Hi Kyle.

I am in the process of writing an article inspired by yours. It may take a few days, but I've tagged you in.

Interestingly, I also consider myself as someone who considers views which go against the consensus view of modern scholarship. Also based upon the arguments and evidence.

On your point about the Gospel authorships, I don't know whether you follow or read Evan LeBlanc, who is deeply knowledgeable about Christianity. In a recent article, in a section entitled 'The anonymity of the gospels', he wrote:

“The first thing that needs to be discussed about the gospels is authorship.

Ever since the time of Jesus, the church has upheld the authorship of the gospels with “the Gospel according to (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John)” appearing in the text.

However, this was a late second century addition to the text. These gospels originally circulated anonymously and importantly were not written by eyewitnesses to the events that they describe.

Now, I will take a second to tell you how I know this.

Regarding the titles appearing in the text, we have evidence that Justin Martyr, the early church father in the mid second century did not know who wrote the gospels, referring in general to these writings as memoirs of the apostles.

In the late second century, Irenaeus identifies these gospels by name, meaning that some time in between him and Justin is when the attestations were solidified”. (My italics)

https://medium.com/backyard-theology/the-gospels-in-greek-part-iii-e84da8e40d6d

This would appear to contradict to some extent what you say.

Regarding the Jonah reference, you yourself have agreed that there are no Old Testament sources, so I'm obviously not going to be able to find another passage that fits the bill. The question therefore is how relevant is the one in Matthew, i.e. how likely is it to be the source for Paul? You have assumed that this is what Paul must have been referring to because there are no other sources. This has then led you to make the controversial claim that Matthew's gospel must have been early. This is somewhat circular reasoning.

For more I'm afraid that you'll have to wait for my article.

best wishes.