well, i think this very reason is why we need apologetics, the back bone, or the argument for the bible. that makes a defence and assurance that we are in the truth.
i understand that it is about faith, but not blind faith. faith comes from hearing...faith comes from knowlegde, knowing. by knowing you are in the truth, that is where your true and unshakable faith comes from. blind faith without foundation will get you to heavon, but maybe not anyone else and it not always be strong enough to withstand the areguments of this days athiests or agnostics or diffrent religions.
peter said we are to always have and answer to any question asked us. we should not say "well i dont know...but i beleive it anyway." maybe that works for you, but it doesnt that help anyone else. and it makes you look like a blind fool to the world.
it makes christianity look so stupid, when atheists attack you, and all you can say is "well......i still beleive". thats what all other religions say, if ours is the one true one, we should be able to show why.
just some general apologetics to encourage you.
first of all,
1.the bible is in complete unity with all science and history.
modern telescopes have disproved every theory of astronomy of the past, but not yet any of the bible. this has silenced critics in this field. the bible story of creation is in complete unity with geology. Geologits from Yale, Princeton, Harvard agree to this fact.
one says "creation as is given in Genesis is faultless" another "the more the leaves of the earth are turned, the more they show the old book, the bible is true".
800 scientists of Great Britian sighned this statement, recorded in the bodelian library, Oxford England.
"We, the undersighned, students of the Natural sciences, desire to express our sincere regret that researchers into scientific truth are perverted by some in our own time into occasion for casting doubt upon the truth and authenticity of the holyscriptures. We concieve that is impossible for the word of God written in the book of nature, and Gods word written in holyscripture, to contradict one another....."
2.the bible was written by many diffrent men, some who knew nothing about each other, yet they never once contradicted each other, they were in complete unity with each other, surely a divine work.
it was written by over 40 diffrent authors, had 60 diffrent books, over the course of 1,800 years. and though sometimes knew nothing of each other, yet they had one theme "redemption by jesus christ".it must be divine.
3.jesus fullfilled prophecy, to the extent that no man could naturally do. there hundreds of prophecies spoken of centuries before fullfillment, this could not have been done by man.
4.jesus prophecied and it came to pass as is shown in history, a clear undeniable fact showing the divinity of the word of god, and jesus was divine.
5.the bible was written by good men, not liars, becuase many of these men told of their own faults and sins, evil men would not have done so. the bible condemns all sin, something no evil man would do. the bible had to be written by good men.
6.many of the earliest followers and authors of the bible died for their beleif, it was not a lie they simply wanted people to beleive, they themselves followed it to the death. liars do not die for a lie.
7.the bible we have is the true bible, becuase we have direct copies of some of the very earliest translations and documents. and the men who actually watched jesus and knew him personally, were still alive when the bible was being translated, those people would have known if it was being changed, if it was no longer the true story, and not have stood for it.
8.we have a volume of books you can buy called the "ante nicene fathers"
it is a collection of writings from some of the very earliest church fathers or leaders, within only years after jesus' death.
these men quote enough scripture in there writings, that even if our bible was completely wiped off the face of the earth, we could use their writings and re-wright the entire thing except for 11 scriptures.
we know we have the true bible, the same one used by the very earliest churches.
9. without a divine, supernatural, creating person, there is no answer to our existence, becuase matter is not self creating.
nothing can create itself, and nothing but a god could have always existed, there had to be a creator, there has to be a god. or nothing could exist.
10. the preservation of the bible proves its divinity.
no other book has gone through the conflict the bible has. whole kingdoms and religions have tried to destroy the bible, but it has weathered every storm, and still exists long after its enemies had passed away.
John lea wrote the book "the greatest book in the world" in 1929
and in his book he tells of a french king who proposed a new wave of persecution agaisnt the church to totally wipe it out. but a wise counserler and general spoke and said
"sire, the church of God, is an anvil that has worn out many hammers".
Voltiar boldly prophesed that within 100 hundred years the bible would be forgotten. but now, more than 100 years later, his own house where he made that statement from, now has stacks of thousands of bibles, and from that house thousands are distibuted anually.
11. the greatness of those who accept the bible prove it is more than an ordinary human product. webster said "great authorities are great arguments"
it was confirmed by great men such as.
George Washingon.
Thomas Jefferson.
John Quincy Adams.
Andew Jackson.
Zachary Taylor.
Abraham Lincoln.
W.E.Gladstone.
Theodore Roosevelt.
Woodrow Wilson.
Herbert Hoover.
John Adams.
Ulysses S. Grant.
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Queen Victoria.
Kaiser Wilhelm.
John Bacon.
Napoleon Bonaparte.
William Cullen Bryant.
Mark Twain.
Samuel Colgate.
Alexander Cruden.
Benjamin Franklin.
Alexander Hamilton.
Alfred Tennyson.
Daniel Webster.
i could produce quotes from each person to prove that each of them truely did beleive the bible but i didnt have the time or energy to type it all.
people say that only fools would beleive the bible, aparently not.
well,
i hope i have helped to increase your faith in the word of God.