Hi FM, Since, """There's nothing at all wrong with that.""" why did you make an issue of it?
And to call it hearsay, when you were not there and can not prove that the Books assigned names were not written by them is worse than hearsay.
From what, do you conclude that John "had Jesus's ministry lasting for one year?
I didn't make an issue, I pointed out that you are operating on hearsay. Since I was not there, and I know that the Authors of Luke and Mark were not among the disciples of Jesus, I figure that at best the must be operating off of what they had heard as well. The times of the writings of Matthew and John were not around the time that Jesus was alive, nor even when Paul was writing but much later.
The oldest book we have is Mark, which dates back to around 50 A.D. at the earliest. That would be over 20+ years after the death of Jesus. We can also see that Matthew and Luke draw from Mark, but while Mark doesn't talk about the Virgin Birth, Matthew does, and so does Luke, Yet neither Matthew or Luke have correct genealogies (not simply in the listings but in the fact that if I remember correctly Luke has more people listed). While Luke claims witnesses we don't have information on who those witnesses are (names would be helpful, there were twelve disciples to talk to). We also don't know if it was the Luke the Physicians who was friends with Paul or another Luke.
It also helps that it wasn't uncommon for people to use the names of people who were well known when writing.
Also you are right, Johns has the ministry lasting for over two years, while the synoptics appear to have the ministry running for maybe 1 to two years max.
Here's a list of the difference between John and the synoptics.
The Book of John is significantly different from the Synoptic Gospels:
Jesus is identified with the divine Word ("Logos") and referred to as theos ("God").[119]
The Gospel of John gives no account of the Nativity of Jesus, unlike Matthew and Luke, and his mother's name is never given. John does assert that Jesus was known as the "son of Joseph" in 6:42.
In chapter 7:41-42, and again in 7:52, John records some of the crowd of Pharisees dismissing the possibility of Jesus's being the Messiah, on the grounds that the Messiah must be a descendent of David and born in Bethlehem, stating that Jesus instead came out of Galilee (as is stated in the Gospel of Mark); John made no effort to refute or correct (nor did he affirm) this, and this has been advanced as implying that John rejected the synoptic tradition of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem.
The Pharisees, portrayed as more uniformly legalistic and opposed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels, are instead portrayed as sharply divided; they debate frequently in the Gospel of John's accounts. Some, such as Nicodemus, even go so far as to be at least partially sympathetic to Jesus. This is believed to be a more accurate historical depiction of the Pharisees, who made debate one of the tenets of their system of belief.[120]
John makes no mention of Jesus' baptism,[103] but quotes John the Baptist's description of the descent of the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist publicly proclaims Jesus to be the Lamb of God. The Baptist recognizes Jesus secretly in Matthew, and not at all in Mark or Luke. John also denies that he is Elijah, whereas Mark and Matthew identify him with Elijah.
The Temple incident appears near the beginning of Jesus' ministry. In the synoptics this occurs soon before Jesus is crucified.
John contains four visits by Jesus to Jerusalem, three associated with the Passover feast. This chronology suggests Jesus' public ministry lasted three or two years. The synoptic gospels describe only one trip to Jerusalem in time for the Passover observance.
Jesus washes the disciples' feet instead of the synoptics' ritual with bread and wine (the Eucharist).[17][103]
No other women are mentioned going to the tomb with Mary Magdalene.
John does not contain any parables.[121] Rather it contains metaphoric stories or allegories, such as The Shepherd and The Vine, in which each individual element corresponds to a specific group or thing.
Major synoptic speeches of Jesus are absent, including the Sermon on the Mount and the Olivet discourse.[122]
While the synoptics look forward to a future Kingdom of God (using the term parousia, meaning "coming"), John presents an eschatology that has already been realized.[123]
The Kingdom of God is mentioned only twice in John.[124] In contrast, the other gospels repeatedly use the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven as important concepts.
The exorcisms of demons are never mentioned as in the synoptics.[103][124]
John never lists all of the Twelve Disciples and names at least one disciple (Nathanael) whose name is not found in the synoptics; Nathanael appears to parallel the apostle Bartholomew found in the synoptics, as both are paired with Philip in the respective gospels. While James and John are prominent disciples in the synoptics, John mentions them only in the epilogue, where they are referred to not by name but as the "sons of Zebedee."
Thomas the Apostle is given a personality beyond a mere name, as "Doubting Thomas".
I find the bible an amazingly interesting book, as it really shows mans attempt to try to understand God, so much that you see a development in character in all the books of the Bible...I suppose God must have quite the chuckle at humanities attempt.
