Can the Gospels be trusted? By Dan Barkman Many questions are
often raised regarding the reliability of the Gospels in the
Bible. Why were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John written so long
after Jesus' ministry? Who were these authors, and how can we be
sure that they were in a position to know what really happened
in the life of Jesus? Did they witness every event they narrate?
Who were their sources of information? How did they know the
details of specific conversations of which they were not privy?
Volumes could be written addressing each of these questions.
However, we will discover that despite years of assaults on
their credibility, it is still reasonable to believe that the
authors of the four Gospels had access to reliable biographical
information about Jesus, and that information has been
faithfully transmitted to us over the centuries. The Gospel of
Mark Most New Testament scholars hold that Mark was the first
Gospel written. This is by no means certain, but it is a popular
position right now. According