Christians, what is the validity of the Bible?

Good question, yet also asked often enough. :)

Question one, validity of the Bible: Historical evidence backs up almost all events in the bible. People have yet to actually find a historical (or otherwise, like a catch 22 or something) contained in the bible.

Question two, who wrote el biblio (aka, the bible. I just felt like typing that): As I said, historical evidence backs it up.

Question three, was I there...: No, and that does seem to be the main problem in life. No one can be absolutely certain of anything except the fact that they themselves exist, and numbers. I can absolutely assure you that two plus two will always equal four. But assuming that the documents and stuff that people have gathered over time, such as information from a census, things that were written, actions that were done, written about, or passed down through family lines and then written down, assuming that they are all basically correct, the bible was written by the people who claim to have written it.

Question four, which actually came before question three, I just didn't see it, how do I know they aren't fiction: Because (excluding interventions and stuff from God) the bible is not the only book that describes events that happened way back when. There are many document-like items that do not focus on religion that contain these events. In fact, a lot of them are talked about in college history classes, and even in just plain school classes.

Question five...: I would dearly love to meet someone who was there when the bible was written. We would get along quite smashingly.

Question six, could the stories have been changed: Absolutely, but I don't think it's likely.

Question seven, the basing of lives: If they want to base their lives and actions on the bible, why not let them? It is their life... And, contrary to popular belief, the bible does not say that people should go out and make people listen to what they have to say. Most christians don't try to force their beliefs on others, it's just that the only christians people actually notice are the ones that either aren't really, truly christian, or the ones that make a big stink about life because they misinterpret what the bible actually says. I know, it sucks. If people would just mind their own business, the world would be a much better place.

Question eight, feeling a presence: The presence man feels could actually be the relief of passing gas. No one will ever know...

Question nine, the obvious counter: It's not really an avoidance technique as much as it is what they really do feel like they should answer your question that way. People think on different planes, so different answers that make sense to different people will obviously not make sense to other people, even if the answer doesn't make sense whatsoever.

Ow. I was just leaning on my shoulder for a really long time while typing this. It kind of hurts now... or maybe it's sore... or maybe it hurts and it's sore. I couldn't honestly tell you.

Anyway, you are most welcome.

Edit: Actually, there is a verse somewhere that does say to question everything that the bible/jesus/whomever tells you. Blind faith and stuff... people confuse it because faith is naturally blind, but there is a difference. People also confuse this because of another verse that says that the word of god is unquestionably true. This means not that you shouldn't question, but that even though you do question, you will find it to be true.

No, you didn't sum up the entire christian religion. The question you asked and the reasons you gave have been asked for centuries (and I do mean centuries). Plus, if you don't want people to give you 'abusive and deluded' answers, don't be abusive and deluded replies. I can honestly tell you that it is immature for you to do so, and I know that you are not an immature person, and are capable of showing that even under ambush you can 'be the better person'.

Another Edit: I don't think you've read the bible. I might be wrong, but I honestly don't think you have. Read it, and a lot of your questions will be answered.

We can Know about God not only from the Bible but from nature and the historical presence of Jesus Christ (it has been proved in history that Jesus did existed). Now...how do I know Bible is reliable?:

1. Its constitution shows that there is a connection beetween every part of it and there is harmony between the teachings of the Bible dispite the fact that the books of the Bible were written in different centuries during a long period of time.

2. It has prophesies that did come true...in Daniel the Medo-persan, Greek and Roman empire (and even after) were prophetised. Even Isaac newton sudied the prophesies from the Bible. And even in Isaiah ( a book written before the birth of Jesus) was prophetise the birth of Christ....and many other details.

3. People have wondered centuries ago if the Bible's constitution remained the same as in the period of old Israel...many doubted. and at the Death Sea there were discovered old scripts of Isaiah ( almost the entire book) and parts of another books of the Bible and it was discovered that the Bible from now is the same with the scripts of the Bible then ( actually...in old times the Bible wasn't called the Bible).

4. Many people told that after reading the Bible and knowing about Christ their lives changed. Personaly, I read the Bible ( 70% of it aprox.) and I realised that after reading it and finding out about God's love like when I read that God's heart was aching because of his people in Obadiah or Mica I couldn't stop believing in Him no matter how many evolution theories were offered to me or different kind of philosophies.

5. In the Bible you can find all the values ( the values , not the trend) that our societies are based like honesty, truth, fair judgement, love, forgiveness etc. and many psichologists recognise that those are values that can be found in a great person. And beside a study has proven that believers have healthier lives than non-believers and live more optimistic...:P

I know many atheist won't agree with me...but hey, we are all free to think and believe what we want. There can be many proofs taht God exist and also there can be many proofs that God doesn't exist ( like evolution or other...) but I don't know if you've heard about Pascal'sbet : "If God does not exist but you believe in Him you've got nothing to lose, but if He exist and you don't believe in Him you lose everything."

P.S: This is for Sage: I know that the Bible wasn't a product of the Roman Empire ...and I'm talking objectively. Here's the thing. If you do not know yet, the roman emperator Constantin ordered that the day Jews celebrated and Christians before him celebrated be changed from Saturday to Sunday. Now if he ordered that those books of the Bible to be written under his empire in order to keep the empire united then why he missed this element: Ordering that in those books of the Bible meant to be written to put this detail: That Jesus changed the normal celebrating day to Sunday...so that no one would question the validity of the changed day?....Christians existed before Constantin ( it's historical proven) and Jesus existed on this earth...they must have had a religion and writings before Constantin...Read the Bible and you will find that many things in there dissaprove with the new rules Constantin gave...so how do those books could belong to him?...and Old Testamony was written before Christians...

Christine: I think you're wrong when you say that thinking freely and questioning is just Buddha's teaching and in Christianity there's no such a thing...Yaeh, I agree, in some forms of religion people nare obliged to believe in rituals and tradition without questioning....but that's not what you'll find in the Bible. Check up these texts in the Bible if you're courious: Ephesians 5:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1.

The Roman Emperor Constantine produced the bible and he was a pagan not god!!! He also organized Christianity into the Holly Roman Catholic Church!! Not in Israel or any of the countries of supposed origin but entirely Italian!!

Not one word of it is contemporary with the period and was not written until many years after the period the story is set in!!

What a wonder full disinformation and deception campaign he waged against his Christian enemies - so good in fact that Christians are still following the deception to this day!!!

Check out these 2 links that answer some of your questions.

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/bibleorg....

Is Our Copy of the Bible a Reliable Copy of the Original?

by Rich Deem

Introduction Many skeptics believe that the Bible has been drastically changed over the centuries...

http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/divine.htm

The Divine Inspiration

of the

Bible

by Arthur W. Pink

Actually, in the total absence of the Bible, the evidence for God is overwhelming just from the order in nature.

The Bible is the best explanation we have for the nature of God, but it is hardly the only evidence that He exists.

The fact that the Bible and nature (when each is properly interpreted) do not conflict is support for the validity of the Bible.

I know of no one who was there when the stories of the French Revolution were written either. And, since it has less empirical evidence than the Bible does, I think that the Bible is much more valid than other history books.

The Bible is the history of the world itself. The Book of Daniel will confirm this. The Great Image Vision of King Nebuchadnezzar was history of the world beginning from the time of the Babylonian Empire to the present history of the earth. King Nebuchadnezzar acknowledge the power and existence of God. The great and mighty king of the Babylonian empire and the king who built the Hanging Garden of Babylon and once voted to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World had bowed down to the God of Daniel. The Babylonian Empire was the head of gold as to the vision of the king of Babylon. His empire lasted from 625 BC - 536 BC.

The Persian Empire representing the two shoulders of the Great Image Vision was founded by the great Persian King Cyrus who was personally prophesied by the prophet Isaiah to be the anointed of God to make a decree for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus the great Persian King believed in Isaiah's prophecy that he decreed to the whole world after he was enthroned as king of the Persian Empire calling the Jews to rebuild the Temple. The Persian Empire was the reigning world power from 536 BC -330 BC. The third world power was the Greek Empire whose first king was Alexander the Great who also believed the prophecy about him by Daniel. His empire was divided into four powers. But only two prevailed and affected the lives of the Jews. The Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria. Judea was annexed to Egypt in 320 BC and then to Syria in 193 BC. The reign of Antiochus Epiphanes IV terrorized the Jews in 171 BC. Again Adolf Hitler did this during the Holocaust. This was the abomination of desolation spoken of Daniel and Jesus Christ Himself. History was known to repeat itself. The Roman Empire was the fourth beast. The Iron kingdom that rule the world until now because of its ecclesiastical power from 63 BC. We are now living in the age representing the toes of the Great Image Vision. The power of the fourth kingdom of Rome [the Roman Empire] is already mixed up with people. Daniel 2:43 And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay. The Bible is true because This was written by men who were inspired by the Spirit of God. Jesus gave His warning: Rev. 22:18-19 i warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

Well I'm not a Christian, but I do believe in God. I do not believe everything in the Bible. It has been re-written so many times that it cannot be taken as truthful word to word.

I go more by the information of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Even those could be stories of man. Even people back then could have had drugs that made them think an event was God.

But as for myself, I never believed in God. But for several years I began to see this cloud with a face whom would wake me up from my sleep. Several years this happened. Then I began to speak tongues and have my eyes open (Unknowingly) in my sleep. Sure sleep walking, waking dreams. I thought that was all that stuff.

Then in 2004, I was possessed by a Demonic Spirit. I know that sounds crazy. It was a horrific experience, because my wife was attacked by my body, while I was not aware. She told me that our house was surrounded by growling dogs. She found me in a contorted crouched position with black eyes and dropped mouth, growling at her when she came into our room. She got close and it jumped onto her and began choking her. She screamed for help and even Punched me as hard as she could in the face several times. It did Nothing! Eventually I broke free of this thing hearing her desperate cries for help. But in regaining control, I could hear the last demonic Shrieks from this thing. And it was Scary. My voice cannot go that loud. It was the scariest thing I ever heard.

But as I regained myself. I tried to speak to my wife and say it's ok now. My voice was not my own voice. It was really freaky. Soon it came back to normal. We prayed and blessed the house. I had No bruises or blood or any kind of facial trauma from my wife hitting me as hard as she could. i should have had facial bruising or redness. I had none!

The next week a statue of mine had these freakish glowing blue eyes, I prayed on last time and did not give into fear from it. And ever since I have not had any ghostly clouds above me, no language or talking in my sleep. No sleep walking.

This sounds like a Night Terror, but my wife and I are sure this was not some sleep disorder. It is too hard to believe unless someone could see what happened for themselves.

But it proves to me that Evil exists! And if Evil like this exists, God exists, especially since the power of prayer got rid of it.

So I believe God is real. The bible might be distorted, but Heaven and Hell is most likely a reality

If you are sincerely asking, I suggest you examine theological references.

Millard Erickson wrote a volume titled Christian Theology. Get that, and study the section on Bible. Pay specific attention to the Internal proofs of Divine Inspiration.

It's there, if you are willing to search for the truth. Too long to write out here.

Contrary to what many non-believers think, the Bible does not teach blind faith. In fact, the Bible actually tells believers to test everything. No other "holy" book tells its readers to actually put what it says to the test. The Bible can make such a statement because it passes the tests of truthfulness that no other "holy" book can. God Himself in His revelation to Isaiah stated, "Come now, and let us reason together..." God, the Creator of humans and human reasoning ability wants us to use that ability to determine His plan of salvation. How do we determine if the Bible is true? We test it and see if it is reasonable. Psalm 19 tells us that the universe "declares the glory of God" and that this "voice goes out into all the earth."

The Bible teaches a rational faith, based upon knowledge and refined through testing. Christians are encouraged to use their minds in all aspects of life, including our spiritual life

HI,

ur ques. really xited me! The BIBLE is an outward expression of GOD'S existence, yet very powerful.It was , of course, written by people (humans), but SPIRIT- FILLED people who were specially chosen by the FATHER.

i can base my life on this wonderful book, 'coz i know im being led by the HOLY SPIRIT. im not goin 2 ques. ur scietific theories, coz wat u have asked also makes sense.

im sorry, i can't verbally describe all the experiances coz most of the time these 'so-called' experiances r normal day2day activities. And even if they r marvellous enough u jus can't describe them. if u have furthur queries do throw them out.....

SUNU