Introduction
One of the most common arguments in Christian apologetics is the idea that Christianity must be historically reliable because the Gospels were written “close to the events,” supposedly by eyewitnesses, and that Paul didn’t invent the religion—it simply emerged intact from people who really saw a divine Jesus.
The argument usually comes packaged with a neat comparison:
“If a WWII pilot can accurately write about his experience 53 years later, then surely the Gospel writers could remember what Jesus did a few decades after his death.”
It sounds compelling—until you actually look at the historical facts.
This blog dismantles the entire claim, point by point. Not out of hostility toward anyone’s faith, but because accuracy matters. History matters. And truth shouldn’t have to hide behind bad analogies and half-understood scholarship.
Let’s dig in.
1. The Argument Being Made — And Why It Looks Convincing at First Glance
The talking point goes like this:
• Paul wrote letters in the 40s–50s AD.
• The Gospels were written in the 60–90 AD range.
• That’s only a few decades, so memory would still be good.
• Four Gospels = four eyewitness accounts.
• Therefore Paul didn’t invent Christianity.
• The Gospels reflect “consistent early teaching.”
Then comes the WWII analogy:
A pilot (Paul Tibbets) wrote a memoir 53 years after dropping the bomb on Hiroshima. Nobody doubts it. So why doubt the Gospels?
It sounds smart.
It sounds tidy.
It sounds like a knockdown argument.
It’s also completely disconnected from how ancient history works, how oral cultures function, how the Gospels were actually written, and what modern scholars—Christian and non-Christian—agree on.
To understand why, we need to start with the biggest myth embedded in the argument.
2. Myth #1: “By 80 AD, Christians already produced a consistent body of literature.”
This is simply false.
There is no body of literature from 80 AD that presents anything like the New Testament as we know it.
Here’s what we actually have by 80 AD:
• Paul’s authentic letters (1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1–2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians, Philemon)
• Possibly early fragments of oral tradition
• Possibly the earliest version of Mark (dated around 70 AD, sometimes later)
What we
do not have by 80 AD:
• Matthew
• Luke
• Acts
• John
• Any written resurrection narratives from eyewitnesses
• Any independent Roman sources
• Any written documentation about Jesus’ life that predates Paul
The idea that a “consistent body of Christian literature” existed by 80 AD is fiction.
We have a few isolated letters and one anonymous Gospel—maybe.
That’s not a record.
That’s the beginnings of a movement.
3. Myth #2: “The Gospels were written by eyewitnesses.”
Even conservative seminaries now teach:
• The Gospels were written anonymously.
• The names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were assigned later.
• None of the authors claim to be eyewitnesses.
• The Gospels are theological biographies, not modern history books.
This is not atheist scholarship.
It is mainstream New Testament scholarship.
Matthew and Luke copy Mark—word for word in some cases.
John is written much later and presents a completely different theological Jesus.
If four people wrote four eyewitness accounts independently, they would not:
• use identical phrasing
• copy each other’s structure
• replicate the same parables
• reproduce the same sentences
• share the same errors
The Gospels are a literary family tree, not four independent testimonies.
The “four eyewitnesses” claim crumbles immediately once you understand the textual relationships between the books.
4. Myth #3: “Memory over decades proves reliability.”
This is where the Tibbets analogy comes in.
A WWII pilot wrote a memoir 53 years after Hiroshima.
He remembered details.
People accept it as reliable.
Therefore, the Gospels—written 40–60 years after Jesus—should also be trusted.
But this analogy collapses in eight different ways:
A. Tibbets was literate; Jesus’ followers were not.
Tibbets wrote his own book.
The disciples were illiterate peasant laborers.
First-century Judea had an illiteracy rate of 95%–98%.
The idea that Peter, Andrew, James, or John sat down and wrote Greek theological works is fantasy.
B. Tibbets wrote in an information-rich environment.
He had:
• flight logs
• photographs
• other eyewitnesses
• national archives
• newspapers
• military records
• technological recordings
• diaries
• thousands of documents verifying details
The Gospel writers had:
• oral tradition
• decades of community storytelling
• second-hand memories
• theology-driven interpretation
• zero contemporaneous notes
C. WWII accounts can be verified.
If Tibbets got something wrong, historians can check records.
If Mark or John get something wrong, there is no way to verify or correct it.
D. Oral cultures do not transmit stories accurately over decades.
Scholars of oral societies are unanimous:
• Orally transmitted stories evolve rapidly.
• They change with each retelling.
• Communities add meaning, symbolism, theology.
• Details shift.
• Miracles grow.
• Heroes become larger than life.
By the time the Gospels were written, decades of theological evolution had already occurred.
E. Ancient biographies are not memoirs.
The Gospels fit genre categories like:
• Greco-Roman bios
• Hellenistic hagiography
• Jewish midrash
• Theological narrative
They are not diaries or factual memoirs.
F. The earliest Christian writings—Paul’s letters—contain NO biography of Jesus.
Paul never mentions:
• Jesus’ miracles
• Jesus’ parables
• Jesus’ birth
• Jesus’ trial details
• Jesus’ teachings
• Jesus’ mother
• Jesus’ ministry timeline
Paul preaches a cosmic Christ—primarily death, resurrection, and salvation.
The biographical Jesus emerges later.
If you want to know where Christianity actually starts:
It starts with Paul.
Not with a Gospel biography.
5. Myth #4: “Variations between the Gospels prove authenticity.”
Apologists love saying:
“Since the Gospels don’t perfectly agree, that proves they weren’t invented.”
Actually, variations prove something very different:
• Oral traditions diverged.
• Communities shaped stories differently.
• Theology changed with time.
Examples:
• Two different genealogies of Jesus.
• Two different nativity stories that cannot both be true.
• Different timelines for the crucifixion.
• Different words spoken by Jesus on the cross.
• Different resurrection accounts.
• Major disagreements about who discovered the tomb.
• John’s Jesus is divine and philosophical; Mark’s Jesus is secretive and human.
Contradictions don’t validate a story.
They show how stories develop and morph.
6. Myth #5: “Paul didn’t invent Christianity.”
Here is the uncomfortable truth even Christian scholars acknowledge:
• Jesus preached Jewish apocalypticism.
• Jesus did not preach salvation by believing in his death.
• Jesus did not claim to be God in the Synoptic Gospels.
• Jesus saw himself as a Jewish prophet preparing Israel for God’s imminent kingdom.
Paul, on the other hand:
• said Jesus was a pre-existent divine being.
• created the theology of atonement.
• said salvation comes through faith, not Jewish law.
• built the framework for a universal religion.
• wrote the earliest Christian scripture.
• shaped the interpretation of Jesus’ death.
• defined the Eucharist.
• developed the concept of the church as Christ’s body.
Paul’s Jesus is
cosmic, divine, salvific.
The Gospels later reshape Jesus to match Paul’s theology.
Paul didn’t “invent” Jesus.
But he absolutely invented Christianity as a religion separate from Judaism.
Without Paul, Jesus is:
• an apocalyptic preacher
• executed by Rome
• expecting the world to end
• part of Jewish tradition
With Paul, Jesus becomes:
• divine
• savior
• redeemer
• resurrected lord
• centerpiece of a new religion
That’s not a small shift.
It is the foundation of Christianity.
7. Myth #6: “Different teachings only appear 150–200 years later.”
False again.
Different teachings appear
immediately after Jesus’ death.
Examples from the first century:
• Jewish-Christians (Jesus is human; keep Torah)
• Pauline Christians (Jesus is cosmic Lord; Torah unnecessary)
• Gnostics (Jesus is an eternal revealer, not a flesh-and-blood messiah)
• Nazarene sects
• Ebionites
• Docetists (Jesus wasn’t physically human at all)
• Adoptionists (Jesus became divine at baptism)
The reason “only one set of teachings survived” is not consistency.
It’s suppression.
Christianity didn’t start unified; it started fragmented.
Orthodoxy hardened much later—around 180–300 AD—when church leaders:
• declared some texts heretical
• canonized others
• enforced creeds
• banished competing ideologies
Unity was manufactured.
Not original.
8. The Real Timeline of Christian Origins
Here’s the actual scholarly timeline:
• 30–33 AD: Jesus dies.
• 40s–50s AD: Paul writes letters—not biographical, but theological.
• 70 AD: Mark writes anonymous Gospel from oral tradition.
• 80–100 AD: Matthew and Luke write using Mark + other sources.
• 90–110 AD: John writes a theological Gospel.
• 120–150 AD: Non-canonical Gospels proliferate.
• 150–300 AD: Church consolidates theology and canon.
This is not conspiracy.
This is mainstream historical understanding.
The apologetic argument collapses because it completely misrepresents this timeline.
9. What the WWII Analogy Gets Wrong
The analogy compares:
A WWII pilot writing a memoir to:
Anonymous authors writing religious stories decades later in an oral culture.
These are not comparable events. At all.
Eyewitness memoir vs. community storytelling?
Modern literacy vs. ancient illiteracy?
Historical record vs. theological agenda?
It’s like comparing a black box flight recorder to a campfire legend.
The analogy fails at every possible level.
10. So Did Paul “Invent” Christianity?
Not literally.
Jesus existed and preached something.
But did Paul:
• transform the message?
• reinterpret Jesus’ death?
• invent the theology of salvation?
• redefine the messiah?
• reshape Judaism into a universal religion?
Yes.
And did the Gospel writers later craft biographies to reinforce Paul’s theology?
Also yes.
Paul is the architect of Christian doctrine.
The Gospels are the theological scaffolding built around his ideas.
That’s not controversial.
That’s the scholarly consensus.
Why This Matters
Because history matters.
Because facts matter.
Because Christianity is not weakened by acknowledging its evolution — but apologetics is.
If someone wants to believe Jesus is divine, that’s their right.
If Christianity gives meaning to millions, great.
But we shouldn’t pretend the religion descended fully formed from eyewitnesses writing down perfect memories.
Christianity grew.
Changed.
Evolved.
Shifted through oral tradition, community retelling, theological debate, and political consolidation.
The real origin story is far more interesting—and far more human—than the Sunday-school version.
Understanding it gives us a clearer picture of how religions develop, how stories become sacred, and how human beings search for meaning.
And that truth stands on its own without stretching analogies or rewriting history.
References
Ehrman, B. D. (2012). Did Jesus Exist?
Ehrman, B. D. (2014). How Jesus Became God.
Casey, M. (2010). Jesus of Nazareth: An Independent Historian’s Account.
Fredriksen, P. (2000). From Jesus to Christ.
Crossan, J. D. (1991). The Historical Jesus.
Lüdemann, G. (1996). The Resurrection of Jesus.
Meier, J. P. (1991–2016). A Marginal Jew.
Martín, J. (2018). Jesus: A Pilgrimage.
Pagels, E. (1979). The Gnostic Gospels.
Tabor, J. (2006). The Jesus Dynasty.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in this post are opinions of the author for educational and commentary purposes only. They are not statements of fact about any individual or organization, and should not be construed as legal, medical, or financial advice. References to public figures and institutions are based on publicly available sources cited in the article. Any resemblance beyond these references is coincidental.
