Were any of the apostles? What a nonsensical question. A strawdog perhaps?
>> This means that among them were eyewitnesses to each event, not that he, personally, was an eyewitness<<
Well that would have to be your story to maintain the façade. Truth however is a little more illusive isn’t it. Ever hear of the seventy disciples? I wonder why the Greek Orthodox church has a “Feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke” but Catholics claim he wasn’t a disciple of Christ? Luke spent an inordinate amount of time with Paul even to being the only one with him when Paul was in prison. He was Paul’s special companion.
>> Were any of the apostles? What a nonsensical question. A strawdog perhaps? <<
LOL! For starters, it’s called a “straw man.” And no, my questions aren’t straw men. If your position is that Luke is reporting what he’s seen, then he must have seen this. That’s obviously not true. Luke was with John at Ephesus at the same time the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary was. Presumably, she is part of “us.”
>> Well that would have to be your story to maintain the façade. Truth however is a little more illusive isn’t it. Ever hear of the seventy disciples? I wonder why the Greek Orthodox church has a “Feast of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke” but Catholics claim he wasn’t a disciple of Christ? Luke spent an inordinate amount of time with Paul even to being the only one with him when Paul was in prison. He was Paul’s special companion. <<
Absolutely true. But that doesn’t mean that Luke was witness to any of the things I said he couldn’t have been witness to. THAT’S the straw man, here. I never said Luke witnessed NOTHING. But he didn’t witness the most important parts: He didn’t witness the Nativity, the Last Supper, the Crucifixion or the Resurrection. He very well might have been one of the 70. But the Greeks don’t assert he was when they call him a “Holy Apostle.” They call loads of people apostles, including Ss. Cyril and Methodius.
The Greek Orthodox of Diocese of America simply leaves the issue of whether he was one of the 70 at this: “There is a tradition that Luke was one of the Seventy Disciples that the Lord Jesus Christ sent before Him.” (You’ll note that they do NOT say ‘Tradition holds that...’ That indicates that they’re not insisting that this tradition consists of sacred Tradition.)