Dating The Bible

"Mark is the second Gospel in the New Testament of the Bible. It is the earliest and the shortest of the four Gospels. Papias, an early church father, ascribed this Gospel to Mark, an interpreter of Peter who is often identified with Mark, the cousin of Saint Barnabas and companion of Barnabas and Saint Paul on their first missionary journey. Irenaeus said that Mark wrote this Gospel after Peter and Paul had died. Most scholars today, therefore, date the book AD 65-70." --Grolier's Encyclopedia

Matthew and Luke were written later still, using Mark (and perhaps Q) as a reference. John was written even later; you can clearly see that [Christianity] had evolved considerably by the time it was written.

Book:              Dating:                    Author:
====               ======                     ======
Gospel of Mark:    65-70 AD                   Maybe Mark, Peter's
                                              "interpreter," companion
                                              of Paul &  Barnabas
Gospel of Matthew: 75 AD                      Follower or followers of
                                              Matthew
Gospel of Luke:    80-90 AD                   Unknown
Gospel of John:    95-100 AD                  John the elder, follower
                                              of John the apostle
Acts:              70-90 AD                   Unknown (probably same
                                              as author of Luke)
James:             45-50 AD, disputes to last James (highly disputed)
                   1st - early 2nd century AD
Colossians:        60 AD+                     Disputed (Paul or a
                                              follower)
Corinthians:       57 AD                      Paul
Ephesians:         65 AD                      Follower of Paul
Hebrews:           60-90 AD                   Follower of Paul
Epistles of John:  90 AD                      Self-identified in 2 of
                                              3 as "the elder", possibly
                                              same as author of Gospel
Jude:              65-100 AD                  Unknown
Epistles of Peter: 64 AD+                     Peter, disputed
                                              (especially 2 Peter)
Philemon:          56 AD                      Paul
Philippians:       57-62 AD                   Paul
Romans:            57-58 AD                   Paul
Galatians:         54-55 AD                   Paul
Thessalonians:     50 AD                      Paul (2 Thessalonians
                                              disputed)
Timothy:           60-100 AD                  Paul (highly disputed)
Titus:             60-100 AD                  Paul (highly disputed)
Revelation:        81-96 AD                   John (highly disputed)

What can we tell from this table, class? First, there is _not one_ book undisputedly written by a claimed eyewitness to Jess' "resurrection." Second, the earliest work with an undisputed date is 50 AD (some 20 years after Jess' death). Even the earliest possible date for a highly disputed work is 15 years later than Jess died. Would such "stand up in court" as you and Al claim? Doubtful in the EXTREME, Mikey. You wouldn't need Johnny Cochrane to get this stuff tossed out.

The fates of the 12-1/2 apostles:

Judas Iscariot:    Died mysteriously, definitely not martyred.
Thomas:            Either lived out his life peacefully in Parthia,
                   or was martyred in India -- no confirming evidence
                   either way.
Peter (Simon):     Possibly martyred in Rome -- evidence is slight.
Matthew:           Unknown.
John:              Unknown.
Thaddaeus (Jude):  Unknown.
Bartholomew:       Unknown.
Philip:            Unknown.
Simon:             Unknown.
Andrew:            Traditionally martyred -- no backing evidence.
Matthias:          Unknown.
James (greater):   Martyred (according to bible and legend, anyway).
James (lesser):    Stoned, according to Josephus.

Draw your own conclusions.

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