Gratitude at freedom of speech

3:37pm Tuesday 1st April 2008

IN response to Mr Kirwan's letter last week where he belittles Scripture, rubbishes Jesus and presumes to tell us that early Christians were a bunch of dimwitted storytellers, may I point out that whether he likes it or not we still live in this country under a Christian constitution which - for hundreds of years - has given us democracy and freedom of speech This is why people can write what they like about Jesus and the Bible without fear of reprisal.

It is interesting though that it is always Jesus and the Bible that is attacked.

If it is all such a myth why bother?

The truth is that Christianity is based on solid facts, rooted in history, which anyone with an open mind can explore They will find out that there are over twenty four thousand copies of New Testament manuscripts about Jesus' life, death and teachings going back to within thirty to forty years of the writer's death, backed up by secular historians of the day.

By contrast we only have a very few manuscripts of the life of Julius Caesar, the earliest of which is from nine hundred years after his death, but we all believe he existed!

The French philospher Voltaire boasted that within one hundred years of his death in 1728 the Bible would disappear completely. In 1778 the Geneva Bible Society took over his house and used his printing presses to print thousands of bibles! It is still the world's best seller.

The Cross and the Empty Tomb stand in history as facts. The only important issue is how we will respond to Jesus.

Rev Andy Kelso

Christ Church, Matchborough

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