why is the bible considerd to be true?

Yes, I am sorry I used that phrase. I should not have, I was upset at the moment and did not fully realize I had said it. Thank you for pointing that out.

Hey Teddy, you were the one making the claims, you are the one who has to prove them. If you won’t, it probably means you can’t. Wikipedia is user driven, but there are editors, and one cannot write what ever they want. And all is sourced. It is a perfectly good source of information. You don’t like because it interferes with your backwards belief system.

I asked you a few simple questions from my response to you, and you still haven’t answered them.

And how does the number of copies prove its authenticity? They are both books of fiction.

And what does this prove? Most fiction contains characters with flaws, otherwise it would be pretty boring fiction.

Show me one.

The Iliad? Are you kidding? Do you believe the Iliad is historically accurate? Do you also believe in Zues and Apollo, and other greek gods. Because they are characters in the Iliad.

Please answer the question about the iliad, since it seems you believe it is a factual story.

Eternalife, I have come to the conclusion that going back and forth is futile. iT’s our responsibilty to declare the word of God and let each soul decide what direction he or she will take.

The WORD OF GOD declares: John 3: 16- 21

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Teddy, you seem like a smart kid, and maybe you will learn to be more critical of the things you hear. Maybe you will learn to question things and investigate something before you accept whole-heartedly. I am not trying to ‘win’ anything. I merely speak out when I see lies and mistruths being spread.

I really have no problem with belief in god. I am married to someone who beieves. Nothing I said should change that if you truly have faith. The only thing I said is there is no real evidence that the story of jesus is true. There is no evidence it’s not true either. Trying to ‘prove’ it with cherry picked data is just wishful thinking.

If I hear so one stating a mistruth, I will speak out no matter what the subject is.

I have no idea if he really existed. No one does. There are no records of his life outside of the new testatment. But that would not be unusual, since while he was alive he would not have been someone who would have garnered a lot of attention, like Herod, or Pilate, who we know did exist.

Josephus does mention him, but it was written long after the crucifiction, and was based on the accounts of early followers and not from first hand knowledge.

However, I do believe there probably was someone who the Jesus myth was based on.

But with all due respect I think you are missing the point completely. If you take the time and reread my answer you would realize I did not say or allude to the kingdoms existence.

You alluded to the fact that these kindoms didn’t exist at the time the prohpecy was made was proof of its authenticity. And I clearly showed you that that was wrong, since all four kingdoms existed at the time you say it was written.

I was alluding to there Governance. E.g Hawaii was an independent country until it became a territory of United States of America. Therefore when Greece ruled Babylon, Babylon became a territory of the Grecian empire or When Babylon ruled Greece, Greece became a territory of Babylonian Kingdom and so on.

I suggest you reread your ‘Proof #1’. Your whole point of showing proof, was to show how the prophecy came true. The prohecy being the rise of these four kingdoms that did not exist at the time. They all existed at the time. The Babylonian empire had ended 500 years prior, but babylon still existed and was still inhabited. Greece was well established at the time, and Rome and Persia had already developed into world powers. So what exactly was the prohecy?

In regards to Hitler trying to inhabit Babylon, this was a complete blunder. What I meant to say was Saddam Hussein.

Umm… Saddam never tried to inhabit babylon, he wanted to build it up as a tourist attraction, just like ephasus in turkey. No one inhabits that city anymore too. They are still planning on buiding up ancient babylon as a tourist site.

In Jeremiah 50: 1-40, the prophecy was made during the times of Chaldeans, so as you pointed out; since the Chaldeans, no one else has ever inhabited Babylon. I still fail to see your counterargument that the Bible is inaccurate. you citing that Babylon is an Archeological site by no means disproves or oppose the Prohecy given to Jeremiah.

Did you not read what I wrote. You are wrong. The city of babylon was inhabited for almost 1200 years after the Chaldeans. The Chadeans took over rule from the assyrians in 612bc, and they ruled until the persians invaded and took over. The ruled over it until Alexander the great conquered it in 331bc. Following Alexanders death, the city became the center of constant fighting over control of the city. Most people fled the city at the time. In 141bc the Parthian (persian) empire took it over, and it remained a province of the empire. This is from the Wikipedia page on babylon:

‘Under the Parthian, and later, Sassanid Persians, Babylon remained a province of the Persian Empire for nine centuries, until about 650 AD. It continued to have its own culture and peoples, who spoke varieties of Aramaic, and who continued to refer to their homeland as Babylon. ‘

If you fail to see my counterargument, it is because you are not trying to. I clearly showed that there is nothing you presented that represents a true prophecy.

example, if I say you will get into Harvard but the only way you got in was b/c of family connections it still does not change the fact that you got in to Harvard.

Something can be inaccurate and still have some truth in it. If I say I got into Harvard, that is not really true. Nothing I did got me in. I got in due to my family connections, and not due to my talent and abilities. This is what you are attempting to do. You are looking at these passages from the bible and then fitting it actual history to match what it says. But you leave things out, like the fact that the prohecy says Babylon will be destroyed in the same way Sodom and Gomorrah, which was immediated and total destruction. Not a waning of an empire over 1200 years.

Becoming a better person may have been the wrong choice of Words; but that all depends on our perspectives. There are many good pple in the world but does that qualify them to be Christ-like. My definition of a better person is based on the notion that we all have deep seated tendencies some good and some bad. These bad tendencies or sin serves to separate us from the presence of God. IT takes a connection with a source that’s pure and noble for use to really see our true form.

So you are saying the only way to be a truely good person is if you believe in god. I have no more bad tendencies than you. I just don’t believe in the supernatural. Does that make you better than me?

As the Word declares, what appears to be right to a man the end thereof is death Proverbs 14:12. We all have our own beliefs but if we think our beliefs can explain the current crisis in the world, we are sadly mistaken.

If you want to have an intelligent discussion about this subject, I will be more than willing. But please stop throwing dogma in my face. Crises in the world have been occurring forever. It is not belief in dieties that has gotten us through. It is good people standing up to bad people. There is nothing supernatural about it.

I can only speak for myself. My life was literally spiraling out of control: addictions, lust and sexuall immorality. I tried everything and even gave up on Christianity on a few occasions. But like everything in life you re-evaluate your motives and attitude and it was until I prayerfully humbled myself before God then I realized the power that was available to me and to all of us.

I truly am glad to hear you overcame your problems. Congratulations. But I still find it sad that you can’t give credit to yourself for doing the hard work it took, instead of giving all the credit to a omnipotent being, who supposedly had the power to spare you all the pain in the first place.

Jesus says even though your sins be as scarlet they can be white as snow Isaiah 1v 18.

Your dogma means nothing to me.

Josephus does mention him, but it was written long after the crucifiction, and was based on the accounts of early followers and not from first hand knowledge.

You just said it was written after the crucifixion, which means you believe that Jesus existed, or else he could not have been crucified.

As for showing you fulfilled prophecy, check out this link. http://www.reasons.org/fulfilled-prophecy-evidence-reliability-bible .

http://www.gotquestions.org/did-Jesus-exist.html This link talks about whether or not a historical Jesus existed.

Also, if you have not already, read the Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, and let me know what you think about it. It was written by a skeptical journalist who investigated the so-called Jesus, who he and also you do not believe exist.

Nothing worth repeating. He only proved that anyone can be a jackass, even an atheist.

what did xxpridexx say?

He was probably deleted…

where is xxpridexx’s response, for some reason I cannot find it

jimahl: you claim to prove we are wrong with “real facts and dates”. You have mentioned very few facts, and you claim Wikipedia as a source. I could write anything I wanted into Wikipedia. Using Wikipedia to prove a point is using an invalid source. Sorry, but until you use real proof and evidence to prove us wrong, I feel no desire to do the same for you. We have made our arguments, it’s time for you to make counterarguments. Many of your “counterarguments” have been telling us to prove something you believe is wrong, when you have given us no proof we were wrong.

Proof #1 made 530BC One proof of the Bible’s authenticity can be found in Daniel 7-8. You will see where it talks about four beasts. Then an angel tells him that they mean the four kingdoms that will rule before Christ’s return.

bornagain, you need to learn the difference between proof and evidence (as my friend captainassasin would say). You can call this evidence, but in reality it is nothing but conjecture. First off, you are making an assumption that is was actually written in 530BC, and has never been edited since.

Daniel 8 goes on to be more specific and depicts two of these beasts as a ram and a goat. He went even further and named two of these kingdoms. Medio-Persia and Greece. (this was written before these kingdoms started ruling.).

You should really study history a little better before you go and embarass yourself by making claims like this. Greece was already well established by 530BC. Media/Persia was also already established by then. This isn’t even valid evidence of the bible authenticity, much less ‘proof’ of it.

The fourth Kingdom has been identified as Rome. this is backed up by many biblical characteristics. Found in Daniel and revelation. History can verify that the major ruling kingdoms were in fact Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece, then Rome.

All four kingdoms actually existed at the time this was allegedly written (even though neither Rome or Babylon are actually mentioned in Daniel 8), so what exactly does this ‘prove’.

Proof #2 made between 701 and 681BC Here is another prophecy fulfilled Isaiah 20:19-20 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

Again, not proof, evidence maybe, bot not proof. The overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah was a sudden and instanteous destruction. No such distruction occured in babylon. It was a slow decline, and lasted long after it was taken over by the persians. It remained inhabited through the 7th centruy AD.

Today, the remains of the city are spread out over a cluster of mounds located on the Euphrates about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, Iraq.

The reason it is not inhabited today is because it is an archilogical site. No matter what, Isaiah’s prophecy certainly was not fulfilled as it lasted for a long time after that.

Even Hitler tried to inhabit this place and never succeeded. To date, no one has ever inhabited the site on ancient Babylon.

This is pusre BS… Please provide a source for this claim that Hitler tried to inhabit babylon.

What if the bible was real?

What if Zeus was real, or Odin, or Quetzalcoatl? There is just as much evidence of their existence as there is for the judeo-christian god and the bible.

What if the bible isn’t real? You still live in this world but you become a better person.

Why would I become a better person. Do you think just because you believe in the supernatural you are a better person than a non-belieiver?

The Bible has been the single most effective tool that has freed me from addictions.

I find this rather sad. Instead of taking credit for overcoming your addictions, you give credit to some mythical being. I am glad YOU overcame your addictions. God had nothing to do with it.

Give him a try?

Typical arrogance from a bible thumper. What makes you think I haven’t? I have, but logic and reason made me realize it is nothing but mythology.

Consider this when you ask the question. The Bible is made up 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testement. It was written by various authors over 1000’s of years, mostly by men who didn’t know each other, yet the whole book together is in perfect harmony with each other. Things have been proven historically and scientifically items in the bible were true. Matter of fact, over 2500 prohesies are listed in the bible and it has been proven by historians and a famous athiest (who later became a Christian) that 2000 of these prophesies have come true so far. How are we to believe what happened during the Revolutionary War? Was not what happened eye witness accounts and written documentation of what happened? So to is the Bible. Men have written what they seen or heard over 1000’s of years. It would take being the greatest hoax in history for all these authors, eye witnesses, over 1000’s of years to all be in complete harmony over a hoax. People think what they can’t see they can’t believe. I don’t see the wind, but I feel the affects of the wind. But by not seeing it, does that mean wind doesn’t exist?

I have come to the conclusion that going back and forth is futile.

If it is futile, it is only because you can’t argue against the facts. You are the one who made the outrageous claims. I pointed out how they were wrong with real facts and dates. If I am wrong, you should be able to easily show that.

iT’s our responsibilty to declare the word of God and let each soul decide what direction he or she will take.

I will paraphrase Samuel Johnson. – Dogma is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

bornagain teddyg

My brothers here is what I feel. There is no point giving these people evidences because they are not going to accept any evidences. They don’t want evidences. The fact however is that no other document in history has as much evidence to show its authenticity as the Bible has. But they are not looking for evidences. They want proof. They don’t realize that even in the court of law the judge judges someone based on evidences only. The judge just decides that the evidences are sufficient to prove something and then they become poofs.

Good work both of you. May God bless you.

I dont think that anyone here is in the position to make a judgment call on the Bible if you have not studied it. Reading it is different from studying it. How can a man say that he understand period cramps when he has never experienced it. The Bible says, 1 Corinthians 2:14 (New International Version) 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Therefore to understand the Bible, one needs to prayerfully seek God’s Spirit.

Proof #1 made 530BC One proof of the Bible’s authenticity can be found in Daniel 7-8. You will see where it talks about four beasts. Then an angel tells him that they mean the four kingdoms that will rule before Christ’s return. Daniel 8 goes on to be more specific and depicts two of these beasts as a ram and a goat. He went even further and named two of these kingdoms. Medio-Persia and Greece. (this was written before these kingdoms started ruling.). The fourth Kingdom has been identified as Rome. this is backed up by many biblical characteristics. Found in Daniel and revelation. History can verify that the major ruling kingdoms were in fact Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece, then Rome. This prophecy if studied even gives you the timeline of their governance. The only one yet to be fulfilled is the return of Christ.

Proof #2 made between 701 and 681BC Here is another prophecy fulfilled Isaiah 20:19-20 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. Today, the remains of the city are spread out over a cluster of mounds located on the Euphrates about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, Iraq. Even Hitler tried to inhabit this place and never succeeded. To date, no one has ever inhabited the site on ancient Babylon.

What if the bible was real? You stand the chance of living in this life with all its trials and not gaining the benefits of the Word. Then Christ returns and you are tortured with the regret of not accepting. You die a horrible death that could have been avoided.

What if the bible isn’t real? You still live in this world but you become a better person. The Bible teaches love in its truest form. The Bible has been the single most effective tool that has freed me from addictions. It has changed this liar into one who speaks truth, given me the power to truly forgive and freed me from the burden of guilt and sadness. God wants to do the same for you. Give him a try?

ok I’ll make this simple for you and this is my opinion I am a muslim and we belive when the bible came to earth the words were changed by the angels. only the quraan hasnt been changed and it never will

Faith.

Im Atheist, so I dont believe in any of it.

But since there is no REAL proof, faith is what keeps people believing.

:)

Before I respond, jihmal, do you believe that Jesus ever existed?

If not for religions based on the Bible, no-one would even consider the possibility that it’s more than a collection of 100% human created ancient texts. It’s boring, often ridiculous, brutally sadistic half the time, and frequently incomprehensible.

Let’s keep in mind the Holy Bible was created for a reason through Human hand’s,the Bible’s info was put into are brain’s before we were created just like everything else that we know and live by,it’s the only to Jesus and then to are Father,good luck a light bearer.

No one can really no if its true but Christianity is the faith that makes the most sense yet I dont see how god could allow people to die horrible deaths like that

Im stuck in the middle. I believe God and Jesus yet I also think the bible is a bunch of rubbish also.

zeroninja17 I agree with you. How do we know that the bible isn’t some nice story written by power-hungry drug addicts that incorporated currrent events into their hallucinations? I think its a buncha bull. I don’t go around telling people their wrong though.

I think if you get enough people with enough money or power behind a cause, you can convince people of anything. The fact that so many people believe in the bible has others convinced that it must be true.

I believe it is true it was wrighten by the followers of jesus. That is just me but give the bibble a try and you’ll se what I mean.

There are so many things told in the bible that are happening and happened in our history.

There are many? Care to give us a couple im_his_dork_16?

Matter of fact, over 2500 prohesies are listed in the bible and it has been proven by historians and a famous athiest (who later became a Christian) that 2000 of these prophesies have come true so far.

Same question johnat. If there are so many things proven scientifically, please share them with us. I have heard the claim many times, but have never actually seen this ‘proof’ you speak of.

There is nothing perfect nor harmonious about the bible. Toadaly nailed it in his description.

I believe that the bible is not truthful and was written by crazy people on lots of drugs and based on a lot of false facts what is your opinion

So you BELIEVE it is nonsense

And others BELIEVE that the bible is truthful.

I BELIEVE that the bible is just history told from another perspective.

NO one can prove whether the bible is right or wrong or whether there is a god or not. That is why it is better just not to go looking for trouble.

yeh, I know what you mean. if we do not know if it is true or not, then why would we write a book about it and then live by that book. obviously some of the stuff in there, like the basic morals, eg thou shall not kill, are right, but the whole book is based on what people have made up, possibly under the influence of people and possibly schizophrenic people (who claim to have vissions) but whether religion and faith is a bad thing I’m not sure. some people can find salvation through faith, so maybe this element of ignorance is good, after all ignorance seems to be happiness.

Being a very devoted Catholic, you take it all on faith. I dont believe that it was written by some power hungry people, I truly believe and know that it was indeed written by the followers of Christ our saviour. There are so many things told in the bible that are happening and happened in our history. However, I do respect everyones answers because we all have an opinion, but yea definately the history thats recorded is proof. :)

I have and it just seems like a big giant crap from some fat guy with a overactive bowel

Heaven Answers “why is the bible considerd to be true?”

Thats what faith is..its keeping the belief of something that could be false alive.

Touche’ but how can you have faith with something that could be false?

You just said it was written after the crucifixion, which means you believe that Jesus existed, or else he could not have been crucified.

Do you think that was an ‘gotcha’ or something? I guess I should have said the alleged crusifiction. I have no idea if a man named jesus actual existed and was crucifued as desribed in the new testament. I already said that there probably was someone who the story was based on. Just like they think the King Arthur legend was based on a roman who helped unite england. In no way do I think the new testament has anything close to what the real story is. Our own history books today don’t even protray a true history.

Your prohecy stuff is completely subjective, and is nothing but interpreting vague scripture reference to make them sound like they are accurate predictions. And we have no idea how much editing of the OT was done afterward.

And the same goes with the Josephus and Tacitus. There are no surviviing orignal manuscripts that mention Jesus in any non-biblical manuscripts prior to the third century. We have no idea which are accurate.

I know all about Lee Strobel. His work is no different than all the other inteligent design nonsense. He provides no other point of view in his work, nor any contrary evidence. He is not a scientiest. He is a hack. The fact that he claims he was an athiest has no bearing on his credibility. If that mattered at all, then the atheists would win, since there are far more believers turned athiest, than athiests turned believer.

There is no point giving these people evidences because they are not going to accept any evidences.

You would have to provide real evidence. You have provided none. Any you have presented has not been evidence, it has been wishful thinking.

The fact however is that no other document in history has as much evidence to show its authenticity as the Bible has.

Then how come you can’t come up with any?

But they are not looking for evidences. They want proof.

I’ll take either. Still waiting to see it.

They don’t realize that even in the court of law the judge judges someone based on evidences only. The judge just decides that the evidences are sufficient to prove something and then they become poofs.

True, and sometimes the judge throws evidence out because it is not reliable.

Keep trying eternallymisinformed. Maybe someday you will learn. I don’t hold much hope for that though.

You know what Jimahl, I give up arguing with you. There are some points that you make that I have problems countering, and I applaud you. I cannot think of some answers to give you, because the wisdom of this world will never truly make sense to me since I am a Christian. I do not attempt to argue any longer, but that does not mean that I agree with what you are saying. I simply admit that I do not have an answer for some of your arguments, so if you were looking for a win in this argument, I hope you are happy that you got one. But in my belief, I will win eternally while you suffer eternal loss. So, yes, you won this argument. But if your only goal was to show me that I was wrong, you did not accomplish that. It takes faith to believe in a Sovereign God, a faith that you apparently do not have. So, congratulations. You win. I lose. I hope you see that God loves you and will accept you no matter what. Goodbye.

hey teddyg I am truly impress with your knowledge. for a kid as young as you to exhibit such eloquence and intelluct I applaud u. I hope to God you keep your eyes on the prize and not loose sight. For Paul declares “that as much I preach to others I pray that I do not loose my soul in the process”. you will make mistakes and learn from them. But once again man much RESPECT. I hope my kid will have even half your wisdom.

My prayers with u Again people, its ok to be constructive eith your cirticism but plx dont try to destroy somebody in the process

xxpridexx, that type of rhetoric will get you no where, with either believers or non-believers.

Learn some manners.

I thank you for taking the time to answer my “conjectures”. But with all due respect I think you are missing the point completely. If you take the time and reread my answer you would realize I did not say or allude to the kingdoms existence. I was alluding to there Governance. E.g Hawaii was an independent country until it became a territory of United States of America. Therefore when Greece ruled Babylon, Babylon became a territory of the Grecian empire or When Babylon ruled Greece, Greece became a territory of Babylonian Kingdom and so on.

In regards to Hitler trying to inhabit Babylon, this was a complete blunder. What I meant to say was Saddam Hussein.

In Jeremiah 50: 1-40, the prophecy was made during the times of Chaldeans, so as you pointed out; since the Chaldeans, no one else has ever inhabited Babylon. I still fail to see your counterargument that the Bible is inaccurate. you citing that Babylon is an Archeological site by no means disproves or oppose the Prohecy given to Jeremiah. example, if I say you will get into Harvard but the only way you got in was b/c of family connections it still does not change the fact that you got in to Harvard.

Becoming a better person may have been the wrong choice of Words; but that all depends on our perspectives. There are many good pple in the world but does that qualify them to be Christ-like. My definition of a better person is based on the notion that we all have deep seated tendencies some good and some bad. These bad tendencies or sin serves to separate us from the presence of God. IT takes a connection with a source that’s pure and noble for use to really see our true form.

As the Word declares, what appears to be right to a man the end thereof is death Proverbs 14:12. We all have our own beliefs but if we think our beliefs can explain the current crisis in the world, we are sadly mistaken. I can only speak for myself. My life was literally spiraling out of control: addictions, lust and sexuall immorality. I tried everything and even gave up on Christianity on a few occasions. But like everything in life you re-evaluate your motives and attitude and it was until I prayerfully humbled myself before God then I realized the power that was available to me and to all of us. Jesus says even though your sins be as scarlet they can be white as snow Isaiah 1v 18.

For the Bible or any other ancient book, there are three tests that can be used to determine the validity of the book. First is the Bibliographical Test. This test takes into account the number of copies, orginal documents of the text, and when the copies were written. Let’s take a look at Homer’s The Iliad. There are 643 copies of the Iliad, while the are over 2400 copies of parts of the NT (New Testament). These copies of The Iliad were written over 500 years after the original, while the NT was copied anywhere from 50-300 years after the original.

    There is also the Internal Evidence Test which looks at the truth within the Bible, or how the Bible holds up historically.  Several NT gospels were written by people who were actually with Jesus. The Bible shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of its characters.  If the Bible was doctored, why keep the main characters flaws in the book?
    The External Evidence Test views the evidence that supports the Bible.  An ancient, non-Christian historian, Josephus, included writings that correspond and agree with the Bible.  There have been several archaeological finds like Joseph's tomb and other belongings of Joseph.  Every prophecy in the Bible other than the end times propechies have been fulfilled, and if you think otherwise, please let me know which one, where it is, and I will gladly review it from an unbiased standpoint. 
     I have mentioned only a few evidences for the Word of God.  Send me fun mail if you would likle further information.  I am a 16 year old junior in high school and would be glad to clear up any evidence that may have been unclear, just please let me know and I will further explain myself.
     The Bible passes all historical tests just as many other history books.  So why not believe in the authenticity of the Bible just as you would The Iliad, or any other ancient text?  Just a question.

First is the Bibliographical Test. This test takes into account the number of copies, orginal documents of the text, and when the copies were written. Let’s take a look at Homer’s The Iliad. There are 643 copies of the Iliad, while the are over 2400 copies of parts of the NT (New Testament). These copies of The Iliad were written over 500 years after the original, while the NT was copied anywhere from 50-300 years after the original.

And how does the number of copies prove its authenticity? They are both books of fiction.

There is also the Internal Evidence Test which looks at the truth within the Bible, or how the Bible holds up historically.

Just because a book reference actual historical events does not mean everyhting in it is true. Gone with the Wind takes place during the civil war, and atlanta did burn. Does that make the entire story true?

Several NT gospels were written by people who were actually with Jesus.

Prove it.

The Bible shows both the strengths and the weaknesses of its characters. If the Bible was doctored, why keep the main characters flaws in the book?

And what does this prove? Most fiction contains characters with flaws, otherwise it would be pretty boring fiction.

The External Evidence Test views the evidence that supports the Bible. An ancient, non-Christian historian, Josephus, included writings that correspond and agree with the Bible. There have been several archaeological finds like Joseph’s tomb and other belongings of Joseph.

Please not Josephus again. Yes he was a historian at the end of the first century. The little he did write regarding Jesus was heresay, and not first hand. Yes, some of the true historical stuff, like herod and pilate were mentioned. Other source have too. The only thing uniqe about josephus is that he mention of jesus is the earliest record other than scripture.

Every prophecy in the Bible other than the end times propechies have been fulfilled,

Show me one.

and if you think otherwise, please let me know which one, where it is, and I will gladly review it from an unbiased standpoint.

I don’t think any of them are true, so you show me one. And I got a really good laugh over the ‘unbiased standpoint’ comment. Very funny stuff. Thanks…

The Bible passes all historical tests just as many other history books.

Not even close.

So why not believe in the authenticity of the Bible just as you would The Iliad, or any other ancient text? Just a question.

The Iliad? Are you kidding? Do you believe the Iliad is historically accurate? Do you also believe in Zues and Apollo, and other greek gods. Because they are characters in the Iliad.