I grew up in a Christian family and in church and could see the difference in my family and in other church members compared to friends families that were not active in church. For that matter, I could see a difference in the happiness level of people in the church who really seemed to try to apply the concepts and those who were kind of marginal members.
I started praying at a young age and have seen a lot of answered prayers. Sure, some of them can be passed off as coincidence, but they add up. The totality of the evidence is awesome. And some answered prayers just can't be passed off as circumstance.
I started reading the Bible at a young age and came to realize that the standard the Bible holds up is the purest standard I've ever seen. That it's message is true and wise. That you can put it's concepts to test and see the effects.
I also became familiar with the prophecies contained in the Bible and realized that the Bible has a phenomenal track record. The prophecies can be time dated prior to fulfillment and are often quite specific. Some such as the prophesies about the return of Israel and descriptions of the last days can be seen to be lining up with modern day events.
What's more the Bible is kind of like a tapestry. You have this very clear logical thread. Moses being confirmed as a prophet by huge miracles before millions. Moses prophesying about future prophets and how to recognize them. Moses and the prophets all prophesying about Jesus, but in a way that it's kind of hard to put it all together until the picture is complete. But in addition everything else seems to come together despite having been written by so many different authors. It's like a intricate web in it's complexity.
It makes sense. It is reasonable that God would hold up a perfect standard of love and judge us by His expectation rather than grade us on a Bell curve. It is reasonable that He would condemn us for our failures to love. It's not reasonable that He would pay the price for us, but then love isn't reasonable and in the context of "God is Love", then it's understandable.
I have looked enough at other religions to realize they don't compare.
Christianity has the power to change lives. From my Grandfather who was an alcholic before accepting Jesus and for about 9 months after that. To countless people who live happier fuller lives because they have embraced the Lord. To myself who at 42 continues to learn things about myself that don't measure up from studying the Bible and ways to become a better person.
There's probably a lot of other reasons. But that's a pretty good start.
239 posted on 01/03/2005 8:39:21 PM PST by DannyTN