> I know most people hate nitpicking questions and would rather focus on big picture items. But my point all along has been that the big picture depends entirely on the nits I'm picking. The claim to Truth of the big picture is called into question by the exposure of just a single error.
>
> -- Dave

You've got a good point going here, Dave, and I have heard simliar arguments about contradictions within the Bible. For what it's worth, here's my take on the situation.

One of the best ways to check the veracity of what is in the Bible is to evaluate it as you would any other historical source. (For once, I'm actually glad to be taking A-Level History). It is generally accepted as true that the four Gospels were written by entirely different people, three of whom were eyewitnesses to what happened (Matthew, Mark and John) while Luke based his account on a range of primary sources. Although there are discrepancies between the Gospels, there is also an astonishingly large body of evidence that these books back each other up with. And, in a way, the mistakes *add* to this backing-up. If you had three extremely long sources that agreed *exactly* all the way through, you might suspect that something is awry - perhaps that they are all copied from one. The fact that all the books exhibit very different writing styles and different pieces of evidence shows that it is much more likely that these are entirely independent witnesses, and because they all back each other up *for by far the most part* they are likely to be reliable. I'm not sure whether that lot makes sense, but what I actually *mean* is that, given the Gospels to compare and evaluate in a history lesson, I would probably say that they are reliable.

The point of all this? Well, what it boils down to is that I totally disagree with the idea that a tiny hole throws the whole thing into question. Luke might have got his information for Acts from a dodgy source; in this case I would rather trust the eyewitness, Matthew. What you have to remember is that how Judas died, or what happened to the field, *doesn't matter in terms of the so-called "Big Picture"*. Neither of those facts have any bearing at all on the main messages of the Gospels.

Oh yes, and maximum YAY for Tess and HalfWitt.

Si-"Doesn't make much sense...never mind"-gi