before you cite scriptures, you should show how the scriptures are authentic in the first place, lest they may fall on deaf ears :-p

It doesn't matter if they can be shown to be authentic or not. Those who choose not to believe will stick with that choice no matter what evidence to the authenticity of the scripture cited is. They have hardened their hearts to the Holy Spirit, and no amount of talk or convincing will change that.

2 Timothy 3

[16] All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

Romans 1

[18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
[19] Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
[20] For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
[21] Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
[22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

 I'm sorry, I have to disagree with you. You can't expect people to *just believe* and not have any evidence of a scripture's validity. Now there's the whole issue of "pearls before swine" for people who have already made up their minds, but what if there was someone who was still on fence?

 If the Bible turns out to be forgery, then people would not want to believe it.

 However, if the Bible stands the test of scrutiny and does hold authentic, then it should be faith strengthening, to say the least.

 Luke 21

[33] Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

Jesus put it best in his discussion with Nicodemus: If you cannot believe me when I speak of earthly things, how then will you believe me when I speak of heavenly things? The truth is the Bible is the best historical record we have for the history of the jewish people. Its authenticity and accuracy has been verified countless times. This is just on the basis of Earthly things. And people still deny it, even in the face of the evidence shown right under their noses. How then, will they trust the Bible when it speaks of Heavenly things?

Edit:  I think we got our wires crossed.  I wasn't saying you didn't need evidence for its authenticity.  I was saying that there is evidence for its authenticity, but it doesn't matter to those who deny the Bible authority.

 i don't really want to chime in on this but... history is written by winners.  that includes that bible.  if christianity is not surviving as well as it is, the bible would be a historical relic.  there is a selection bias.  i don't want to be polarizing, just pointing out something that none of my christian friends ever realize, or, more likely, is willing want to realize.

To Ashadelo: I appreciate what you're doing, qouting scriptures and all, but i don't think this is a right time to be converting people to christianity, although it is a good thing, i guess. I think it would be best to focus on God and less on Christ for this topic.

To Lingyis:  Just about all history written by a certain civilization is baised, especially when in comes to war and conquest. From egyptian hieroglyphics the Hebrews were called a wicked evil race. From the Romans, the germanic tribes were called barbarians. From the 1500-1700s the Native Amercans were called savages. So yes history, even the hebrew histories of the bible, will have that sense of bias, but does that discredit the source of history? Not at all.

To the guy who talked about the religious wars: As long as there are men there will be wars. To blame religion on wars, well yeah they do cause wars, but if there were no religion there will still be wars happening all throughout  the earth just as there are now.

if history was about winners, then the Jewish people wouldn't have been recording their own enslavement to the Egyptians, the blatent errors of their own kings (David, Solomon, Ahab, Josiah, Zedekiah to name a few) and their capture and enslavement to the Assyrians, to the Babylonians, and then finally to the Romans.

The Bible had been completed by the time the Romans had "christianized" themselves around 400 CE or so.

And to scripture guy, its clear that you are very familiar with the scriptures, as you can quote them quite handily. What I had in mind was 1 John 4:1, which talks about testing every inspired expression, because there are a lot of false things out there.

There are a lot of things to be discussed here-- however keep in mind that this thread is about the *existence* of God, and not about certain/perceived fallacies or hypocricies (sp?) of a certain religious teaching (though its not hard to point out a lot of hypocritical things in a lot of organized religions today)

No, it would just be relegated soley to its roll as a record of history.  Yes, history is written by the winners, but Biblical history basically stops it record 50 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, therefore it has nothing to do with how well christianity is surviving.  Its ancient history i'm talking about: pre roman conquest of the region and earlier, even back to the time of Abraham, historical facts and locations spoken of in the Bible have been verified in the real world (such as the locations of Sodom and Gamorrah)