On the New Testament and Bible in general

'Most of the New Testament writers never met or saw Jesus in their lives. They lived many years after Jesus left the Earth. They wouldn't have known Jesus of Nazareth if they walked into him on the street.

The Bible writers were great believers and great historians. They took stories which had been passed down to them and to their friends by others - elders - from elder to elder, until finally a written record was made.

And not everything of the Bible authors was included in the final document.

Already 'churches' had sprung up around the teachings of Jesus - and, as happens whenever and wherever people gather in groups around a powerful idea, there were certain individuals within these churches, or enclaves, who determined what parts of the Jesus story were going to be told - and how. This process of selecting and editing continued through the gathering, writing, and publishing of the gospels, and the Bible.

Even several centuries after the original scriptures were committed to writing, a High Council of the Church determined yet one more time which doctrines and truths were to be included in the then - official Bible - and which would be 'unhealthy' or 'premature' to reveal to the masses.

And there have been other holy scriptures as well - each placed in writings at moments of inspiration by otherwise ordinary men.'