AS a student, I was dragged along, protesting, to hear evangelist Michael Green. He asked us ‘Was Jesus Christ a lunatic or a con-man... or was He just who He said He was?’.

For decades that challenge bugged me. Surprisingly hard to deal with, isn’t it?

During my ministry, I’ve found there are three areas of the Christian story that seem to surprise people. One is the sheer weight of solid evidence for the truth of Jesus Christ’s life – a mass of eye-witness testimony, increasingly accepted as such by scholars, and newly validated by technology.

Roman historians, such as Tacitus, Seutonius and Cassius Dio reported on the life of Jesus. The Dead Sea scrolls and the gospels and letters of the New Testament bear witness.

Also, uniquely among leaders of religious movements, Jesus Christ fulfilled more than 300 prophesies, made centuries before He was born.

Would Jesus and His disciples have chosen to live and die as they did without conviction? Jesus and Peter crucified; James flung down from the pinnacle of the temple and bludgeoned to death below; James Zebedee and Paul tortured and beheaded; Mark dragged through the streets behind horses; and Matthew put to the sword.

The persecution of Christians has gone on for 2012 years.

And yet, Christianity is the biggest and fastest-growing faith in our world. Why? It’s a living faith - and if you’d like to prove it...park yourself somewhere quiet and tell the Lord, ‘If you’re who you say you are, show me’. He will.

  • Judith Cobban, St Mary’s Church, Windermere