Who is Jesus? Part1

Saviour? Swear word? Who did He say He was? And does it matter?

Just about everyone's heard of Jesus. But that's no guarantee that they know much about Him. A primary school pupil recently heard the story of Jesus' birth for the first time. His question: "Why did they give the baby a swear word for a name?"

So just for the record, here are some Jesus facts:

He was a Middle-Eastern Jew, born about 2000 years ago at the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus.

Various Roman and Jewish historians of the day mention Him and the four main historical records of His life are today called the Gospels.

Unlike many ancient books, there are a large number of very old copies of the Gospels, dating almost back to the time they were originally written. They are historically reliable.

Jesus made an astonishing claim. He claimed to be the Son of God, God Himself in human form come to save and rescue the human race, to bring them back to the God He called "Father". This was all too much for the religious bosses who connived with the occupying Roman authorities to have Jesus arrested and killed. Jesus could have got Himself off the hook at any moment by renouncing His claim to be God, but He didn't. He was executed: nailed to a wooden cross - the Roman's grizzly way of dealing with criminals.

Albert Einstein, physicist

Douglas Adams, comic author

  "A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act."

Mahatma Gandhi, political leader

Followers of Jesus: Loving God, Loving Each Other, Loving The Community