I was raised Adventist all my life and have always believed what I was taught. Recently I have questioned more things about my beliefs as a Christian, including is there really a God, and how do we know the Bible is true. After considering the world, and the way everything works together, I believe there is undeniably a creator.

But I still have problems with the Bible. There are many remarkable things about the Bible. But how do we KNOW it is true and from God. I have been led wrong by believing people too many times. I need a way to see for myself without having to rely on what others say to see that the Bible is what we should believe. Does anyone have an answer for this?

Getting there:

I'm glad for you that you are willing to seek truth for yourself and not rely on others for your spiritual walk. I hope that you will see God bringing you step by step.

The question you ask is similar to those that I have heard much the last while: What IS truth? How do you know that the Bible is true?

The answer is that God is able to lead you into truth by His Holy Spirit. I posted a promise spoken by Jesus in another thread. It's John 7:17:



It is a positive, hope-filling promise given by Jesus Himself.

I have no doubt that HE will lead you because the tone of this post is sincere. The Holy Spirit IS the ONE to listen to ... not others. I think you are on the right path. He will guide you to all truth.

Doesn't the Bible teach in many places that the Holy Spirit often uses other Christians to communicate with us? When we reject what other Christians say or write, we may well be rejecting the very message the Holy Spirit is trying to impress on us.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ....

You're right ....

IT's a DUCK.

As a rule of thumb I personally ignore any religious theology that downplays evil. Most of the eastern religions are mixed with thaoism, the whole ying and yang philosophy. Don't trust anyone that trys to convince you that evil is a necessary natural part of life. Remember Jesus claimed evil was so bad that it would be better to cut off your arm than to be a thief. Jesus never downplayed evil, Buddhism and the other eastern religions clearly do.

When it comes to Islam once you study their theology, you will realize Islam is 80% built on the Bible but Muslims disagree with just about everything in the Bible, (and the Bible disagrees with them.) It is kinda hard to convince a person that they should not trust the Bible but they should trust the Koran that is built on the Bible.
I personally believe that if it wasn't for the Bible everyone would laugh at Muslims. Because Muhammad didn't even prophesy or claim to do miracles. There is absolutly no reason to just assume Islam makes any sense. Especially when Christianity is the more successful religion, social and economically. According to the Bible success is a sign of truthfullness and wisdom. When you talk to Muslims they go on and on about how Christians don't follow the Bible and that it was distorted. Even though the New Testament has a greater chain of evidence in manuscript form than the Koran. And most Muslims don't follow the Koran they follow Islamic traditions like the Sharia. Most of what you think of when you hear the word Muslim has nothing to do with the Koran. This is funny to me because the main argument of Islam is that God was mad because the Jews and the Christians ignored him so he gave the "truth" to the Muslims, except one problem the Muslims don't even follow the Koran, lol. And Muslims teens in Iran and Saudi Arabia don't bother waiting till they are married. Muslim theology would only make sense if there was some proof that Islam was wiser, more realistic and honest than Christianity. To explain futher if an Adventist wanted to prove that their religion was "wise" they may refer to their lifespan or something.

?????

I agree with you here, except that taoism and yin and yang have not only do with good and evil but with things like balance and seasons, etc. But you are perfectly right that to the extent that these ideas teach or cause people to believe that evil is an essential part of the way God made the universe, it is wrong.

Of course the people who developed those philosophies did not have the benefit of God's special revelation, so all they were going by is human reasoning, and human reasoning alone would indicate that the concept of yin and yang is true.



There is no evidence in the manuscripts that the Bible was distorted or changed in any significant way.

One thing that Muslims usually do not know is that Muhammad encouraged Muslims to go to Jews and Christians to learn about the Bible. The Koran itself does not support the idea that the Bible cannot be trusted to teach the truth. On the contrary, the Koran says that the Bible teaches the way of salvation. The notion that the Bible was distorted centuries after it was originally written is an invention of people who want to avoid it, and they have no manuscript basis for saying it.

Seems like a reasonable response.