Why do Christians quote from the Bible when asked to prove that the bible is the word of god?

Question

Why do you all quote from the bible to prove that the bible is indeed the word of god. That's like if i say that my book is the greatest book ever written and when you ask me to prove it, instead of showing you some sort of book review that says my book is the best, i simply quote from my book a quote that says "this book is the greatest book ever written". You can't use the source in question to prove the validity of a source. It doesn't make sense, so why do you keep doing it?

Answer 1

Dear Odieman_3,

One reason is because the Bible is 66 individual books that are put together and they tell one story. The Story of how God created man, and man rebelled against God destroying his intention to have a perfect relationship with man and God sent Christ to restore that relationship.

It's neat because the Bible has internal testimony to its own truthfulness.

There are many external sources such as: historical writings (josephus and other historians), archaeology (artifacts found which match the description and times in the Bible), science, and literary (in terms of tests of authenticity- the Bible passes the Standard as well as any other piece of literature). People don't question whether Shakespeare really wrote Hamlet.

I can't answer for all the other Christians but that may be one reason why Christians quote the Bible to prove its truthfulness.

Hope that helps. Kindly,

Nickster

Answer 2

First of all, those Christians who quote from the Bible are doing the best they can, just as I'm sure you are, so settle down. And you need to be specific on which verses they use. If they use the verse in 1 Timothy 3:16 ("All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable ...."), then, no, they're not doing a great job answering. However, if they use verses which talk about the springs of the sea, that might be a very good start (scientists didn't know about springs of the sea until 1977). And what about mention of the dust in the air, another recent discovery by scientists? Archaeologists used to make fun of the Bible due to mention of the Hittites since there wasn't any proof of this civilization. Then, whoops, a whole new ancient civilization and all the evidence for it was found, and, sure enough, it was the Hittites. So, there is info within the Bible that hasn't been matched by any other book of other religion. The Quran, for instance, says on five separate occasions what man is made of. Problem is that it changes to something completely different each time. Book of Mormon hasn't been proved true on a single count of any of it's archaelogical history. So, the Bible's got that on it's side.

Next, talk about secular history. You probably know about Attila the Hun. Crossed the Alps on elephants, raided Rome, pillaged, etc. etc. Did you know that historians base that information off of only two manuscripts? And that both manuscripts disagree with each other on everything (exact route, number of soldiers brought, dead on both sides, one includes elephants and the other doesn't, etc.)? They only agree on Attila the Hun, the Alps, and Rome. That's it, and yet it's considered fact. Homer's Iliad is probably the best example of an older work (called a book of "antiquity") that could compete with the Bible. Homer was around way back during the 7th or 8th century B.C. The first of 652 complete manuscripts showed up in the 13th century A.D. Just a little bit of time difference there. But, with other pieces of manuscripts that date back closer to this time, analysts can work through some of those copies and see which ones are more accurate. They can see when and where mistakes have been made, to a point. They have only 652 copies, and they're WAY late in coming together. So...the Bible, on the other hand. Over 24, 000 copies of manuscripts. 99% of the New Testament can be found on these manuscripts before 200 A.D., less than 170 years after Jesus died. If that's not soon enough, take the fragments that date back as far as 48 A.D. There was a piece of the creed from 1 Corinthians 15 that dates back to this time. It was found in Africa. There are secular as well as early Christian sources which give creedance to the four gospels, the book of Acts, and 13 letters from Paul during his lifetime. As far as the Old Testament goes, there are the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947. These were all written out by a group of guys called the Masoretes, named for their use of the masora. The masora was a complex system that the Masoretes used to keep track of their copying. They knew, for instance, that the 3,000th letter of Isaiah was aleph (I don't know if that number and letter is true, I just picked an example to explain what I meant). Then, beyond that, you have the fact that all of these writings for both the Old and New Testament weren't discovered until VERY recently. And yet, after working through the manuscripts, the analysts have discovered that the whole Bible is still 99.5% accurate from 2,000 years ago. There aren't any doctrinal issues; instead, it's all just misspelling names or switching around letters by accident (like spelling ceiling as cieling). Not too much of a problem, and on the occasion that it is, it's whether the one who Jesus was talking to was a man or a donkey.

Finally, take the last part. External, not Biblical evidence. There was huge growth of Christians right at the turn of the first millenium. Nero blamed his fire on them, for instance, b/c of how many Christians there were (and how crazy they were, according to world culture). Now, here's the biggest question. A movement starts in Jerusalem. If it wasn't true, it would have been stopped pretty quickly. Can you imagine President Bush being shot, and then, three days later, someone says, "Hey, he's alive!" We'd be able to go and look, and say, "Nope, you're an idiot...he's still in there. See? ::kick kick:: Yep, he's still gone." Now, the disciples said that Jesus was alive again AND was God. If it wasn't true, other people would have first pointed out the truth to them (See? Stone's still in front of the cave) and then killed them for blasphemy. If the disciples lied about it, do you think that all 11 disciples would have really gone all the way to death for it? If Jesus had been faking it on the cross (swooning), the spear to the side would have killed him. Any other story has an explanation just like this. If it wasn't true, there was a way to smack the liar in the face. Well, nobody got smacked in the face with accusations of lies. Instead, they got smacked in the face with death b/c people couldn't deny that Jesus' tomb was empty. Even the high priest, even at the trials in Rome, no Jewish or Roman leader ever said, "Um....here's Jesus body...." And if the disciples stole the body, first of all, they wouldn't have been able to move the stone blocking the door. IT was huge (couple tons), and was rolled down into a groove to block the door. The disciples probably didn't have a couple Chevy somethings in their garage, so they probably would had quite a bit of work cut out for them. And, even if they did manage to quietly move this huge stone while the guard was sleeping, would they still die for a stolen body? Doubt it...Though, yes, it is possible. But there's way too much other stuff that can't be explained by anything else.

What I"m trying to say is...there's proof. Stop asking questions that you can answer for yourself. Go into a Christian bookstore and research what Christians are really supposed to say by getting a Christian book about apologetics. Then, go to some other bookstore and get a book that says Christians are idiots. See if it answers any of the Christian arguments. See if the Christian book answers the agnostic/other religion/atheist viewpoints. Do research. If you just quiz everybody, but don't do the work yourself, then you're just trying to call people out. The average Christian, admittedly, isn't very focused. It takes awhile to grow up in the faith. I still am!

Answer 3

I know a really cool course that might help you with the entire Christian faith. It is called Alpha. In this course, it goes over jesuses reserection. A lot of people don't know that jesus isn't just in the bible, but non-religious history books. He was a man that lived and was raised from the dead, that is historical, not fantasy. From there, you would have to believe that there is some kind of afterlife. If a man suddenly raises from the dead like he preached his entire life about, that would lead you to believe in God possibly. Jesus also believed in the bible and said it was Gods word and so one thing leads to another. Don't try to have God and faith fit into your emotions, they change daily. Base your faith off of facts, and then let your emotions go from there. If you need to, go non-christian historical documents, you would probably be surprised.
I know God and the bible are true not because they tell me so, but because I ahve expirienced the truth in my life. I wish I could show it to you, but I can't. It is something each person has to expirience for themselves. It is a free gift though, and God isn't going to force it on you. If you want to know what God had planned for you, just ask him. You don't have to be perfect to believe in God or the bible, and its OK to have questions. I still do.

Answer 4

The truth of God's Word has been made apparent to us. When we quote it, we do so because to us the truth of it is obvious. God's Word is the very power that transformed us. We received a miracle birth by the Word of God. I suppose it's fair to say we forget that those who haven't been born of the Word of God can't see what we see.

When we preach God's Word, we should be expecting signs to follow. Some people still may not see the truth of God's Word even if they see miracles of great magnitude right before their very eyes, but, the thing is, it's still supposed to be happening that way regardless of the results. The very Word of God, from the Old Testament all the way through the New, reveals that God has never had a problem with being expected to prove His Word with signs following. He's just a little short-handed at the moment on those who actually believe that what God has written is what is supposed to be happening. Sadly, there is great division in the body of Christ over these things.

But it cannot last much longer. I know too many people crying out in earnest to see God do what only He can do once again. I believe He is hearing those cries and that He is raising up a people whom He can work with in that when they preach the Word, God works with them with signs following. That's the way the New Covenant started out working, and it's how it's going to continue working. It is what He said is supposed to be happening, and, therefore, it will happen. And I believe you'll see more and more people emerging on the scene who've actually dared to take the risk and believe God.

When God's people dare to believe Him, miracles cannot help but happen. Jesus said nothing shall be impossible to those who believe.

Answer 5

Why do you have an issue with Christians and/ or the Bible? If you don't like the answers Christians give, why not walk away.....? Sounds very easy to me.
Seems like you are searching.. a bit lost maybe...feeling guilty about something....?

If someone believes in God then it is his or her right to believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and the same right goes for the Muslims and their Koran the Jews and their Holy books and so forth. If it is your opinion that Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are the greatest book ever written and you feel you would like to believe in Snow White or in one of the Dwarfs, who is to argue with you, as long as you have peace in your heart about it.?

Get a grip on life, stop searching for arguments, life`s to short for that. If a person has his/ her beliefs, leave that person in peace to belief what ever they want as long as their belief has no NEGATIVE influences on anybody else's lifes. No need in inciting an argument or force ones beliefs down another`s throat.

Answer 6

Why do people that tend to bash Christianity always generalize the entire faith as if they were being spoken to by all Christians everywhere?

Because it's the bad stuff that sticks in your mind. When you want proof, where do you go? Normally a book! Prove a phone number, phone book. Prove a science formula, it's in the science book. If you talk to a Christian about God, and honestly don't expect a biblical response, you need to get your head examined because there's some serious damage in there somewhere.

Answer 7

That is what they are brainwashed into believing.
As one religious fundamentalist said when asked what he thought about the Library of Alexander 'Either the books contained with it support what the bible says and therefore it {the Library} was redundant or the books contradict the bible, in which case it {the Library} should be destroyed and all the books burnt.'
Remember science doesn't burn you at the stake for disagreeing with it.

Answer 8

Your example is exactly what they are doing. The only difference is that you do not have a lot of people saying the same. There is no empirical evidence for the existence of any supreme beings (including Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy).

Answer 9

They quote from the Bible because they believe in it. It is the source of their faith, apart from the Bible, what could they quote?

Answer 10

The only proof that there is a man living in a cloud is that someone said so. Nothing else.