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For those who have asked for sources of proof of God outside the Bible, please consider the follow:There is a general or universal revelation of God, accessible to all. Two possible sources of such revelation are: the natural world, and human experience.Various attempts have been made to prove the existence of God from observable facts of the natural world. Take a look at the world around you, and at the universe above you. Decide whether you think all this was created by chance or if there was a higher power behind it all. There is a lot of debate over this issue, but what do you believe in your heart? The Bible does not attempt to prove God's existence. However, it does on a number of occasions draw our attention to the wonder of creation and the way in which this witnesses to the glory and power of God. The problem is that sin has led to a darkening of our hearts so that we do not acknowledge our Creator. Other ways that we can know God are through spiritual experiences. Now these may not lead to God but can make us look beyond the natural world. Also throughout human history, religion has been a part of most - if not all - cultures. Again, these religions do not necessarily point to God but they do indicate a deep need within humans to find the Creator.General revelation is an inadequate way of knowing God, partly because the element of language is missing. We need language for relationship, especially where one of the partners is spirit. This is where the Bible comes in. The Bible is the Word of God. It is not just a work of humans, but is God-inspired. However, general revelation arouses human interest in the truth.So what makes Christianity different from other religions and why should we trust the Bible as the Word of God instead of any other religious text? The answer is simple - Jesus Christ. The way we respond to who Jesus is, what he came to earth to do, the meaning behind his death and resurrection, is what makes Christianity unique. Now, without getting into the Bible, what can be said about Jesus, was he a myth or was he real? There are various historical texts written by secular authors which indicate beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus existed. These include: Josephus (37 ?- 101? AD, Jewish historian), Tacitus (A.D. c.55-A.D. c.117, Roman historian),Thallus (circa AD 52), Pliny the Younger (around 112 AD), The Talmud, Lucian (Greek writer).For more details check out the following links:
http://www.carm.org/bible/extrabiblical_accounts.htm, and download talks by John Dickson at
http://johndickson.org/talksNone of these provide conclusive evidence about Jesus, but they certainly do show that he existed.There is also a lot of archaeological evidence verifying the existence of Biblical cities. For more information check out the following link:
http://www.carm.org/questions/evidence_archaeological.htmI may not have said everything as clearly as I wanted to but I hope this has helped answer some questions. If you would like more links to check out I can provide plenty more. Also for those that say there are heaps of contradictions there are heaps of websites that clear up most, if not all, of these "contradictions". See for example:
http://skepticsannotatedbiblerespons.blogspot.com/
It is true that there has been a god or gods in every culture of the world, but this does not prove the existence of a god or gods. Man by nature is superstitious, because man by nature wants to know answers. If a caveman thousands of years ago wanted to know why the sky is blue or why bad things happen to good people, the caveman would not know the answers. He would still want to know the answers, and so he would default to "The Great Juju on the Mountain" did it. The belief in a god or gods would also comfort this said caveman when his children were eaten by sabertooth tigers. Spiritual experiences do not prove anything to me, because they are so hard to confirm. People always talk about how they can just feel god when they pray, but that has never happened to me. I have prayed during times of fear and desperation with all of my heart, begging god to show me that he is there. I have neither felt nor seen him. All it would take for me to believe in him would be the tiniest hint from him that he was there, but I have gotten none no matter how long and hard I have prayed. Now, if he really does exist, wouldn't that mean I'm going to hell? Doesn't that make god kind of a meanie for not taking one second to show me he is there if it would save me? That is why spiritual experience does nothing for me.While the universe is indeed a wondrous place, it has been shown by science that it all could have been created naturally by evolution. Now, I know most of you think that evolution is a blind, random operation, but evolution is the exact opposite of random. The best traits for any particular organism survive, and the others do not. So on it goes through time, until the life form is (nearly) perfectly adapted for the environment. Now, but using the Law of Occam's Razor, would not the creation of life as proposed by science be more likely than the Intelligent Design proposed by creationists that has no observable proof?Jesus probably existed in one form or another, but the miracles attributed to him cannot be proven. Saying that Jesus makes Christianity different is like saying that Muhammad makes Islam different. But, back to the original purpose of this thread. Is there any observable proof to the existence of any creator whatsoever?