You can't make this stuff up...

No one post could cover all the reasons I believe the Bible to be true. But one that stands out is the 'reality test.' Leave the miracles aside for the moment. The characters in the Bible are real human beings, not cleaned up role models made of marble. God didn't create a special race of near-perfect people to do His bidding; in fact, those who sought Him most often had the biggest flaws. Moses, the leader of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, doesn't get to live there because his temper got the better of him yet again. King David, the 'man after God's own heart,' the slayer of Goliath...and an adulterer and murderer. Peter, who said he would follow Christ to death if need be...then ran on the night of His arrest and denied even knowing him--three times.

If the Bible were a P.R. campaign for a new religion, it sure has a funny way of creating heroes. Of course, that's not what it is at all. The "Good News" is what God did, through Christ, so that even the most flawed of us have the opportunity to have things set right. One of the most encouraging things about the Bible is that even in our darkest moments, when we think we've flubbed it for good, we can see that we're in the company of giants--if we put the matter in God's hands, as they each did. What the heroes of the faith--past and present--have in common is a realization that left to ourselves, we are literally damnable people. When we choose to follow Christ, He does more than issue a 'get out of jail free' card. Like a master mechanic, he returns to His creation to clear away the grime and gunk, adjust the timing, and restore the alignments so that we run the way He intended. If we continue to go to him, Life becomes high performance. Just don't skip the regular maintenance!