First, he discusses the unreliability of biblical writings, such as the New Testament gospels, stating that "the Gospels cannot simply be taken literally as giving us historically reliable accounts. things that Jesus said and did” (Ehrman 88), because not only were they written after Jesus’ death, but they also did not come from eyewitnesses who had personally seen or heard Jesus. Because the sources used in these writings are unknown and their purpose was, in Ehrman's words, to spread the "good news" of Jesus, the information they contain must be carefully analyzed and compared to other sources before being published. can be accepted as true. This brings us to one of Ehrman's main arguments: because the Hebrew Bible spoke of a messiah who was seen as the future leader of the people of Israel, but Jesus did not fit that image because of his Pacifist and compassionate views, Ehrman claims that Jesus' actions would not have led anyone to believe that he was the Messiah, so he had to tell them that he was. Another interesting point Ehrman makes is that some of Jesus' early teachings differed from the views of the early Christians. For example, Ehrman cites a biblical passage that implies that people who are good and help others can go to heaven, despite the fact that the early Church preached that heaven and salvation could only be achieved by believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This, along with Ehrman's emphasis on the unreliability of biblical sources, reinforces the idea that the real Jesus was very different from what he was later presented, and that it is likely that many things about him have been distorted, misinterpreted or exaggerated to fit. Christian views, especially since in his day there was a largely oral tradition and much information was passed down through stories..