OK, well I'll first respond to your first 2 questions, which I think will require some clarification from you before I move on...since I found myself unable to really answer what you asked...
This question is difficult, because it is at the core of my faith – sola scriptura: I know that I can be clouded by emotion & prone to drifting, and this is why my “anchor” is in the Bible, because it is the unchanging word of God I can always depend on & go back to. When I made the decision to follow Christ personally, and make it not just something my parents did, it was because faith & the existence of God was real in an almost tangible way, similar (in some ways) to how I can know that gravity exists: by experiencing it. I found that what I was experiencing was consistent with the God & gospel message of the Bible. Further, I found the historical confirmation & reliability of what was recorded in the Bible to be compelling.
All that being said, I suppose that if there was solid evidence of fabrication &/or deception by the authors, I would find it necessary to give it serious thought, for that would indicate an apparent contradiction between my faith & scripture. But I can't imagine what that would even look like...I'm quite sure that the “facts” of especially the New Testament are considered historical fact...Jesus Christ was born, claimed to be the Son of God & only way for salvation, was crucified, and was reported to have been seen by hundreds. The events that followed validated those reports: there is no other explanation for the transformation of his followers from scattered & dejected to unified & emboldened, willing to be killed (and many were) in order to spread the message of salvation through Christ. So I'm not really sure how else to answer this question.
Again, I'm not really sure how to answer this, as there is no room for contradictory absolute truths – the Bible makes it very clear that there is only one way to God: having the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which was purchased/created at the Cross, and applied to us by faith when we become born again & believe. I will admit that there have been times when I've entertained doubts regarding the existence of God in general, at times when God seemed distant & life seemed to be going nowhere – but every time I've been “pulled back” and again more fully experienced this relationship with God, which always comes as a result of God changing my heart to cause me to again desire to seek him, and again turn away from the sin that I had let in to my life.
The truth is: I simply love God, and it doesn't seem there is anything that could cause me to turn away from him... I'd have to be convinced that I was delusional, and that there was fabrication &/or deception from the very beginning of the church, and see evidence that the Old Testament really was written after Christ or evidence that Christ didn't actually fulfill these prophecies (but I'm pretty sure that it's historical fact that the OT & its prophecies were written long before, and I think many of the fulfillment are verifiable )
So I really didn't answer this question at all, but rather it seems I just elaborated more on the first question. Can you clarify more, especially what you are referring to by “all of these things” that some other text could claim?
What evidence would it take for me to doubt the veracity of the Bible?
This question is difficult, because it is at the core of my faith – sola scriptura: I know that I can be clouded by emotion & prone to drifting, and this is why my “anchor” is in the Bible, because it is the unchanging word of God I can always depend on & go back to. When I made the decision to follow Christ personally, and make it not just something my parents did, it was because faith & the existence of God was real in an almost tangible way, similar (in some ways) to how I can know that gravity exists: by experiencing it. I found that what I was experiencing was consistent with the God & gospel message of the Bible. Further, I found the historical confirmation & reliability of what was recorded in the Bible to be compelling.
All that being said, I suppose that if there was solid evidence of fabrication &/or deception by the authors, I would find it necessary to give it serious thought, for that would indicate an apparent contradiction between my faith & scripture. But I can't imagine what that would even look like...I'm quite sure that the “facts” of especially the New Testament are considered historical fact...Jesus Christ was born, claimed to be the Son of God & only way for salvation, was crucified, and was reported to have been seen by hundreds. The events that followed validated those reports: there is no other explanation for the transformation of his followers from scattered & dejected to unified & emboldened, willing to be killed (and many were) in order to spread the message of salvation through Christ. So I'm not really sure how else to answer this question.
If there were another text that could claim all of these things, would I believe it to be the inspired word of God?
Again, I'm not really sure how to answer this, as there is no room for contradictory absolute truths – the Bible makes it very clear that there is only one way to God: having the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which was purchased/created at the Cross, and applied to us by faith when we become born again & believe. I will admit that there have been times when I've entertained doubts regarding the existence of God in general, at times when God seemed distant & life seemed to be going nowhere – but every time I've been “pulled back” and again more fully experienced this relationship with God, which always comes as a result of God changing my heart to cause me to again desire to seek him, and again turn away from the sin that I had let in to my life.
The truth is: I simply love God, and it doesn't seem there is anything that could cause me to turn away from him... I'd have to be convinced that I was delusional, and that there was fabrication &/or deception from the very beginning of the church, and see evidence that the Old Testament really was written after Christ or evidence that Christ didn't actually fulfill these prophecies (but I'm pretty sure that it's historical fact that the OT & its prophecies were written long before, and I think many of the fulfillment are verifiable )
So I really didn't answer this question at all, but rather it seems I just elaborated more on the first question. Can you clarify more, especially what you are referring to by “all of these things” that some other text could claim?
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