Can anyone here show evidence that the Bible is true without using the Bible itself as evidence?

Question

Ground rules:

Archeological discoveries of cities mentioned in the bible don't count. New York City is a real place and is the home of Spiderman in the comics, however that in no way proves that Spiderman exists.

Don't say it's the word of god. You don't know that and it's a prime example of using the Bible itself to support itself.

Prophecies, again these are off limits for the same reason listed above. The writers of the NT had ready access to the OT, any prophecies that seem to have come true in the NT have a very high probability of being forced to fit.

No personal experience. These are not attestable by anyone but yourself and are therefore not emperical evidence of any kind.

If you offer something for evidence please cite your sources.

Please state your case within the scope of the question... do not dodge by asking me to prove the opposite.

Answer 1

There is proof that PARTS of the bible are true. Those are the parts that I believe in. Not even which parts, just that there were a few. Everything else is just nonsense.

Just wanted to mention how uptight people are getting about your rules. I guess some people just can't fit into the scientific mold. Your rules are no more stringent than they would ask of evolutionists. And evolutionists have actually been able to fit to their standards and what do they do, they raise the bar! Man, talk about sore losers.

Answer 2

There are many, many gospels not included in the bible that relate the life and times of biblical people, including Jesus Christ. There are historical references to people, places and things that are corroborated in other texts of the day. This, however, proves nothing.

What I gather your question to mean is, if there is proof that the bible is the actual word of a being known as god, can the supernatural accounts of god and Jesus be corroborated by other, independent sources outside of the Christian ones?

Here is the the problem. Let's say there were Chinese texts which corroborated certain miraculous occurances in the bible. Even with multiple, independent sources, there is no way that something written thousands of years ago confirms the authenticity of something which can not be tested or proven then or now.

In order for something, anything, to be accepted as "factual" by mainstream society, the theory must be repeatably testable by independent people anywhere, and yeild the same results each time (ex. dropping a hammer to prove gravity). Further, it's preferrable that the tester not know what the outcome is supposed to be (a blind study.)

If there were 50 ancient texts found from 50 different cultures around the world, and each described a world-wide biblical flood, it would be compelling, but it would not be proof that the story of Noah was true (although many people lacking critical thinking skills would claim this was positive proof.)

Such is the nature of the pathetic human belief system.

Answer 3

It sounds like you are already dead set on not believing no matter what we say so even if we had scholar on this site (which I doubt) you still would not believe! So, it would be wasting our time wouldn't it to bother with this question. Just so you know, people had faith in gods and "higher powers" long before any Bible.

We choose to believe that a God, a more intelligent being, had enough sense to have things documented so that we could know who He was. Doesn't make sense to create something so it will never know you.

You, being obviously reliant on your own understanding and "intelligence", forget that people of faith are obviously not people of proof. We don't have all the answers, the Bible has never been disproved , and all we have to go on is our personal relationship with what believe is God. We don't do it to offend you. And we aren't here to prove it to you. You only want the truth that's going to fit you. We try to fit ourselves to what we believe is true. All we ask is the freedom to do so, consideration and not to be judged by every other misguided Christian's hatred you may encounter. Sorry I couldn't give you what you were looking for. Take care.

Answer 4

People, no matter how hard you try saying the bible said it and history supports it, it just isn't fact at all and just make you sound ignorant and silly to someone wanting scientific evidence. When it comes down to it, it's what you choose to believe regardless of evidence.

It's not so much that people "know" that the bible is true, it's that they "believe" it's true. It helps millions of people live their lives and comfort themselves and sometimes even help others.

...well it also leads to oppressions of certain peoples ( I won't name an entire list of groups oppressed by Christians in history) in which case if what their persecuting and oppressing people for is for a lie or even (wait follow me here) against there own teachings and condemning to themselves, well than that's just a kick in the *** ain't it?

But I really don't think your question holds relevance to a spiritual community because their response is always going to be some variation either "It is because god said it is" or "It just is" in which case you can do nothing. It's what they choose to believe, and if it works for some people, than by all means they should live that way.

I just hate the persecution of others in the name of a religion in any form its disgusting.

So can I or anyone else prove to you that the bible is true? No.
Personally, I am not Christian, but I do appreciate the bible for what it's worth in contexts of promoting "good people" even though there is no way to prove that any of it is real.

Unless you have a time machine in which case you would have to prove that the time machine actually worked and it wasn't all an elaborate acid trip.

Sorry just read some of the ones before my post and I started to giggle a bit bout the prophesies. Do most of you realize when these prophecies were written? The time of Nero Caesar when Christians were being murdered and persecuted by Nero Caesar (666 is a code for his name) the entire book of revelations is a direct correlation in metaphors to the occurrences of this time period and therefore disprove this "prophecy" as occurring in the future. It already happened. Oh so I guess that kinda makes some of the bible true? It's like a fictional novel.

Answer 5

"It's obvious to me that there is some sort of creator god, or at the very least, intelligent design. Spending five seconds thinking about the intricacy of my circulatory system makes that very clear to me." Whatever. "What doesn't make sense is much of the book of Genesis, which was written by Moses." You do know that no contemporary scholar thinks that Moses wrote Genesis? That it bears clear marks of being a combination of the works of three different authors? "Am I less of a Christian if I don't believe every word of the Bible?" Christians disagree on this point. But you would certainly not be the only Christian who thinks that Genesis is not literally true.

Answer 6

It can not be proven. It has just been accepted because someone said it was the word of God. It is a book of hear say written by men. Things may have been embelished or left out, we will probably never know. Perhaps if this book just fell from the sky like rain, I would be more inclined to take it more seriously. It's funny tho, because people so easily accept the words of these men that tell these stories of what God told them, but if I wrote a book and said God came to me and told me all this was true, no one would believe a word I wrote.

Answer 7

Well said.

I am utterly astonished at the dismal logic of some of these answers. "Even the stars follow a law..." Yes, but not necessarily the one *you're* talking about! "Can you prove that you exist without using your blood..." We're not trying to prove that the Bible EXISTS - just whether it is a valid source of spiritual information! Apples and oranges, you fools!

And people, do some damn research before you trot out the same old answers. Scholars have known for YEARS that the mentions of Christ from Josephus were forged, and that EVERY ancient account outside the Bible used those forgeries as their source material.

And... can people simply not read? No one has asked you to prove the existence of God. Only the validity of the Bible. I am SO SICK of people assuming that not believing in the Bible means not believing in a deity. Talk about arrogance. Smarten up, Xtians!

People are so stupid.

The truth is, the Bible is as valid as you believe it to be (not counting its glaring errors and contradictions, which are invalid no matter how you look at it). All faiths are valid because none are proven.

Answer 8

You are trying to eliminate all the usual evidence of the Bible but God does exist. When you believe in God by faith he will reveal himself. When you pray and that prayer is answered who do you think is the one who answered it. In order to answer something you must first hear it so if you pray to God and he answers, you know he exists. I can lonly speak for me and I know God is real because he has done so much for me I did not do alot of things on my own. I asked God and he provided. Its something you have to accept by faith.
When you sit in a chair you don't look to make sure it will hold you, you just sit because you have faith it will hold you.
You can't see air but you can see the results that air produces it is the same with God as you see him work in your life then you accept by faith that he is real. But Jesus said it is better to believe before you even see.

Answer 9

This is a very foolish question if you want to make rules of not giving facts or personal experiences.

The Word of God is archeologically, historically, and prophetically proven.

And I have many personal experiences to add also.

What you seem to be asking for is a miracle from God to tell you it true.

Jesus said "An evil generation shall seek a sign and there shall be no sign given it."

Though you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.

Answer 10

If a person believes that the Bible is true than they have faith. There is no way to prove faith for it is unseen. So there is no way to prove the Bible is true to someone who does not have faith.