The Evidence Room · The Reading Room
The Bible itself
Who decided what goes in it, does it contradict itself, and what is faith actually supposed to be?
The questions this room answers
Doesn't the Bible contradict itself?
Most of the famous cases are differences rather than contradictions, and the standard tools for reading ancient documents dissolve them honestly. But a few genuinely remain open, and this page names them instead of smoothing them.
ManuscriptThe numbersThe textThe record7 steps · 5objections answered · strong confidence
Who decided what goes in the Bible?
No council invented the list. The story is churches across the Roman world converging over three centuries on books they were already reading, and the paperwork survives so you can watch it happen.
The recordManuscript6 steps · 4objections answered · high confidence
What about God commanding the killing of the Canaanites?
This is the hardest thing in the Bible, several of the standard responses have real evidence behind them, and none of them makes the texts comfortable. A page that leaves you at ease here has not been honest with you.
The textThe recordManuscript6 steps · 4objections answered · debated confidence
Isn't faith just believing things without evidence?
Not in the Bible's own vocabulary: the Hebrew and Greek words behind faith mean trust based on a track record, the same thing you mean when you say you have faith in a friend, and the New Testament repeatedly stakes itself on claims that could have been checked and could have failed.
ManuscriptThe textWitness7 steps · 5objections answered · strong confidence