Another Sneaky Good Reason Why the Gospels Aren't Myths

The Four Gospels are full of pointless minutia. Have you noticed this? For instance, John tells us there were six waterpots at the wedding in Cana that could hold 20-30 gallons of water each. Well, that’s oddly specific. It serves no obvious theological meaning or literary purpose. Why are statements like these there?

Scholar Lydia McGrew calls these “unnecessary details.” She writes: “An unnecessary detail appears to be there for no special reason; it is just there because the author believed it was true. It lends verisimilitude to the account precisely by being so pointless, and in some cases (though not always) vivid. Such details are thus plausible marks of eyewitness testimony -- either from the author himself or from one or more of his sources.”

If the Gospels are based on eyewitness testimony, this is exactly what we’d expect to find. And this is the sort of stuff you won't find in apocryphal gospels, such as the Gospel of Peter or Thomas. Let’s look at a few examples and you’ll see what I mean.


Join this channel to get access to perks:
   / @testifyapologetics  

Help support me: Patreon   / isjesusalive  . You can also do a one-time donation at paypal.me/isjesusalive

Get merch: https://is-jesus-alive.creator-spring...

Visit my blog: isjesusalive.com

The Mirror or the Mask: Liberating the Gospels from Literary Devices, Lydia McGrew https://amzn.to/3yRZbhA

See also: The Eye of the Beholder: The Gospel of John as Historical Reportage, Lydia McGrew https://amzn.to/2U6DWdc

Mic used: BLUE Snowball USB Microphone Gloss Black https://amzn.to/35qdvBc with InnoGear Adjustable Mic Stand for Blue Snowball and Blue Snowball iCE Suspension Boom Scissor Arm Stand with Microphone Windscreen and Dual Layered Mic Pop Filter, Max Load 1.5 KG https://amzn.to/3wAfWwZ

Outro music:
Equinox by Purrple Cat | https://purrplecat.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...