The gospels were manipulated to reach target audiences

I’m not going to go into this too much myself as there are plenty of places online you can go to learn this for yourself, including Christian websites (I’ve included a link below to a Christian one). Each one was specifically manipulated to gain converts from different people groups.

• The book of Matthew targeted the Jews to try to prove Jesus was the Messiah.
• Mark targeted the Romans focusing on Jesus’s actions rather than what he said.
• Luke targeted the Greeks – designed to appeal to the educated and the philosophers. Also the gentiles.
• John was targeted at those facing false teachings to combat heresies.
  See "The Gospel Target audiences"

Some may say there is no problem here, but I tend to be a little cynical that each story should be adjusted simply to gain conversions from different people groups. It makes me wonder just how much adjusting was done and how true the entire story is. It also makes me wonder how powerful the gospel can be if this type of manipulation is required.

Reason 43: The gospels are hearsay - not eyewitness accounts

Reason 45: The Bible is written by many people with differing perspectives not consistent with each other

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