Some might call oral tradition the basis of rumors, others might call it the transmission of true stories, but most would agree that these stories change a little each time that are told. Oral tradition is like a basic game of telephone where the last person almost never repeats what the first person said. Thomas Paine provides this representation by connecting oral tradition with this idea of ​​a man-made religion. Preceding his analysis of the authority of oral tradition, Paine gives the definition of revelation – commonly synonymous with exposure or surprise – by stating: “Revelation, when applied to religion, means something communicated immediately by God to man,” alluding to the fact that only one person can have a revelation in every story of man speaking to God (Paine 654). This represents a curiosity with the truth of biblical stories and helps in Paine's argument of a man-made religion as the diminishing authority of hearing things second hand can almost result in a false story. With humor, Paine provides examples of some well-known Bible stories and hints at how they may have been falsified by man. For example, Paine tells the reader, "When Moses told the children of Israel that he had received the two tables of commandments from the hand of God, they were not obliged to believe him, for they had no other authority in the matter than that they had told them ". him like this; and I have no authority on the matter except some historian who tells me, the commandments carry with them no internal proof of divinity” (Paine 655). By this, Thomas Paine implies that revelation is the only proof people have of what is really happening; that being said, the revelation was only witnessed by one person: this casts doubt on the truth of the story in question. This describes a flaw in the truth of the Christian Bible as stories can be falsely created by man and naturally believed by his.