The document discusses several topics regarding the historical reliability of the gospels: 1) Scholars date the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John to have been written between AD 60-100, within the lifetimes of the eyewitnesses. Archaeological evidence corroborates details in the gospels. 2) Early church fathers from the 2nd century consistently quoted from and appealed to the apostolic writings as scripture, showing early circulation and acceptance of the gospels. 3) The Jewish culture had highly developed oral tradition practices, allowing Jesus' teachings and events to be reliably preserved orally for the few years before being written down.

1. Historical Reliability of the Gospels Pat Zukeran Probe Ministries Probe.org evidenceandanswers.com

2. Jesus Seminar “… if you read them horizontally and comparatively, focusing on this or that unit and comparing it across two, three, or four version, it is disagreement rather than agreement that strikes you most forcibly. And those divergences stem not from the random vagaries of memory and recall but from the coherent and consistent theologies of the individual texts.” John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography

3. Excerpts from The Da Vinci Code “ The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.” (p. 231)

4. Excerpts from The Da Vinci Code “ These are photocopies of the Nag Hammadi and Dead Sea Scrolls, … the earliest Christian records. Troublingly, they do not match up with the gospels in the Bible.”

5. Excerpts from The Da Vinci Code “ Jesus Christ was a historical figure of staggering influence, perhaps the most enigmatic and inspirational leader the world has ever seen.…Understandably, His life was recorded by thousands of followers across the land… More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them.” (p. 231)

11. Gospels Mark Q Matthew and Luke John

18. Date of the Gospels Internal Evidence Matthew and Luke 70 AD Fall of Temple Mark