Hi everyone. Thank you for this forum wherein we can communicate openly and respectfully. I would like to take the time to address some of the initial topics in question. Regarding the synoptic Gospels, can you point out where the timelines are off and have you studied ancient Jewish culture and both their system of discerning and recording time? The Gospels, with the exception of Luke, were all written by Jewish people.

Further, which Gospel do you surmise is not comprised of eyewitness accounts? If you are referring to Luke, Luke admits to recording the eyewitness accounts which were delivered to him in the very first sentences of his Gospel. Are you familiar with the texts you are refuting?

If eyewitness accounts are, in truth, eyewitness accounts, how then would said accounts not bear striking resemblance to each other? How then can you say one Gospel plagiarizes another?

For your next point in this topic, I would like to pose another question: When was the biography of Alexander the Great written? It was written in the first century AD by Roman Historian, Quintus Curtius Rufus. When did Alexander the Great die? He died in 323 BC. How long after the date of his death was the biography recorded then? It was recorded 423 years later. Even if your dating on The Gospel of John was correct, it would still have been written around 200 years closer to the events being recorded than the biography of Alexander the Great was. Maybe you don't believe that Alexander the Great was actually a historical figure.

Are you familiar with the methods by which historical accuracy is determined? You would do well to research this topic and test the accuracy of The Gospels. In doing so, you will find that they far surpass any other ancient historical document in all checkpoints for accuracy.

I would like to add here, that The Gospel of John has been dated somewhere between 80 and 100 AD. The earliest dating, however, places it before 70 AD. I encourage you to be faithful to your research.

Now for the next topic. Have you never heard of Flavius Josephus? Given, he was born about 30 years after the crucifixion, he still does record Jesus as a historical figure. If you do not believe Jesus is a historical figure, why then should you believe that Alexander the Great was? I encourage you to be consistent in your methods of study; analyze everything with the same measure of skepticism you use to analyze the Gospels.

Allow me to relate a story. At a bus-stop, a blind man struggled to make it up the stairs and onto the bus. Someone, moved with compassion, got up and gave his seat to the blind man. Would you consider this a good thing to do?

It was a bad thing. In fact, it was so bad, that the person who gave up his seat lost his job because of it.

You see, he was the bus driver.

That's called a paradigm shift. A little more information provides clarity and rightly, a change of mind.

I hope this information matters to you. If it doesn't, I would like to ask you why? Why, truly, do you reject the Gospels? Could it have something to do with the claims therein?

Let me ask you this: would you consider yourself a good person? I would have answered yes for myself a while ago, but, I had a paradigm shift. Like all things, let's put this to the test: If you consider yourself to be an upstanding individual, one who cares for his fellow human-being, can I ask you how many lies you have ever told? If you love and care for people, why would you ever lie to anyone even once? Have you ever taken something that wasn't yours, even if it was only a longer break at work than recorded, or a video, movie, or song you freely enjoyed without rights or purchase?
For this next one, keep in mind that before one physically commits an act, the intent existed within as a thought or desire. Before one murders, one hates, before one commits adultery, one lusts.

That is why God Almighty weighs hatred as murder and lust as adultery - and it is His standard that will matter on Judgement Day.

I am not judging you, as I have failed this test myself. We are all born with this sinful, rebellious nature, and this is why we need to be born again of a new nature.

You and I broke God's law and there will come a terrible day when He will pour out the wrath we all deserve. God, being perfect, cannot simply overlook sin and let us go free, or else He would be like an imperfect, corrupt judge who simply lets a murderer walk. But God is also rich in mercy and is not willing that any should perish.

This is why God became the perfect sinless man, Jesus Christ, and lived the perfect life, fulfilling the law, and He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, for your sin. That way, justice is served, and God can legally dismiss our case and let us live forever because of the suffering death of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Then He rose from the dead, defeating death.

God wants to show you mercy. Turn from your sin, from your own way, and entrust yourself to Jesus, knowing He paid your fine, confessing Him as Lord. The minute you do that, you will be born again, He will give you The Holy Spirit, and you will have a new heart with new desires and death will have lost its sting.

Thank you so much for your patience and for taking the time to read this. I truly hope this information will help you.