Can we trust the Gospels as genuine Historical Documents?
It is fashionable among those who oppose Christianity or have serious reservations about it, to puit forward the argument that there is no record of the events recorded in the gospels written earlier than about 40 years after the events happened. And account that far removed from the event, they say, cannot be trusted for accuracy or objectivity.
It came to me recently that this is just not true. Forty years for human memory is nothing. I can remember in vivid detail events that happened to me 91 and even 92 years ago - when I was just one year old. I remember that it felt good to be noticing things around me as I lay on my back on the table aving a nappy change, my brothers close by watching - andme enjoying the attention!
Someone will say this early a memory is unusual, but that is irrelevant to our discussion here. Adults remember things much more fully than a ten-month-old, and in full context which I don't. The point is that memory is to some degree reliable and even infallible! I am conscious of the feelings of that moment, and that, no one can deny me. It is my consciousness.