Just to expand on a point made by Ray...I find it staggering that some letters written well after the events by people acting on nothing but hearsay AND then translated at a time when folk were illiterate and ALSO had an "agenda".......CAN BE POSSIBLY TAKEN VERBATIM AS THE WORD OF GOD.....There is also evidence that some of these letters were "creatively edited" and others which did not fit the preconceived ideology of the time or were considered unpopular were discarded altogether. Yes if there is a God and he allowed his only son to die for our sins...then you would have thought he would have found a really clever, more reliable and less painful way to get his message over....and keep it there.
One question for Christian believers...at what point must we accept Jesus? It must surely be ONLY after we die and when we come face to face with Jesus or God.....cause some people do not even know of his or a Bible's existence whilst living.....now if that IS the case then why all the palaver about religion whilst alive? why not just wait till we die before asking for forgiveness and eternal life?
I use the following analogy.....a songwriter was puzzled as to why he had not had a hit despite writing some great songs...the answer was simple..... others were writing songs and competing for attention. Now he did not compete BUT expected people to come looking for him rather than creating fantastic demos, networking and pitching to everybody. Now how can God expect EVERYBODY to buy his song when he keeps it hidden from most and pitches it to others in a way that does not sell.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=5238055