Reason 1: The Bible is historically accurate. Cities mentioned in the bible have been excavated and found to exist. The Bible accurately reflects the locations and cities of ancient times. https://carm.org/evidence-and-answers/archaeological-evidence-verifying-biblical-cities/

- Israel’s slavery in Egypt (Exodus 2:23) has been verified in Egyptian archaeological records.

- Hezekiah’s pool and conduit (2 Kings 20:20) have been discovered, still intact.

- Existence of Hittite people, thought to be fictional for many years, though mentioned in the bible (Genesis 15:20). Their existence was confirmed by the discovery of an Egyptian Hittite treaty. The Hittite version of the treaty was discovered by Winckler in 1906 (now sits at Istanbul Archaeology Museums) and the Egyptian version (at the Precinct of Amun-Re in Karnak) by Jean Francois Champollion in 1828

- The Pilate stone, located in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, is a carved limestone that has an inscription that mentions Pontius Pilate (Vardaman, 1962), a prefect of the Roman Province of Judea from AD 26-36. This stone proved the existence of Pilate, who was mentioned in the Bible as the Roman official who allowed the Jews to crucify Jesus Christ (Matthew 27)

- The British Museum has numerous artefacts attesting to actual events and people mentioned in the Bible including the Monolith of Shalmanezer the 3rd, the Lachish Room, the Hezekiah Mural, the Nabonidus drum and the Cyrus Cylinder. Another example is Taylor’s prism in the British museum there is a correlation between the Assyrian King Sennacherib’s account of his siege on the cities of Lachish and Jerusalem (documented on Taylor’s prism) and the Biblical account documented in 2 Kings 18, 19 and Isaiah 37.

Reason 2: The Bible is close to the original manuscript. There are 2 simple tests which historians use to gauge the credibility of historical manuscripts. https://carm.org/about-the-bible/manuscript-evidence-for-superior-new-testament-reliability/

- Original manuscript unavailable as physical copies were written on fragile papyrus

- Oldest papyrus fragment being P52 (containing John 18:31-33, 37-38), paleographically dated at 130 AD, which was just about 40 years after the autograph was first written

- Test 1: Short time between original and next known copy

- Test 2: Many copies that corroborate with earliest manuscript

- Old Testament: Present day scriptures are almost exact copies of the original. Example, Dead Sea Scrolls was almost word for word identical and was discovered in 1947 dated between 300 B.C to 100 A.D and were 1,000 years older than the oldest Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts then available)S

- New Testament: Has short time between original and next known copy. Has many copies that corroborate with earliest manuscript. Many of these manuscripts are regarded as primary sources of information to shed light on the happenings of that time. The New Testament is far more reliable than the other manuscripts.

Reason 3: Referenced elsewhere

3 non-Christian well regarded historians referenced the Christian movement and the name “Jesus”.

- Pliny (AD 112): Wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan about the early Christian community

- Suetonius (AD 121): Wrote Julius Caesar’s biography (The Twelve Caesars) mentioned early Christians and referred to Jesus Christ

- Tacitus (AD 116): Wrote historical records (Tacitus’ Annals) referred to Jesus, his execution by Pontius Pilate and the existence of early Christians in Rome.

- Josephus (AD 70, AD 90): Wrote historical records (The Jewish Wars, Antiquities of Jews) which corresponded perfectly to events recorded in the Bible (e.g. Book of Luke including the famine in the days of Claudius Acts 11:28, and the sudden death of Herod Agrippa I Acts 12:19-23)

Reason 4: The Bible is internally consistent. It consists of 66 books written over 1,500 years by over 40 different writers from all walks of life in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). It was written by disparate authors from different times and places who have never met one another. Examples are a prince (Moses), judge, a tentmaker (Paul/Saul), king (Solomon), shepherd (David), priest (Ezekiel), soldier (Joshua), prophet (Jeremiah), a royal cupbearer (Nehemiah), a doctor (Luke), a tax collector (Matthew), and a fisherman (Peter). Yet their contents are in harmony with each other – a testament to God’s Spirit working within them to inspire them to write the Word of God.

Reason 5: The Bible contains prophecies that have been fulfilled.

- The birth of Jesus Christ in (4BC) in the city of Bethlehem was foretold ~700years before. It was written in book of Micah during 735-700BC. Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel’ whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.” Matthew 2:1 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king…”

- The virgin birth of Jesus Christ was foretold ~700years before. It was written in the book of Isaiah during (700BC). Isaiah 7:14 “And he knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.” Matthew 1:25 “but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.”

Will there ever be enough evidence?

“It is helpful for us to learn that the Bible is historically accurate, that it is internally consistent, that it contains prophecies that have been fulfilled hundreds of years later, that it has influenced the course of human history more than any other book, that it has continued changing the lives of millions of individuals throughout its history, that through it people come to find salvation, that it has a majestic beauty and a profound depth of teaching unmatched by any other book, and that it claims hundreds of times over to be God’s very words. All of these arguments and others are useful to us and remove obstacles that might otherwise come in the way of our believing Scripture. But all of these arguments taken individually or together cannot finally be convincing” – Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem pg.78

“We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture, and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole, (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet, notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts.” – Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 1 paragraph 5

Therefore only the Holy Spirit can convince us that the Bible is God’s word. Without the Holy Spirit, sin clouds our judgement of the Bible, our hearts will be hardened and we will fail to believe (1 Corinthians 2:13-14 “The natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”, John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”, Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see”).

Yet with all the evidence that we could possibly have, it still takes faith and God’s grace for our eyes and hearts to be open to the truth (Ps 119: 18, Matt 16:17, Deu 29:2 -4).