Why believe the bible?

[SteveII]

The best thing I've heard recently (from this forum, sorry, can't remember who said it) is that the Bible can either be the claim or the evidence. It can't be both otherwise you rely on circular logic. I've started using that one recently and the theists don't know how to respond.

If it's evidence then we can evaluate it along with all the other evidence and discard most of it as being inconsistent with what we know.

If it's a claim then as in the OP, what evidence is there to back it up? As far as I can tell, there is barely anything. Again, we can discard it.

I'll discuss the NT since it is the newest and most-studied part of the Bible and it contains all the information that you object to. 

Three points on the New Testament not being the claim:

1. The claim is that the events outlined in the gospels really happened--one in particular: that Jesus Christ, the son of God, came to earth to redeem humanity and provide a way for people to have a relationship with God.
2. The gospels and Acts catalog the claim. The balance are letters discussing and applying the claim.
3. The NT consists of 27 different documents written over 50 years time (give or take) by at least nine authors containing no less than 55 major doctrines and 180 doctrinal concepts centered on one figure – Jesus Christ. It's a little bit of an understatement to describe such a diverse collection of palaeographical gold as if it were one thing: the claim.

Evidence for this claim are the authors/documents themselves and the people and events surrounding the life of Jesus that the authors wrote about. It is not as if the gospel writers wrote an essay on what people were saying and gave no opinion on the facts. They were testifying to its truthfulness (as evidenced by their own experience or by interviewing eyewitnesses as they wrote it).

There, your dilemma is broken. The books themselves are the evidence and they individually catalog the same set of claims.  Of course there is more evidence that just the books. 

What do you mean by "discard most of it as being inconsistent with what we know"?

Here's a list of evidence. Respond to that post.