But Matthew, Luke, John, ext. were written at the same time as the gnostic writings, so I don't see how the reasons stated in the bible can make any sense... :crazy:
Sure, that's when they were written, but the gospels were told audibly to the people before that though. Did you read Galatians 1:6-25? The gospel was preached before it was written down. Like, Matthew could've been walking around telling people what Jesus had said and what happened, then later, when he was going to die or whatever, he had it written down for people to not forget.
So were the gnostic texts, and oral renditions tend to get modified over many re-tellings...