Crimson Red Sports

Hey everyone,

A friend of mine posed a couple of questions to me the other day. I've never questioned what I was taught so the questions caught me off guard. Let me preface this by saying, this person is an atheist who reads and studies everything. He is presently reading the Bible now.
Question One: Who was the "disciple Jesus loved"? No name is given although I've always been taught it was John.
Question Two:  Who wrote the books of Luke and Acts? I say Luke but he seems to disagree.

I gave my answers but now he's into the "how do you know?" phase.  Any insights would be appreciated greatly :)

Bible scholars much smarter than I am agree Luke wrote the Books of Luke and Acts.

John is the disciple Jesus loved. See link:
http://blog.adw.org/2010/06/identifying-the-disciple-whom-jesus-loved/

Thank you very much :)

Hey Sister Terrie so good to see you again.

pmull stated a good instance but also Paul spoke of Luke the physician being with him several times and hinted at Lukes' writings.
Yes, John was the disciple who laid his head on Jesus chest and heard his heartbeat. I think as he reads through the Bible it will draw him near. Praise God for you!

I would just add that if he is getting hung up on those details he is kind of missing the point.  I bet this same guy would swear on his life that the earth is 4.6 billion years old, that dinosaurs were destroyed by a comet/meteor impact, etc.  He obviously has 0 proof of either of those "scientific facts".  But even the slightest irrelevant tidbit in the bible will be questioned in the hopes that he can find some mistake that proves he is justified in his non-belief.

I suppose the truth is that I am not aware of any proof that the "disciple Jesus loved" is a reference to John, although it seems like a reasonable conclusion considering that I believe the phrase only occurs in the book of John.  Note:  he did not say "the ONLY disciple Jesus loved" as many people tend to think.

The same goes for the other question too.  There probably isn't any proof that would be acceptable to someone who is looking to disprove the bible.

If he is sincere, I would recommend that he read a series of books called "Evidence that Demands a Verdict".

http://www.amazon.com/Evidence-That-Demands-Verdict-Volume/dp/0840743785

This series gives all sorts of historical evidence to the validity of the bible and makes the point that the evidence we do have is far beyond what is presented in most court cases.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Thanks Bro Ricky and Coach.  I doubt he will read the book although I will suggest it.  He is pretty set in his atheistic non belief. I don't understand it and I try to show him the right way through my actions. :)
Thank you all!