MsTerry I humbly apologize. Please forgive me! Like I said before I'm a work in progress. You're right! I do get frustrated. Believe it or not I really do care about people. Before I was Born again I cared for no one but myself except for my son. Since then God has taught me that loving others is putting their needs before my own, and expect nothing in return. And I want everyone to know the peace I know now compared to what I knew before, to be able to love like never before. In the past I would have told everyone here who disagreed with me to F off and never wrote another post. Shoot For that matter I would have never even responded to this Web site. Today I work as a volunteer with street kids and I love it and it has become a huge passion of mine. A few years ago these kids were nothing but punks to me, but God has shown me, I am them, and they are me, by reminding me how it felt to be abused and abandoned just like them. Jesus is turning me into someone He can use to help these kids. Imagine taking a macho, egotistical, screwed up, fight at the drop of a hat, 6'- 4" 300lb. bully like I was, and turning me into what the kids call me, a big old teddy bear. Those Kids I used to write off I love to death. I could not have gotten to where I am, without Jesus. I promise you, I did not get here on my own. I spent most of my life fighting Him, but He won and I thank God He did. I was a broken man and Jesus picked me up out of the gutter and cleaned me up and now he uses me to give those broken kids what they are all looking for and that is love, someone to be there for them, and I can't imagine a better purpose for my life. Sorry I didn't mean to rattle on. It's just really hard to keep these kinds of emotions to myself.
As far as when the 27 books of the new testament were written and by who, this is my understanding. These are approximate dates when they were written, in order, and the author.
James - 45 - 48 AD by James, believed to be the half brother Of Jesus.
The Gospel of Mathew - 50 AD by the Apostle Matthew.
Thessalonians 1 & 2 - 50 - 54 AD by The Apostle Paul These were actually letters to the Thessalonians from Paul.
Corinthians 1 - 54 - 55 AD by the Apostle Paul. This is actually the second letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians. The first one was lost.
Corinthians 2 - 56 - 57 AD by the Apostle Paul. This is actually the fourth letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians. The third one was also lost.
Romans - 57 - 58 AD by the Apostle Paul. Physically written by Tertias, dictated by Paul.
The Gospel of Mark - 57 - 59 AD by Mark an associate of the Apostle Peter.
The Gospel of Luke - 58 - 60 AD by Doctor Luke, a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul.
Ephesians - 60 AD by the Apostle Paul.
Colossians - 60 - 61 AD by the Apostle Paul and Timothy.
Philippians - 61 - 62 AD by the Apostle Paul and Timothy.
Philemon - 62 AD by the Apostle Paul and Timothy.
Acts - 60 - 62 AD by Doctor Luke.
1, 2, and 3 John - 60 - 65 AD by the Apostle John.
1 Timothy and Titus - 63 - 66 AD by the Apostle Paul.
1 Peter - 64 AD by the Apostle Peter.
2 Peter - 64 - 68 AD by the Apostle Peter.
2 Timothy - 67 AD by the Apostle Paul. His last letter.
Hebrews - 68 - 69 AD Author unknown. Many believe it was Barnabas, another of Apostle Paul's traveling companions.
Jude - 67 - 80 AD by Jude, also believed to be a half brother of Jesus.
The Gospel of John - 85 - 95 AD by the Apostle John.
Revelations - 95 - 96 AD by the Apostle John the only Apostle to die a natural death. The rest were all martyred.
As you can see most of the New Testament was in fact written by the Apostles, and all of it was written Within the first hundred years AD. Andrew: Crucified.
Bartholomew: Crucified.
James, son of Alphaeus: Crucified.
James, son of Zebedee: Death by the sword.
Matthew: Death by the sword.
Peter: Crucified upside-down at his own request (he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same manner as the Lord).
Philip: Crucified.
Simon the Zealot: Crucified.
Thaddaeus: Death by arrows.
Thomas: Death by a spear thrust.
Most people don't take the bible literally since this leads to extremism and misinterpretation.
The world is full of extremism. We are surrounded by it, bombarded with it daily. It takes extremism to wake us up, especially considering how extremely stubborn we are. The misinterpretations come from a lack of faith and trying to interpret with ones own understanding. In other words it is my faith that gives me understanding. I didn't get hardly anything the bible said until my desire to understand was sincere, and I was willing to open my mind to God to help me get what I was reading. Now I see the beauty of Jesus words and how perfect they are. If we were to live our lives according to how the New Testament tells us to, this world would be an absolute paradise. But it's us living outside of God's will that makes this a hell on earth.
We're all struggling to become a better person, on a daily basis
I wish that were true MsTerry believe me, but I have to disagree. Most people stumble through life not having a clue why they're here or what their purpose is because most don't care. This has become a narcissistic society. We grow and move forward scientifically and technologically, but we go backwards mentally and emotionally. The world is not becoming a better place. It's become a dangerous, scary place. I remember the day you could send your 10 year old kid to the grocery store and not have to worry whether or not he would be safe. Shoot today I worry every time my 17 year old son walks out the door. Parental stress over the safety of their children is ten fold from when I was a kid. When I became old enough to understand, I was able to see pride and love of this country. Now all I see is whining and complaining and no body willing to do anything about it. When our country was attacked at Pearl harbor and we lost 3000 of our fellow countrymen, people flooded the recruiting stations in droves so they could do their part to protect our freedom. They couldn't get signed up fast enough because they put their country first. After the killing of 3000 of our fellow countrymen in 9/11 the recruiting stations actually saw a drop in recruiting. People just don't care about this country or their neighbors like we did 40, 50 years ago. Our world is on the brink of self annihilation because we've lost the desire to put others before ourselves, to look out and stand up for those around us, to lend a helping hand, and we've lost these because we've lost our faith.
I'm glad to hear that you are convinced that you will end up in heaven, whatever that may be and wherever that may be.
I'm convinced it's there for you too, and I hope some day you'll be as convinced as I am
God bless