyewitness accounts of our Lord's ministry. Many theologians have their theories but here's what the Bible says.

John summed up his account with the reason why he hadn't included more reports of Jesus and his doings. John 20:31 (KJV) states, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."

Certainly there were many other stories of Jesus which could have been included. John 21:25 (KJV) explains, "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

Some folks might point to books such as the gospels of Thomas, Judas, and Barnabas as additional examples of accounts of our Lord. These have been proven by professional scholars to be false gospels. People who used textual criticism found that these Gnostic gospels were penned a few hundred years after the ascension of Christ. On the other hand, the genuine accounts were written as early as thirty years after our Lord arose from the tomb.

These pseudo-gospels also record words which contradict what the accepted gospels state. One of those phony gospels claims that Jesus turned Mary into a man since Peter said it wasn't fit that a woman should be a follower. I forget the exact wording but I'm sure Google could find the quote.

We also know that many verses in the New Testament mention the soon return of Christ. Believers back then assumed that he would return during their lifetime. This caused a crisis of faith for some of the church members whose loved ones had perished. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 (KJV)  "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep." "Prevent" in this verse means precede.

I'll be writing more regarding the veracity of the Bible in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? If Holy Scripture contains only fables and moral lessons, we lose all hope of being in paradise for the rest of eternity. But since it's the Word of God Almighty, we can trust it in every point.

How Was Canonicity Determined?

Having dealt with the matter of where infants end up when they die or are murdered by being aborted, some folks might ask how I know the books of the Bible are the genuine Word of God. Canonicity is the science of determining which books are actual God-breathed scriptures. Here are the factors which compilers of the Bible used to choose the New Testament books.

Firstly, the manuscripts must be either by somebody who was with Christ during his earthly sojourn or a close associate of that person. John and Matthew were Christ's disciples, as was Peter. Others, such as Mark, Luke, and James were friends of Jesus' apostles.

Secondly, the writings had to agree with what Christ and his apostles preached. During the second and third centuries A.D., people began writing down their own ideas and passing them off as the manuscripts of Barnabas, Judas, Thomas, and other disciples. Not only were these writings too recent for Canonicity but they disagreed with what Christ said.

Since "canon" means measuring stick, the composition of these books were recognized by their style. The best example of a different writing style from the original author is in Mark chapter sixteen, from verse nine to twenty. Mark apparently received his account from Peter and wrote it in a brief and breathless style. Notice how the eleven final verses are so different in character from the rest of the gospel. What they teach is true but somebody obviously tacked them onto the gospel of Mark.

I could write more on this topic but it would become rather boring for most readers. Suffice it to say that the Bible books weren't altered at any time by a central ecclesiastical authority but have been recovered from many copies which circulated at the time.

I'll be dealing in depth on this subject in my next book which I call You Think You're Going to Heaven? People need to know that God's Word hasn't been tampered with but is an exact autograph of what was written during its history.