A recent survey of 3,000 UK adults found that only six per cent of the population identify as practising Christians – yet ONE IN THREE non-Christians say they want to know more about Jesus Christ
THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY FROM THE TALKING JESUS REPORT, 2022, INSPIRED THE PUBLISHERS OF GOOD NEWS NEWSPAPER TO PRODUCE A NEW BOOKLET THAT HELPS CHRISTIANS TO TELL THEIR FRIENDS THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS.
HEART editor Melanie Symonds interviewed the author, Good News editor Andrew Halloway, who also writes HEART’s news pages.
With a plethora of material about Jesus both on the internet and in bookshops, why did you think there was a need for something new?
Andrew: I believe there’s always a need to share the good news about Jesus in a way that is contemporary, fresh and relevant to the current generation – so this booklet is written in today’s language and is illustrated throughout.
We’re living in a post-Christian society where evangelists are finding that most people know very little about Jesus, and what they do know is often inaccurate because of the untruths about Jesus that have been pushed around by atheists on social media and the internet in the last couple of decades.
A survey back in 2015 showed that the majority of people in the UK think Jesus never existed. Yet, as this year’s Talking Jesus survey showed, many people are still intrigued about Jesus and open to learning more about him.
So I’ve written ‘Jesus Unmasked: Fact-Checking the World’s Greatest Influencer’ to counter the false impressions about Jesus that many people have innocently imbibed. Most non-Christians are aware of the ‘fake news’ that goes around in the media but are confused about how to get to the truth. Like the BBC fact-checking statements by politicians, I’m fact-checking the claims about Jesus for them.
Also, if people look to the internet to find out the facts, all they come across is a wealth of conflicting opinions, so it’s incumbent on us Christians to get the truth in their hands. Let’s face it, if we don’t do it, who will?
What in particular is in the booklet that you think non-Christians really need to know?
Andrew: I think there are some things in the booklet that even most Christians need to know.
For example, I come across Christians who have absorbed the atheist propaganda that the Bible was written long after Jesus lived, so it can’t be accurate. Or they have been told that because it was written by the Church that it is biased and so can’t be trusted to be true, or that there is no evidence for Jesus outside the Bible!
All three of these things are simply false and there is plenty of historical evidence to show that. So these are the kind of facts I explore in the booklet that I want people to know – both non-Christians who are open to Jesus and Christians who have maybe had doubts because of what they have heard.
Is the booklet just about the history, then, or is there more to it than that?
Andrew: No, it’s not just the historical facts. I also show why the life and teaching of Jesus, and ultimately the Resurrection, form a strong argument that Jesus really is God. And at the end I challenge the reader to consider the facts and discover a relationship with Jesus for themselves.
Jesus Unmasked: Fact-Checking the World’s Greatest Influencer is a full colour booklet and costs just £2.25 inc p&p, or £6.50 for a pack of 5, or £20.50 for a pack of 20. Tel 0115 9233424 to order a copy or you can see and read the whole booklet online at goodnews-paper.org.uk/jesusbooklet