Howdy, HW! Welcome to the AR. We are always happy to have folks stop by for information and discussions. I’m afraid, however, in the realm of “New Testament Reliability” you have opened up a can of worms that has sent many a “Christian Historian” running for the hills away from here. As you may have already noticed, we have more than a couple of “heavy hitters” who have been studying the bible and its history for a vast majority of their lives. So all I can say in that regard is, “Good luck, and have fun.” I’m basically gonna just sit back with some popcorn and watch. Because while I find the topic interesting in and of itself, it has pretty much NOTHING to do with my being an atheist. Which brings me to the point where I shall insert a monkey wrench (Shut up, @Cognostic ) into your “biblical reliability” gears…
See, for me, I personally do not care if Jesus was actually real or not. Therefore, the “reliability” of the New Testament is pretty much inconsequential to me. And even IF Jesus happens to have been real, you (or anybody else) will have a great deal of work cut out to convince me he ever performed the “miracles” accredited to him. Even THAT, though, is really of minor significance compared to why I am an atheist. Just out of curiosity, have you ever even actually READ your bible? To be honest, I can’t even make it through the first couple of chapters of Genesis without having to fish my eyes out of the back of my head. Sure, growing up in the middle of the Bible Belt and being taken to church several times a week, I certainly heard all about god and Jesus and Satan and all the (selected) stories about them. Couldn’t be avoided. But allow me to let you in on a little secret… (looking around to make sure nobody is nearby)… by the time I was but the wee age of 8 years old, NONE of it ever made sense to me. There were just way too many contradictions and inconsistencies for me to wrap my innocent little mind around. (Granted, I did not know exactly what “contradiction” and “inconsistency” meant at the time, but hindsight is 20/20. 
) Anyway, being the obedient and respectful child that I was, I went along with it all to avoid any ill-will from my family and friends. Unfortunately, as a result, the fear of Satan and hell got firmly planted into my young and impressionable psyche. Long story short, I spent the better part of 40 years living in an almost constant state of anxiety and indecision before I was finally able to escape the brainwashing. And here I am today, happier and more clear-headed than I have ever been in my life.
So, feel free to “debate” about the “accuracy and reliability” of the New Testament all you want. Have a blast with it, if that’s what floats your boat. No skin off my nose. To me, though, it’s about the same as a used car salesman keeping a potential buyer focused on the shiny leather seats and the new paint job in an effort to keep them distracted away from the fact there is no engine in the car. Just sayin’…
(Edited for punctuality.)