Dying for Belief

There's a common Christian apologist argument which goes like this: The apostles died painful, martyr's deaths for not recanting their belief in Jesus. No one would willingly die for a belief that wasn't true, therefore Jesus is God. 

Let's ignore the flaw in that argument. The fact is there's hardly any evidence of how they died, and even less evidence that recanting would have saved them...

Apostle	Legend regarding death	Comment	Source
Judas Iscariot	Either hanged himself, or fell over and exploded.	Not considered a martyr because of his betrayal.	Matthew 27:5 and Acts 1:18
John	Thrown into a pot of boiling oil but emerged unharmed, subsequently lived to a very old age.	Died of natural causes so not a martyr	http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=228
James, son of Zebedee	Killed by Herod.	We don't know why Herod killed him. It may have had nothing to do with his religious beliefs	Acts 12:2
Simon aka Peter	Crucified in Rome, willingly, therefore martyred	This is according to the apocryphal Acts of Peter which Eusebius dismissed as spurious and heretical	http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.viii.xxv.html
Andrew	Crucified on an X-shaped “St. Andrew’s cross”. He taught the crowd while he was on the cross and refused their offer to take him down.	This information comes from the apocryphal Acts of Andrew which Eusebius dismissed as absurd, heretical, etc.	http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.viii.xxv.html
Philip	Died after being hung upside down by iron hooks in his ankles.	The New Advent Catholic encyclopaedia refers to this as “purely legendary and a tissue of fables”	http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11799a.htm
Bartholomew	Various legends. Was crucified in Armenia or beheaded in India and/or flayed alive.	The New Advent encyclopaedia says the manner of his death is “uncertain” and adds that apart from his name, “Nothing further is known of him”.	http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02313c.htm
Thomas	Killed by soldiers with spears while preaching in India	This is described in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas, which Eusebius dismissed as absurd and heretical. The New Advent encyclopaedia says “Little is recorded” of Thomas’ life and “it is difficult to discover any adequate support” for the tradition of his death in India.	http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14658b.htm
Matthew	Killed by being chopped up, or burnt alive, or stoned to death or beheaded or died of old age, in Egypt or Persia or Ethiopia	No agreement on how he died. Catholic.org says, “Nothing definite is known about his later life”, and “uncertain whether he died a natural death or received the crown of martyrdom”. The Christian History Institute says, “We have nothing but legend about Matthew’s death.”	http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10056b.htm
The other James	Stoned to death by the Pharisees or crucified in Egypt	This is a tricky one because there are several men called James in the New testament and it's hard to know which one to align with this apostle. So it's hard to know which legend applies. Catholics say he was Jesus's brother. Other churches disagree	http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08280a.htm
Jude aka Lebbaeus aka Thaddaeus	Was either clubbed to death or died naturally. Or crucified. The apocryphal Acts of Thaddeus say he died naturally.	No reliable written sources seem to exist.	http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0826.htm
The other Simon	Crucified in Persia with Jude, or died naturally. Or possibly sawn in half. Died in Edessa, or Samaria, or Iberia, or Colchis. Or possibly in Britain.	No consensus on how he died	http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13796b.htm
Matthias (not to be confused with Matthew)	Crucified in Colchis or stoned to death then beheaded in Jerusalem.	According to the New Advent Catholic encyclopaedia, “information concerning the life and death of Matthias is vague and contradictory”	http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10066a.htm