"Why on earth would Paul use twelve symbolically? He doesn't strike me as that type of guy or rather, when he does use symbols, he then uses twenty verses to elaborate on them to ensure that his readers understand exactly what he meant. By using eleven he would be emphasising Judas' punishment for his betrayal (as Matthew does 28:18). And by the time Revelation was written, then there were twelve apostles again."
Because he may have been referring to the twelve as a group
"Matthew says that the priests transacted business for the obtaining of the field, but they did not thereby have possession of the field. The money they used was Judas' and the field was bought in his name; the field was technically and legally his.
Again, you are creating biblical verses here, or have a translation I'm not familiar with. I cannot see where Matthew says that "the priests did not thereby have possession of the field". Judas was almost certainly dead before they bought the field - could you buy things in a dead persons name? I doubt it."
Read the original greek translation, the field was bought with Judas's money and thus was implied to be his. Who knows when the Pharisee's found out he was dead may have been weeks later, a field could certainly have been purchased within that time.
"Thank you for your efforts, but I think it is time to finish. You won't accept that the bible is the true word of god unless it is interpreted, symbolised and inventions created to eliminate many, many inconsistencies in the pure written word. It is impossible, therefore to take the bible seriously as the word of god, as there can be (and are, hence the multitude of versions of christianity) many different ways that it tells you how to live. I was hoping that we could discuss the truth in the bible, rather than whether it was true, but maybe that is too difficult and time-consuming to do over a keyboard."
I have asked you repeatedly to provide alternate views as to why the gospel writers would go to the lengths they did to apparently construct the gospels, but for some reason you choose not to answer.
