It would seem John Samson (Letters, December 20) in berating the Reverend John Webster for disregarding the facts, then proceeds to invent some of his own.

Firstly, he dismisses evil and the Devil as a ploy by the early Church to "secure a firmer grip on the minds of the public within its influence".

The Book Of Acts records the formation of the early Church as being in around AD30, whereas Moses' record in Genesis of Adam and Eve's encounter with evil was written around 1400 BC, the actual event being much earlier.

Hardly a ploy by the early Church.

As well as scripture, the Bible is an accredited history of the Israelite nation, its neighbours and its relationship with God.

Throughout time, mankind has been clearly aware of right and wrong and all civilised nations, Christian or not, base their laws on this concept.

Secondly, Mr Samson's dictionary reference to Lucifer as Bringer Of Light is attributed to old English and refers more to matches than Satan in this context.

However, it also offers it as an alternative name for Satan whose situation is well recorded in Isaiah, chapter 14, verse 12.

Thirdly, Mr Samson's claim that scripture is not God's word can only be unproven personal opinion and not fact.

The Scriptures record mankind's relationship with God over some 1,500 years and was written by many different writers with greatly varying experiences.

It existed only as individual writings until collated into complete works a few hundred years after the last writing, by a then greatly expanded Church.

Some two billion (approaching 50 per cent of the world's population) practising Christians sincerely believe that, while penned by man, the bible was inspired by God.

A wiser choice for Mr Samson would be to read and understand what the scriptures are and what they convey before making unfounded comments about them.

-John Miles, Isfield Road, Brighton