Scenarios
- How can you believe an old book - where is the evidence for it being true?
One-liners
- Only from understanding its sources and its author.
In-brief
We can't really believe the Bible unless we accept the God who has chosen to reveal himself through it. But that seems to be a Catch22. In practice we might find an entry point - things that Jesus says - and if they make sense then see how he related to what we call the Old Testament. We can also see how the later writers of letters to the Churches match what Jesus said which gives them credibility.
The oldness should not be an issue - we might read Homer's Odyssey (a great adventure story BTW of a teenager trying to find his hero father who had not returned from the Trojan war) and realise that these people, though 2700 years ago, had the same emotions as us. We haven't changed and nor have the issues we face, save for a bit of cultural window dressing.
The Bible's varied content: history, creation-narrative, poetry, biography, letters, prophecy provide a rich texture of material that God has chosen to give us. He also confirms the core messages through his Spirit.
We sometimes can be too apologetic about God and feel we have to PR him - but it's for us to get our heads around the Bible, life, ourselves, in the light of him, not the other way round.
Scripture is not a book of suggestions. It is not a book of insights. It is a book of commands. John MacArthur
Shield verses
- All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
2 Tim 3:16 - For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Mt 5:18
Digging deeper 
