MYTH-BUSTERS: No, the Gospels are not Fables, Like Peter Pan
When the Scots author James Matthew Barrie wrote “Peter Pan,” he set it in Neverland, a place where boys never have to grow up and they can fly. Sounds like a great place, right? But there are dangers in Neverland, too, because Captain Hook hates children and wants them all to have to walk the plank.
That scenario is easily identified as a fable, a fairy tale, and not a description of human reality. There are symbols in Peter Pan, most obviously Captain Hook, but symbology is as close to reality as the fairy tale.
So why do critics of Jesus insist His story in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is also a fairy tale? One possible explanation that makes sense to me is that, like the fairy tale that provides readers with a temporary escape from reality, rejecting the Gospels as fairy tales gives the critics a temporary escape from the reality that the evidence for the Gospel account of Jesus is overwhelming.
Some Huge Differences:
Cold-Case Christianity’s J. Warner Wallace took up this comparison recently and offered a number of telling observations that bear serious examination by any critic who retains a genuine desire to know the truth about Jesus.
Here I will just share one of Wallace’s observations as an enticement to check out the balance of his presentation at the link provided. Wallace notes that Barrie never claimed to be relating as an eyewitness facts about an event or personality, or an accurate historical account:
“There is a difference between the authors of the Gospels and J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. Barrie never wrote his story as a true claim about history from the perspective of an eyewitness.
“Instead, he first introduced the character of Peter Pan in a small section of The Little White Bird, a 1902 novel. He later adapted the character into a stage play for children and eventually the character appeared in a separate publication. All the while, Barrie never claimed to be writing true history as an eyewitness.”
Eyewitness Claims Are Strong:
But, Wallace notes, claiming the credibility that comes with being eyewitnesses is exactly what the Gospel authors, and indeed all of the original Apostles, including Paul, said and made central to their credibility:
Wallace points us to such claims by Peter and John:
2 Peter 1:16
“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.”
1 John 1:1,3
“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life… we proclaim to you also.”
To put it more bluntly, when critics accuse the Gospel authors of writing fairy tales while claiming to be eyewitnesses, what they are really doing is accusing Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter and Paul of being liars and frauds.
Wallace offers six more ways in which the Gospels are totally unlike fairy tales such as Peter Pan. If you aren’t convinced of the truth of the Gospels and are inclined to dismiss them as mere fables or legends, give Wallace’s case a fair chance and yourself an opportunity to consider evidence that has never previously been presented to you.