Badger... let me be frank
(not that I haven't been frank)
It isn't that we "cling" to G-John. If you were to be speaking about G-Luke - we would be having the same discussion or, for that matter, Gen, Ex, Lev. et al. We simply trust the scriptures. I have studied them for almost 40 years now.
I believe that you trust the verses that fit for you.
You mention 'Lev' but I don't think the (average) Christian interpretation of Lev makes any sense at all.
And the tales described in the gospels differ so much that they clearly cannot support all accounts without the most careful scrutiny .....and scissors!
You just can't take one part, Eusebius or transfiguration, and make a determination on the whole of it.
Nor do I. But I treat each gospel as a statement of evidence, if not a witness statement, and Eusebius might have known people-who-knew-people but that does not give his opinions any more value than, say, Celsus. In fact Celsus offers more valuable indirect evidence in my opinion because he not only knew about the disciples he could offer previously unrecorded information about them........ but you don't mention him often, I suspect.
If you take the chronological side by side comparison, you find that there is a harmony of the gospels.
No Ken. That is absolute nonsense.
As I view your position, it seems more like what many people do with scripture. They take their position as a colander, pour the information in the colander, take what comes out of the colander to support their position and then throw out what doesn't
And now you have just described your own position exactly, I think.
You keep returning to focus upon me....your opinion of me. What you need to do is to PRODUCE EVIDENCE AS WRITTEN.
I can understand why you may have that viewpoint. Can I offer another perspective?
Let me give you an example:
John 11:48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
He didn't mean "all of the Romans" but generalized the fact that the Roman army would come.
Ken......... to try and produce a useful analogy about what was meant by John 11.48 and adjusted to your pov is not helpful for you.
That was written in hindsight about 60 years after 'The Romans did all come'! That they didn't bring their next door neighbours doesn't help you very much.
Now you know how 'The Jews' suffered two thousand years of pogroms, injustices, and even genocides ........ please don't try to manipulate what John wrote with useless analogies.
If that would be a possibility, lets look at some of the scriptures you gave:
Obviously I would immediately eliminate those that mention "officers"... as it specifically is talking about "certain" Jews.
So, taking John 2:17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. 18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
How will you adjust '{5:18} Therefore
the Jews sought the more to kill him,' ???
Why don't you just read Mark's deposition..... he was actually there for some of the incidents, you know.
John wrote 'the Jews'! Ken. Historians recognise his antisemiticism. You don't seem to want to.
Because "Nicodemus" was part of the same Jews and he didn't want to kill him. If you look carefully, "the Jews" really were simply those Jews who didn't like him.
Please........... don't try to tell me what Nicodemus really meant when all you've got is what was written about him.
I could mangle his reported words by saying that Nicodemus did not recognise Galileans as proper Jews, mere recent converts not worthy of his inclusion. In fact that suggestion might carry more truth....... !!
And there is certainly enough in John that speak of his love for the Jews. after all he said, "10:15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
The sheep....! G-John was written for gentiles.
Maybe if we are looking for it, we can actually find it?
That's exactly what I think you do do, Ken.
You have been shown evidence and so you cannot answer it, preferring to write rhetoric like the above.