> The Bible is full of contradictions! So are the Gospels! (which By the way none of them were written while Jesus lived, but generations later).

Alex;

Contradictions within the Bible allow a person to interrupt this document as they wish. You can pick and choose what you want. Seems like for every yes there is a corresponding no.

The word “gospel” means “good news” and in this case relates to stories about Jesus. Many such stories were of an oral tradition and some were written while Jesus lived, and others after his death. Here is a partial list of known gospels.

1-4. The Canonical Gospels.
5. The Gospel according to the Hebrews.
6. The Gospel of Peter.
7. The Gospel according to the Egyptians
8. The Gospel of Matthias.
9. The Gospel of Philip.
10. The Gospel of Thomas.
11. The Proto-Evangelium of James.
12. The Gospel of Nicodemus (Acta Pilati).
13.The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles.
14.The Gospel of Basilides.
15.The Gospel of Valentinus.
16.The Gospel of Marcion.
17.The Gospel of Eve.
18.The Gospel of Judas.
19.The writing Genna Marias.
20.The Gospel Teleioseos.

What is interesting is that sometime in the early second century (around 202 AD) the Catholic Church in an attempt to unite the teaching of one church embraced the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. This was done to satisfy the people of “the four corners of the Earth”. The Catholic Church reached out to the known world. However, each area practiced its faith as it saw fit. The Canonical Gospels as they are termed met the needs of the people farthest from each other.

Until The Canonical Gospels were adopted each Catholic Church might have its own set of gospels which it embraced as well as customs. An example of this was within Rome, where several Catholic Churches practiced their religion in very different ways.

Tom