An unanswerable question

[Lek]

While I appreciate the answer, and accept that is why you believe the bible, I can't help but note that you've jumped ship from your earlier criterion of personal revelation confirming God's mandates. I'm sure you know there are others who would say the bible fails on all those accounts. Are you saying that in the case of the bible you've had personal revelation attesting to its verity, or are you engaged in special pleading by using a different standard to evaluate the mandates in the bible. It seems a bit unfair of you to demand archaeology and prophecy of David Koresh or L. Ron Hubbard meet the same standard, even if the bible meets it.

So why do you use different standards to evaluate contemporary proclamations from historical ones? And I'm sure that you can understand that the Hindus and the Muslims make similar claims. The Koran is inspired and miraculous. The Vedas are the timeless wisdom of rishis supported by archaeology showing ancient civilizations going back thousands of years. So why is the bible special such that a) it gets its own criterion for belief, and b) that the criterion applied to believing the bible are not equally applied to other religious texts with similar claims?

I didn't change my criteria for revelation from God. There is direct revelation, but normally he reveals himself in less outward ways. Probably the most common revelation comes from reading of his word. I've struggled for years concerning the validity of the bible and still have doubts from time to time but I always come back to God. I don't know how it works exactly. I always have believed that God is drawing me. He said in scripture that he would never leave us or desert us. We can leave him, but as long as we're seeking him he won't leave us. As for other holy books, I don't see the evidence supporting their validity. Other books such as the Koran or Book of Morman are said to be revealed by direct revelations from God, but the facts don't bear them out. The bible is a collection of many books, written by different authors over 1,500 years, which remain true to the unfolding historical events leading up to and following Jesus' birth. This is my opinion.