I was re-reading this response--not for the last time, I'm thinking--and another issue did come to mind. Regarding what Jesus 'said' we only have the word of the people who wrote the Gospels. They definitely were 'only human', and biases and prejudices as well as their own beliefs inevitably influenced what they wrote. I don't say that to diminish the Gospels, but it does seem to me to emphasize any person's own part in seeking to know 'the truth' about these matters of faith. We have to sort though it and decide for ourselves the truth of the matter. I do believe there is a universal Truth, but no two people can have exactly the same understanding of it, and no one can have any understanding that is inherently superior to any other peron's understanding--though I see nothing wrong with sharing our understandings of it.