An open call for evidence

[Bible Highlighter]

The Bible has been internally verified, historically verified, and scientifically it has been verified.

For there are many great Biblical evidences that back up the Bible. Such as...

The Hidden code in the Hebrew Scriptures:

The Cross found in Israelite Camp Arrangement:



The Camp of Israel

Biblical Numerics:



http://www.hiddenhillssgbaptistchurch.org/images/Articles by Subject/Books/G. E. Jones/That Ye May Marvel or The Significance of Bible Numbers.pdf

Bible Prophecy: A Beginner's Guide: Does God Leave Fingerprints?

The Bible Found in the Chinese Language:



http://students.washington.edu/cbsf/cool/Chinese.swf

(Note: The above web link requires "Flash"; So either download "Flash" on your computer or if you have a mobile device: Download a "Flash" viewing browser).

Also, what is fascinating is that it is 49 letter intervals that is used in discovering this Hebrew Torah message (That Chuck Missler talks about in his video that I shown above) that glorifies God in the Torah; And yet we coincidentally see this 49 letter intervals again with another interesting fact revealed that glorifies the Lord again within the Scriptures.

What am I talking about?

A short genealogy of David in Genesis 38.





Talk about God glorifying His own Word!!!

Wow. That is awesome!


Sources Used:
Treasures - - Koinonia House
Textual Surprises: Treasures in the Family Trees - Chuck Missler - Koinonia House


...

 

[expos4ever]

2.) The Bible is not one book it is many books, and these many books were written sometimes centuries after one another....so the "coherency" of the newer books were obviously based on the information from previous books and other factors.

I obviously did not make my point clear, as I am well aware of what you say. What I am saying is that the coherency is arguably greater than what would reasonably be expected, even taking into account your (obvious) point).

I will explain if I have time.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Another amazing piece of Biblical Evidence that can be found is in the category of Philology with the Dead Sea Scrolls.



Many of these scrolls have been dated as old as 200 BC (before Christ).

Here is a quote taken from an article from International Business Times.

"The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence. They were hidden in 11 caves in the Judean desert along the shores of the Dead Sea in 68 B.C. as Roman armies approached. They remained hidden until 1947, when a Bedouin shepherd of the Ta'amra tribe threw a rock in a cave and realized that something was hidden inside."​

You can view the Isaiah Scroll within the Dead Sea Collection online for yourself here:

The Great Isaiah Scroll.

Why is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls a note worthy piece of evidence? Well, by itself it may mean nothing to the regular joe, but many of the Old Testament scrolls have been dated before Christ which confirms three important things in regards to Christ. For the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm the truthfulness of the:

1. Messianic Prophecies.
2. Typifications of Christ.
3. Pre-Incarnate Appearances of Christ.

In other words, nobody could have written these manuscripts after the fact and claim that they were older (Thereby discrediting the Messianic Prophecies, the Types of Christ, and Christ's Pre-Incarnate appearances in the Old Testament manuscripts).

Anyways, if you are interested, please click on one of the 3 categories above (To learn more).


Source for Article Quote:
Dead Sea Scrolls Online: Text Available Thanks to Google [VIDEO & LINKS]


....

 

[Bible Highlighter]

One piece of evidence that has always captivated me was the tons of global flood legends across the globe, too. Here is a great video of a Christian man who has traveled the world in collection of these stories in many cultures.

Side Note:

While I am not a current watcher or huge fan of the Creation Today Show, I do like this particular episode, though.

In addition, there are seashells on tops of the tops of the highest mountains. This can only be if there was a global flood. For if we are to believe the Evolutionists that say that the Earth was once covered by all water at some point, then how come the seashells did not erode away by the weathering of the elements for millions of years on the tops of these high mountains?



...

 

[Bible Highlighter]

There are also Biblical Evidences in Paleontology, too.

The Bible confirms the existence of dinosaurs. The Behemoth is described alot like the Brachiosaurus in Job 40:15-24; And the Leviathan describes a dragon like beast in Job 41 (that is also briefly mentioned in Psalm 104:25-26 and Isaiah 27:1, too). In fact, the best evidence for dino's is the soft tissue found in the bone of a T-Rex.



This is just one of the many evidences that lets us know that the Earth is indeed thousands of years old (As the Bible suggests by looking at the genealogy of Christ to Adam in Luke 3 and the genealogies in the Old Testament); Which of course runs contrary to secular scientists who believe that the Earth is milliions of years old.

In fact, most people think dragons are myth and legend. So the written account of the Leviathan is just a joke to some unbelievers and or it is metaphorical to certain liberal believers. However, in 2004, Paleontologists had discovered a dinosaur skeleton that had a head (skull) that was in the same shape as the head of old drawings of dragons from myth and legend.



Here is an artist rendition of what the beast would look like with skin, etc.



But then folks think that no such creature would be able to breath fire as it is suggested in Job 41, though. They think it would be impossible for a creature to breath fire without it burning itself. However, what they do not realize is that within God's creation there is a tiny bug called the Bombardier Beetle that does not burn itself up when it shoots out super heated toxic gases from itself. Just check out this video here on that:

Also, when dragons are sometimes mentioned by Skeptics of the Bible as being impossible or that they are simply from myth and legend, the unicorn is also sometimes brought up as being a joke or as a myth, too. However, what they do not realize is that Bible is not talking about the one horned horse like beast from myth and legend, though. It is simply talking about a one horned animal (that we are unaware of). How so? Well, Scientists today call any one horned animal as a unicorn. Here is a science book on unicorns.



...

 

[Dwells]

@Jason0047 I doubt many people turn to believing in God because of historical evidence.....that's just usually a nice addition to being a Christian....if it's accurate that is.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

@Jason0047 I doubt many people turn to believing in God because of historical evidence.....that's just usually a nice addition to being a Christian....if it's accurate that is.

You misunderstand. When I say Historical Evidence, I am referring to observable evidences that we can observe today and verify. For example: The dead scrolls is a piece of historical evidence. Yet, it confirms what we have in our Bibles today. It confirms the truthfulness of the Messianic prophecies, etc. To say that the Dead Sea Scrolls is not a convincing piece of Historical Evidence for God's Word is simply not true.


...

 

[vinsight4u]

/nvm

 

[mark kennedy]

This is the kind of argument that will never convince me.

You are convinced I wasn't a real Christian before. At the time, I certainly was convinced that i was a real Christian, and that I had a personal and transformative relationship with Jesus. Since I don't know what you experience, and you don't know what I experienced, we're at an impasse. It just becomes speculation and assumption. You may have all the justification for your belief in the world, and I don't understand what your experience. Or maybe your experiences were like mine when I was a Christian, in which case I wouldn't find your evidence convincing. We just can't know.

I can say that I asked for God to reveal himself when I first began losing my faith. Losing my faith was scary for me, and I asked with true sincerity. There was no answer that I could detect.

There is no way I can believe more today than I did then without evidence. For me, belief requires evidence, not the other way around. So if I have to believe first, then ask for evidence, I think I'm stuck. I could lie and say I believe, but I couldn't fool your God of he exists

I can only tell you what the Scriptures are telling me, God initiates and completes a relationship with him through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now you have either not actually experienced this or that time of decision came and went:

And this we will do, if God permits. It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age—… (Heb. 6:4,5)
​

I was convinced from the Scriptures long before I took an interest in evidencial apologetics. The power of conviction is in the testimony of the gospel, the power to believe is not of your own insight or intellect but an act of God. You want evidence or you want to walk by sight rather then faith, it doesn't work that way:

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? (Galatians 3:2)

I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18)

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, (Ephesians 2:8)

and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. (Hebrews 2:4)

If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, (Hebrews 10:26)

How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:29)
​

So what do you want as evidence: internal, external or bibliographical? I do some work in apologetics from time to time. You won't get past the primacy of faith. When Abraham heard the promise of a son he laughed, when Sarah heard the same promise she laughed, when Isaac was born he was given that name because it means, 'she laughed'. Yet the Scriptures tell us that they believed the one who made the promise was faithful.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Heb. 11:6)
​

You do have evidence, we all do, there is just this problem in the human condition:

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. (Rom. 1:17,18)​

God has shown a lot of people a lot of proofs and miracles to have the majority walk away in unbelief. God won't give you what you don't want and you have the same problem we all do, the Bible calls it sin. If you can't trust God the first step is an impossible giant leap and if you ever actually enlightened and turned away Hebrews tells us, it's impossible to be restored to repentance. In your case I think if that had happened you wouldn't be here, but I'm not the one who searches hearts and minds and only God can give you the evidence you seek. Don't give up, if your persistent you'll find that little mustard seed of faith. In the Gospels Jesus never turned anyone away who asked for help. But many left him out of unbelief.

Grace and peace,
Mark

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Yes, one has to have faith first in order to truly see and believe. This is not a blind faith obviously. Hence, why we have been providing evidences that supports God's Word.



....

 

[vinsight4u]

/nvm

 

[Thursday]

I'm an ex-Christian, now an atheist. To find the truth, I often revisit beliefs I have. Right now I am revisiting theism.

I'd love to hear the best evidence you have for God. How would I find out if he's real?

I'm really looking to listen, not argue. So while I may respond to tell you why the argument doesn't convince me (if it doesn't), please understand I'm just helping you understand my position so you can counter me.

I appreciate anything you have to offer.

Rather than get into it here, I'd like to recommend a book by a PhD nuclear physicists from MIT. It made the case for me:

The Hidden Face of God: Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth: Gerald L. Schroeder Ph.D.: 9780743203258: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Dwells]

You misunderstand. When I say Historical Evidence, I am referring to observable evidences that we can observe today and verify. For example: The dead scrolls is a piece of historical evidence. Yet, it confirms what we have in our Bibles today. It confirms the truthfulness of the Messianic prophecies, etc. To say that the Dead Sea Scrolls is not a convincing piece of Historical Evidence for God's Word is simply not true.


...

Yes the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the historical pre existence of our Holy Book.
Jesus does not match the Jewish Messianic prophecies as the Messiah......and please don't post all the information that we Christians have that says He does...I've read it all.
Honestly He would match more to the Messianic prophecy if he wasn't born of a virgin, was not God but instead an extraordinary God created human AND He didn't require a second coming to finish the job.

Don't get me wrong, I believe Jesus is the Messiah, but.....

 

[Dwells]

We still use the same terms that God did....day...light...
darkness...grass...year...seasons...months...trees...fruit...seeds...man...

If I were an atheist I would be rolling my eyes....oh heck i'm a Christian and my eyes are glazing over......

 

[vinsight4u]

/nvm

 

[AlexDTX]

For me there are many things in my life that are addressed on a spiritual level that science fails to satisfy. While I have the highest regards for most areas of science, without religion addressing my spiritual side, I would feel cheated as a human being.
I personally do not believe our spirituality has to be addressed through Christianity (even though that is the way God has been revealed to me). I feel God will meet us where we live. For example,even within the Jewish faith, which Jesus was raised within, it is never a question of converting someone to Judaism, but includes an acceptance of how others may have come to know God, knowing full well that God is powerful enough to reveal Himself in many ways if He so chooses.
My suggestion to you would be, perhaps Christianity does not resonate well with you, but some other religion or form may? I believe there are many ways that God may enter our heart and reveal Himself to us.

Basically, this is your journey, if you believe spirituality is an important part of a human life.

Do you not know the Scriptures? Jesus said that no man comes to the Father except by him (John 14:6). There is no salvation, nor a way to God except through Jesus, because Jesus is God.

 

[Dwells]

Do you not know the Scriptures? Jesus said that no man comes to the Father except by him (John 14:6). There is no salvation, nor a way to God except through Jesus, because Jesus is God.

Did Paul not say?......Romans 5:20
Do you not believe that God's grace can work boundlessly outside of the confines of Christianity?
Believing in one God, automatically includes Jesus, there is no plurality in God. We worship God, not Gods.

 

[John 1720]

So far I have only been in discussion with Christians, largely because of my personal background. I have investigated other faiths when I was de-converting and didn't find any evidence that made them more convincing that Christianity.

The short and simple answer of what I found problematic was the lack of evidence. I began a pattern of reinvestigating beliefs that I held in college. After nearly a decade of that behavior, I finally turned the process to theism. As a philosophical skeptic, I simply found the evidence lacking.

The scientific claims fell quickly (creationism, age of the universe ...). But I had no issue modifying my faith to accept evolution and an old universe.

Thanks for the reply.

Having watched Superbowl 51 I was reminded of the dynamics of unbelief and how at different points in time the circumstances and evidential landscape can undermine faith. I wonder how many people gave up on their belief that the Patriots could actually win it all when the score was 28-3 in the third quarter? Yet the team continued to have faith in themselves, and many of their fan never gave up on their belief in the team as well, even in its darkest moments. I think that is analogous to faith as well. Circumstances, confusion, and being marginalized and in the minority can wear down our faith but whether on believes or not does not change the end of the story.

Time is in a state of progression (some might say decline and without purpose but I believe this is false). The Bible teaches us God can turn unmitigated evil into something good, which is what I teach many of our Syrian refugees. Time is not finished but I do believe it is unraveling to reveal God's truth and the prophecies stated so long ago. Therefore, in my worldview I still perceive time is still headed toward the fulfillment of God's Will. I happen to see lots of evidence that is taking place from spiritual insight, which confirms the Bible.

Mankind is still groping to find its way and doesn't appear to solve its own self-made problems with all of its foolish wisdom. However with the wisdom of God, which Irenaeus and Augustine stated only come by one endowed with the Spirit of God, through a believing relationship with Christ, can one perceive God is moving in the world.

Now one might say, why should we listen to ancient Christians, one of whom purportedly died for his faith? One might say we are far better positioned with our increase in knowledge than they were! Right?

Yet one example might be a comparison between them and the 20th century physicists that discovered that space/time began with the physical universe. Time is linked to the birth of the physical universe and not to what preexisted it. It was brilliant detective work yet when some of them started looking back they found the early church fathers (2nd-5th centuries AD) has stated that same concepts from the perspective of the theology passed down to them. Yet I digress since you already stated science is not the problem for you. (reference 1, 2, 3)

From the underlined material I added to your post, I see no sense in providing you evidence for Theism, such as God created the world, since you state above that you really had no issue modifying your faith to align with science.

Because I somehow sensed, that at least part of your issue lay in Philosophical skeptism, I put the link in for the September 2015 Ravi Zacharias Q&A on my previous post.
I still believe it may be helpful to you to at least get an initial baseline of what the Christian philosopical baseline is - of course there is a lot more than this but I believe it may be a starting point for the differences between the Christian worldview and secular skepticism. Ravi covers multiple topics. It is primarily a broadband Q&A but some of them are:

1. What scientific discovery defines love for you?
2. What scientific imperative tells you that you must be honest in your findings?
3. Scientists may climb higher and higher up the mountain only in finality to discover that a band of theologians have been there for centuries.
4. How do you respond to logical, theological, and relationial problems?
5. What kind of culture are we living in? Is it
6. Marxist views, each one dictates something to us
7. Theononomous culture, Heteronomous Culture – Marxist few at the top, Autonomous Culture – each ones dictates
8. Ethnicity and Race are sacred – sexuality is also sacred. Matt 7:22

You also mentioned that you had internally identified with a certain sense of relationship between yourself and God by way of sense. The Bible as well as the early church fathers also speak to this, as well as your sense of what you thought the will of God was.

As a Christian, I know I identified a feeling I would get while praying, reading scripture, or at church as evidence of God. I would also get a vague sense of what I thought was the will of God. Those two were proof to me of a relationship with God. On further inspection, I no longer saw it that way.

Once that was gone, I lost my faith entirely.

There is some vagueness in what you say that impacts what is actually addressable here. You categorically state that "on further inspection I no longer saw it that way".

What was the process of further inspection of that relationship? Readers are left to guess but I'm really not surprised when you broke off the relationship, for whatever reason, that you "lost your faith entirely". In any case we'd have to understand the underlying events that led to the demise of your relationship and what that has to do with the gathering of empirical evidences for God that might be established in order to address that.

This is anecdotal and may or not be relevant or constructive but I'm reminded of a story once told me about a older married couple, who had lost the romance of their youthful exhuberance for one another. It goes something like this:

After 30 plus years of marriage "name deleted" felt she and her husband had drifted apart from a once powerful romantic relationship. They were taking a long drive over to their recently married daughter's house when she saw an opportunity to address her husband's lackluster attention towards her. "I remember the days when we didn't go on a trip anywhere without you snug up right beside me. You used to enjoy my company so much yet there you are a great distance away not. Where is the love you used to have for me honey?"
Her husband smiled at her from the driver's seat and responded to her, "What kind of question is that? If you notice I'm really not the one who has moved here".

I think sometimes we can grow cold in our relationship with God, no longer perceiving His love for us. Hindsight, on closer inspection, however can reveal the opposite. We are the ones who have moved away from God and not God who has moved away from us. Love is always an act of free choice - God does not compel us to love Him but He does expect to worship Him in Spirit and Truth if we are to be truly His.

A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion.
Philosopher and father of the scientific method (1561-1626)

======================================

Augustine's Understanding of Time and Eternity[/URL]']Augustine's Understanding of Time and Eternity

Paul Davies
old question first formulated perhaps 1,600 years ago by that great thinker St Augustine of Hippo, and 800 years ago by St Thomas Aquinas: can God's signature be seen in the universe He created.
[1]
"According to Augustine time and eternity are of two separate orders. Time is understoodas the horizontal movement of human existence that is constantly in flux between the past, present and future. Augustine's analysis of time leads him to the conclusion that since the pastnever truly exists and the future has not yet come into existence, all that remains is the present,which is constantly flowing toward non-existence.

Because time, as a separate existence of past, present and future, is inexpressible, Augustine proposes that one refer to time as, "threetimes, a present of things past, a present of things present, a present of things to come."

These three exist concurrently in the soul, which dilates to incorporate memories of the past, immediate awareness of the present, and expectation for the future .

Eternity, on the other hand, is defined as the "eternal present" or "eternal day" understoodas the Abidingness and unchangeableness of God which "embraces and transcends time."

For Augustine, the purpose of time is to be caught up into this "eternal present" to the extent towhich we can experience it while still bound by the temporal.
Augustine's Understanding of Time and Eternity

2.
God and the New Physics by Paul Davies – book review | Tim Radford | Science Book Club

PS: Davies is not a Christian and nether is the Guardian Christian friendly.

3.
What Happened Before the Big Bang?
The fifth-century theologian St. Augustine neatly solved the problem by proclaiming that the world was made with time and not in time. In other words, time itself is part of God's creation.

To make sense of Augustine's concept, it is necessary to place God outside of time altogether, and the notion of a timeless Deity became official church doctrine. However, it is not without its own difficulties. How can a timeless God be involved with temporal events in the universe, such as entering into human history through the Incarnation?

Today, religious people like to identify the creation with the Big Bang of scientific cosmology. So what can we say about the nature of time in the scientific picture?

Albert Einstein showed us that time and space are part of the physical world, just as much as matter and energy. Indeed, time can be manipulated in the laboratory. Dramatic time warps occur, for example, when subatomic particles are accelerated to near the speed of light. Black holes stretch time by an infinite amount. It is therefore wrong to think of time as simply "there," as a universal, eternal backdrop to existence. So a complete theory of the universe needs to explain not only how matter and energy came to exist, it must also explain the origin of time.

Happily, Einstein's theory of relativity is up to the job. It predicts a so-called "singularity" at which time abruptly starts. In the standard Big Bang scenario, time and space come into being spontaneously at such a singularity, along with matter.

In Christ, Pat

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Yes the Dead Sea Scrolls confirmed the historical pre existence of our Holy Book.
Jesus does not match the Jewish Messianic prophecies as the Messiah......and please don't post all the information that we Christians have that says He does...I've read it all.
Honestly He would match more to the Messianic prophecy if he wasn't born of a virgin, was not God but instead an extraordinary God created human AND He didn't require a second coming to finish the job.

Don't get me wrong, I believe Jesus is the Messiah, but.....

You don't sound convinced that there is evidence for God's Word. Believe whatever you like. If you lack faith that there are trust worthy evidences for God's Word, then that is a problem between you and God. Christians I know do not question evidence for God's Word. They support it. You want there to be 100% irrefutable evidence to convince everyone. There isn't any kind of evidence like that. All evidences that support God's Word still requires faith in God's Word on your part to truly believe and see. That is why it is called "faith." But when you piece together the evidences from many different categories, it keeps pointing to one conclusion. God and His Word are true. But dismissing Historical Evidence like the Dead Sea Scrolls out of hand just because they are not that convincing for you does not mean that they are not a convincing piece of evidence for other believers. So I would ask you kindly to not to act in such a way so as to cast doubt upon God's Word. For whose side are you on? Christians are supposed to build up the faith. They are not supposed to tear it down.


...

 

[Bible Highlighter]

Did Paul not say?......Romans 5:20
Do you not believe that God's grace can work boundlessly outside of the confines of Christianity?
Believing in one God, automatically includes Jesus, there is no plurality in God. We worship God, not Gods.

The Lord our God is one God.
But God exists as a Trinity, though (i.e. The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost).


...