In Reply to: Re: cool Sam!! posted by Sam Ajemian on July 31, 2003 at 08:03:22:
Yes, the existence of Q is speculative, but in the same sense that you can work backwards with the evidence and re-create a crime scene. There are compelling reasons to believe that Q (German "Quelle" = "Source document) existed behind the Gospels.
For example, again and again the three writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) quote a story almost identically, and not only that, quote key words in the exact same order, implying that all three of them worked from a common, written source. And think of the 90-year old apostle John quoting Jesus' words in John 17 verbatim 60 years after the fact. Either he had a total-recall memory or else pulled out notes someone had taken at the time. These "source" documents are called "Q".
So you're right, the existence of Q is speculative, but based on enough circumstantial evidence to make it credible.