Nicely said

From Australia...

No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life," he said.

Jewish author Sholem Asch said Jesus was "the outstanding personality of all time, all history, both as Son of God and as Son of Man".

"Everything he ever said or did has value for us today and that is something you can say of no other man, dead or alive."

He did not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion still do. He said he himself was the way.

Jesus sneezed, yawned, probably hiccuped, walked on water, raised the dead and claimed to forgive sins. That's unique.

His followers thought he was truly human and fully divine. The trick was that he did not subtract deity, but added humanity to the equation.

He liked the bad guys -- the tax gatherers, drunks and other sinners.

My friend Pastor Kim Thoday says: "If Jesus is our window on to God, then the only conclusion is that God has this same bias, this same emphasis, this same compassion for those who are the casualties of the dominant cultural, political and religious order."

If Jesus had never been born, Western civilisation would not exist in its current form.

But some of the things people say about Jesus are ridiculous. He was not just a great moral teacher. There's no morality in claiming to be the Son of God . . . unless, of course, it's true.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it well: "If Jesus Christ is not true God, how could he help us? If he is not true man, how could he help us?"

Writer H.G. Wells said although he was not a traditional believer, "I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very centre of history."