Some Baptists will tell you their religion started with John the Baptist himself, dunking people in the Jordan River. That would make the faith over 2,000 years old, which is a fantastic party trick if you can pull it off. The problem? John wasn’t a Baptist—he was a Jewish prophet with a water hose and a serious case of locust breath.
This theory is called Landmarkism, and it’s the historical equivalent of claiming your family tree includes a dinosaur. Most scholars politely giggle and point to the 17th century instead. But hey, if you want to say your church started when Jesus was a toddler, nobody’s stopping you—just don’t expect a footnote in a peer-reviewed journal.
