> There is no shortage of evidence that he is real and acts in history.
I think it's clear from your response that you're not familiar with the broad apologetics topics I'm referring to. Tell you what, let me expand a bit, so you can see what some of the arguments are. These are the things I personally find persuasive.
The content and history of the Bible
- The Bible is completely unique among works of literature in its origin.
It was written over the course of 1500 years, by many different authors,
in three languages, on three continents, in times of war, peace,
famine, plenty, persecution, and exile. It was written by soldiers,
shepherds, statesmen, scholars, fishermen, kings, statesmen,
religious leaders, social outcasts, prisoners, and wealthy men. It
was compiled independently by several separate communities centuries
removed from the authors.
- It nonetheless tells a consistent, coherent story, and its message
develops consistently throughout. It is a serial, not an
anthology. That strikes me as pretty darn amazing. You try
to construct a serial out of famous works across multiple millenia,
continents, cultures, and walks of life.
- No one author or organization has ever even remotely controlled it.
The only one who could have written it is God.
- It is unique among works of scripture in being able to make
these claims. Other scriptures are the work of one author,
one culture, one time.
- In short, the Bible has credentials appropriate for supernatural
origin. If God *did* write a book, the Bible is a reasonable
candidate.
- The Bible is an ancient book, the most modern parts being about as
old as Aristotle. If you go back and read stuff from the era,
it sounds pretty foolish. I mean, you can see some interesting
early ideas, but we've learned a lot since then. What they say
seems silly and outdated. *But we're still talking about the
Bible.* Whoever wrote it had such an insight into humanity that
still find it relevant and insightful after two millenia.
Even with all the changes in culture and knowledge in between.
That seems like a feat worthy of God.
- The Bible contains well-known prophecies that can be validated
by history. Specific old testament prophecy about Jesus
preceded his appearance by several hundred years. (Even
if you assume the dead sea scrolls are the originals, they
still precede him by centuries). The book of Daniel
contains prophecies about later political events in Greece
that are so accurate that some scholars resort to
assuming they are backfilled from the time of Greece (but
this is inconsistent with any other dating for Daniel).
The formation of modern Israel as a state (in 1948) fulfills
old testament prophecy. The destruction of the temple in
70 AD fulfills Jesus' prophecy.
- The message of the new testament, the Gospel, is remarkable
in its effectiveness and adaptability to human circumstance.
Literally the same message that is effective for a
herdsman in Africa is satisfying to a scholar at Oxford.
Criminals, saints, retarded people, healthy people, smart
people, illiterate people, any people anywhere. Writing
such an egalitarian yet relevant plan of salvation is
an amazing feat. It is accessible to everyone, yet
no one is overqualified. It is comprehensible to
everyone, yet no one finds it trite or obvious.
- The Bible is remarkable in its historical accuracy, in
terms of the described geography, the times and founding
of nations, the names of kings, etc. In fact, the
historical elements are so accurate that they have been
used as a guide to locate dig sites in archeology. Yet
it goes from secular history to miraculous accounts
in one breath, the two being integrated in the stories
and hard to separate. It is hard to account for such
a mixture of highly accurate history with fantasy.
- The resurrection of Jesus is claimed to have taken place
well within the lifetimes of the gospel writers, yet
even hostile witnesses of the era write accounts
consistent with its occurance. This would have been an
immensely difficult message to propogate at the time,
akin to claiming now that John F. Kennedy had risen from
the dead. Moreover, the claimed support for the fact
does not take an authoriarian form, but references
local witnesses. (e.g., not "Paul says so", but
"Ask around, lots of people saw him." )
- The founding of Christianity took place in the midst of
powerful forces wishing to discredit it. As the
resurrection of Jesus was the central fact on which it
rested, it must not have been possible to disprove,
either by the Jewish (religious) authority or by the
Roman (state) authority. The heavily persecuted
church was in no position to perpetrate a fraud.
- The psychological activity of the early church is
consistent with people who believed Jesus had risen from
the dead, and is completely at odds with their own
recorded behavior after his death. They literally
went from scattered and demoralized to boldly inviting
death.
- The choice of Sunday as a day of worship is completely
unexpected for people of a Jewish background, and is
evidence of a major theological event occuring on
a Sunday.
- Eleven of the twelve apostles (founders of Christianity)
were killed for their faith. The twelfth served life
in prison. All of them went to their graves still
claiming the resurrection was a reality.
- Christianity as a religion was explosive at its founding
and is today practiced worldwide. Only two other religions
can make such a claim, both of which are closely related
to Christianity. Something happened thousands of years
ago, and everyone is *still* talking about it and reacting
to it. If God ever did act in history, that scale of
result is appropriate.
- The modern church is filled with people who will say
an encounter with Jesus changed their lives. Not just
spiritually; practically: reformed criminals, selfish
people who have become generous, crazy people who
have become sane, etc. Whatever else you can say
about the gospel, it clearly *works*. This sort of
impact is appropriate for God's central message.
- The modern chuch still experiences miracles and divine
intervention. (Controversial -- I reference my own
experience here.)
- Many famous heroes of history reference Christianity as
the source of their ideas. For example, church organizations
were central in the abolition of slavery.
- Many famous Christian apologists began as atheists who
became convinced of the truth of Christianity through
(initially hostile) study. G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis,
Lee Strobel, to begin with. In fact, I would say this
is more the rule than the exception. This flow of
immigration is appropriate for an intellectually sound
message.
- The more distantly one goes back in cosmic history,
the more remarkable are the coincidences that that make
human life possible. If this universe wasn't designed
for us, then there must be a HELL of a lot of other,
barren universes out there.
- "First Law" -- As natural laws are simply descriptions
of regularities in nature, they cannot indefinitely
explain themselves. The moon orbits because of gravity,
gravity is caused by something else, etc., but it cannot
be turtles all the way down.
- The laws of the universe are awfully beautiful, certainly
beyond anything we could write. If the universe was
designed, it certainly is the work of a superintelligence
of God's calibur.