THERE seems to be an interesting debate brewing over the legitimacy of the belief in a historical Jesus Christ. Mr Windle began by claiming that Jesus was a myth and then responded to my reply by suggesting that I had a misguided belief in the "eye witness" accounts which have been passed down initially verbally (as the first disciples were not educated men) over a very short time scale. Mr Windle quite rightly states that the gospels were written some time, approximately 100 years after Christ's death - 100 years ago Queen Victoria died and I'm sure no-one would think twice if I attempted to make sense of her actions by writing a book based upon stories passed down through the families of people that worked for her. The details may be slightly contradictory, but the gist would still be historically relevant.

Theologians have argued for many years about the existence of Jesus as a historical figure and I'm sure for every argument that I put forward Mr Windle and his colleagues will come up with a counter claim. One thing puzzles me though - and I'd be delighted to listen to an explanation - if Jesus did not exist in history then why did the writers of the time, Jewish and Roman, spend their energies trying to discredit Jesus and not just spread the rumour that he didn't even exist? I refer particularly to Origen who was annoyed that Josephus had claimed that Jesus was "a wise man if indeed one might call him a man... He was the Messiah". Origen also began questioning the parentage of Jesus claiming that he was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier, this rumour is also recorded by the pagan philosopher Celsus. Tacitus wrote of the Christians being put to death by Nero that their "originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate." Suetonius refers to Jews rebelling under the instigation of the Christ.

Most importantly to my mind are the rabbinical writings of the Jews which have survived, and in particular supplements to the Mishnah namely the Baraitha and Tosefta which refer to Jesus as practising sorcery, leading Israel away, miracles performed by followers in the name of Jesus and also work, in the name of Jesus, with the people shunned by Jewish society.

Most of the "great men" of the time have one subjective account of their lives, Jesus has four independent accounts, each written from a different perspective. Wherever you look in these Gospel stories we can see how they relate to the social context, archaeological data and Jewish and Roman customs. All of these accounts are remarkably sober in their telling - hardly comparable to the many over embellished myths and tales of gods and pseudo-gods of the time.

If we were to treat all historical documents in the way that some wish to treat the gospels then we should also be calling into doubt the existence of Alexander the Great - the only account of his deeds is a document written 400 years after his death by Arrian which has, itself, been pieced together from stories and fragments from authors such as Strabo who was writing 350 years after the death of Alexander!

In the other issues raised by Mr Windle I continue to agree that commercialism has very much distorted the message of Christmas and echo his concern about the spread of wealth in the world. However, the last person to attempt to cancel Christmas, ironically because it was too pagan, was Cromwell and he failed miserably - maybe it would be better for us all to work together to tackle the issues raised in Mr Windle's letter instead of wasting time and effort in a slanging match that has had theologians and historians battling for years!

I will continue to pray for the members of the SPGB and advise Mr Windle not to underestimate the power of prayer for I have seen it change lives, Mr Gardner's "cautionary note" (Get a Life for God's Sake, letters Jan. 11th) adds to the evidence of its power. In terms of actions, I repeat my challenge to the Church in Lancaster to show our community the love of Christ in all of our actions, I also repeat my invitation to Mr Windle and SPGB members, of attending a Christian service of their choice - The Church would value your enthusiasm and idealism and - as Mr Gardner rightly reminds us - offers eternal life in return!

Phil McGrath, Bowerham Road, Lancaster