“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky.

"I believe that what people call God is something in all of us.

"I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right.

"It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.” John Lennon.

Ah, John, John. Did you look at the evidence for the New Testament records of the life of Jesus?

The New Testament documents are better-preserved and more numerous than any other ancient writings.

There are 5,600 copies of the New Testament documents starting from within 70 years (maximum) of Jesus death, including eye-witness accounts, with 99.5% agreement.

This is far, far greater than the best resources for other historical documents of that era.

For example, the earliest manuscript of Homer’s Iliad is 500 years after Homer wrote, with a mere 643 copies extant. Or take Plato’s writings: seven copies, the earliest being 1,200 years after Plato’s death.

The English New Testament has been translated from trustworthy early texts.

They have not “gone wrong”.

What they tell us is incredible.

That a young man lived who behaved like God on earth.

He was judicially murdered.

But did not stay dead.

Furthermore, he can become “something in all of us” but not in your way, John.

Turning our life over to Jesus, odd as that might sound, guarantees us the presence of the Spirit of God within us, to support, guide, clean and excite us.

He brings wisdom, peace.

God’s life.

Well, John, worth a try?

Dr Alex G Stewart

Coniston Christian Fellowship