Alatariel wrote:
The gospels like the books
> of the old testament, are written after the fact by people who
> received the information second hand. That is one thing that
> bothers me about the "red" writing in bibles written by
> people like Matthew, who never knew Jesus, so, how could he
> say Jesus said. Should it not say "Jesus something to the
> effect of . . ." Like the telephone game once something is
> passed from the first person to third person, the information
> is already different. You can read the bible all day long
> and never find anything for or against Christ's possible
> marriage. The only thing we know for sure about Jesus, is
> that his message was clear. LOVE LOVE LOVE (Love yourself,
> Love your neighbors and Love GOD)

I agree that the gospels--including the non-canonical gospels--were based on whisper-down-the-alley, second and third hand word of mouth, but Matthew definitely knew Jesus--he was one of the twelve.
Paul, otoh, never met Jesus, yet most of the NT is his writing.
David