Best christian bible study guides according to redditors
We found 45 Reddit comments discussing the best christian bible study guides. We ranked the 23 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 45 Reddit comments discussing the best christian bible study guides. We ranked the 23 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Some other gems by the same Author Archaeology of the Bible: The Greatest Discoveries From Genesis to the Roman Era and from the preview...
>The Discovery in 2000 of fully finctional boats in egypt predating Old kingdom, which may shed light on the description of Noah's ark in Genesis.
So its highly dubious that book will contain any bits from respected and secular biblical scholarship, more likely its a compendium of BS facts from a very conservative Bible scholar.
Aside from Finklestein's book, there is Robert Price's Holy Fable: The Old Testament Unencumbered by Faith. Robert Price is a former evangelical minister-turned-atheist, but with a deep understanding of the bible. It is maybe a bit too skeptical, but it's still got a lot of good info.
In general:
The Torah / Pentateuch was written by (at least) 4 different sources, and compiled (much?) later. There's the Elohist, the Yahweist, the Deutoronomist, and the Priestly source. This explains why there are 2 different versions of a number of stories - for example, there are 2 creation stories; Noah is simultaneously the "only righteous man" God could find, and also a lazy drunk; there are two full sets of 10 commandments, only 3 of which overlap (so there are actually 17 commandments) etc. Someone (likely the Deutoronomist) compiled the book, and not wanting to risk being wrong, included multiple stories and tried to make them jive with one another.
Generally speaking, Moses is nearly universally agreed to have been a myth, along with Joshua. There is no archeological evidence that ancient Hebrews were ever in Egypt, or ever wandered in the desert for 40 years, although stories of Pharaoh may have come from a time when Egypt ruled the Levant (Moses is an Egyptian name, from the same root as Tutmose or Ramses).
The ancient Hebrews were, most evidence supports now, one of many Canaanite tribes, and happened to be the one that managed to stick around. They were also polytheistic for a very long time into their existence - a number of stories have been altered to whitewash this out. The 12 (13? 11 plus grandsons? sources are all over the place on this one) sons of Judah/Israel heading the 12 tribes of Israel are likely figureheads that were ret-conned into existence as more tribes joined with the Hebrews through conquest. Kind of like "Oh, well, we'll join you, we're probably related somewhere way back anyway!". There is also little to no evidence of an epic conquest of the holy land, a. la. Joshua, and many of the vast cities and huge fortresses referenced in the book of Joshua were, archaeology says, minor hamlets with hundreds or thousands of people at most.
There is very little evidence for the existence of David. There is an inscription on a very old (non-Israelite) stone tablet that may reference the "House of David" from several hundred years after David was supposed to have been around. I'm willing to concede that he may have existed, but he was likely a "chieftain" rather than a king. Almost all scholars agree that there was never a united kingdom of Israel and Judah. Jerusalem, at the time of David (10th century BCE), was a very small village or outpost, and there is also no evidence of a first (or Solomon's) temple. There is, however, ample evidence of a 2nd temple (which was greatly expanded by Herod near the BCE/CE switch).
1,2 Kings was written either during the Babylonian exile, or shortly after it. There are just too many anachronisms (bronze weapons, camels, etc) for it to have been written during the time of its subjects, and its subject matter (continued allegiance to Yahweh will bring you victory, breaking Yahweh's commandments will bring you strife) is clearly aimed at explaining circumstances to an Israelite population that has experienced lots of strife.*
1,2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah (originally all one work) looks to be a redaction and rewrite of 1,2 Kings in large part, but by the priestly source - who is working hard to clean up the image of certain people (David had Uriah killed? Nah, let's skip that. David's sons did bad things? Nix it. etc) at the same time that he's working to ret-con a place of prominence for priests of his tribe.
Anyway, skipping ahead to the New Testament, I would also recommend another extreme skeptic's book: Dr. Richard Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus. Dr. Carrier's position is well outside the mainstream consensus, but there's no denying that A.) He is extremely well versed in his subject area, and B.) the mainstream consensus is very conservative, as it is made up of largely religious institutions and believers who all have a vested interest. So his book is good for contrast, and the truth is likely somewhere in the middle.
For starters, the earliest parts of the New Testament are the letters of Paul. Paul, for sure, wrote 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, and Romans 1-8. The rest are kind of up for grabs, with some possibly by Paul, and some certainly being forgeries and written as late as the 2nd or possibly even 3rd century. Paul's Jesus is very vague (as in, celestial, not earthly, and working through revelation), and Paul nearly goes out of his way to not talk about Jesus' earthly life - even in places where Jesus ostensibly talked about specific topics that would indisputably bolster Paul's arguments.
Next, we have Mark. Mark's gospel was written first, and Mark's Jesus is somewhat timid and understated. Mark also has little understanding of Galilean geography (the vast "Sea of Galilee" that witnesses such horrible storms is, in reality, a pond that you could kayak across in an hour, for example). Then, Matthew wrote his gospel, using Mark as a source, along with possibly the "Q" source, or possibly just adding things that he had heard or liked. Matthew's Jesus is a scholarly rabbi, and he talks of how Christians should keep the Jewish customs along with the new customs of Christ. Matthew also corrects Mark - a lot. Then, we have Luke, who uses Mark and possibly "Q" or possibly Matthew as his source. Luke's Jesus is the Gentile Jesus, who brings new rules and is for everyone, not just Jews. Those are the Synoptic gospels; then we get to John.
Oh, boy. John... is nuts. John's Jesus is large, in charge, and slinging miracles and witticisms in every direction. There's nothing about helping the poor or healing the sick, but there's a huge serving of hating the Jews. John also contains a number of Gnostic themes that have likely been toned down over the years - John's gospel is the one that is most obviously cut up and rearranged and altered. There's a lot of things like "And then Jesus did his first miracle. And then he did many other miracles. And then he did his second miracle", or Jesus teleporting, popping up all over Galilee, one place after another. But anyway, it’s likely that John’s gospel was so popular that it couldn’t be kept out of the New Testament, once the Council of Nicaea got around to picking which books got in, so it had to be altered in order to tone it down a bit.
The contents of Acts are impossible to square with the letters of Paul - Acts tells a story of the early church, huddled together, building outward, ministering to Galilee, growing larger in harmony. But Paul - Paul does not get along with the so-called fathers of the church in Jerusalem. We also know, partly from other sources, that the early church was very fractured, and only now looks harmonious because the winning faction got to poke and rewrite a lot of the history.
The rest of the New Testament was largely written in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, and can't have any relevant information to share about the life and times of Jesus, having been written several generations at least after the last person that could have ever met him had died.
Anyway, that's a more-or-less short version of some of the ins-and-outs of some major episodes of the Bible.
* Totally my aside: the concept of religious guilt, IMO, stems from here. In olden times, gods were like mascots - you moved to a new place, you adopt the local gods -
or, you get conquered, it must have been that their god was stronger, so why not jump on the winning bandwagon. The Deutoronomist, the likely source of the idea of the "covenant with god", introduces the idea that believing in a god is a two-way street. Believe enough, and do what he wants, and good things will happen -- but don't believe, or don't do what he wants, and now bad things happen, and it's kinda your fault. The aim was to keep the Hebrews from converting to Babylonian or other Canaanite gods.
Cue thousands of years of catholic guilt, etc.
When you say orthodoxy I assume this is Eastern Orthodoxy.
Before getting into the problems with Eastern Orthodoxy or the most compelling evidence for Reformed theology, let’s first understand what Christianity is.
I think the best place to start is the gospels. What are your daily habits like? Maybe read the Gospel of John, or re-read it, and try to understand what the author is saying in each passage and how he brings it together and what he’s trying to tell the audience, i.e. you. (John helpfully states his purpose in John 20:31, which is why it’s a good book to read both for those exploring the Christian faith and those who need to continue believing.)
The gospels contain the words and life of Jesus, and Jesus himself reiterates throughout John how important and life-giving his words are. Take the example of Martha and Mary, where Martha was working away and complains about how Mary doesn’t help her. Jesus says Mary chose the better option, by simply sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to him.
How, ultimately, are you going to settle on an answer to this? Not from Reddit answers, though they may be helpful and point you in the right direction, but from listening to Jesus himself! And Jesus’ words can be found in the gospels, and in the whole Bible. The Bible is a wonderful compilation of books written by many people over centuries for different contexts and audiences and purposes, but they all tell one unifying story of God acting through history to save his people, and all of it is God’s word. Prayer is just as vital, and we want to be asking God to help us listen to him in his word and understand him clearly, that he would change us through it and think deeply about what he’s telling us.
So I hope that introduces some foundations for our discussion. The centre of our faith is Jesus. And we’ll have greater clarity by knowing Jesus better. And how do we know Jesus better? Through his words, which we have in our Bibles.
The Reformed tradition upholds supremely the Bible as our means to hear God and know what he wants for us. I think this is absolutely right, and I think if we read the Bible itself we will get a similar impression from God of what he thinks of his Scriptures.
The Eastern Orthodox Church upholds the Scriptures, but also greatly treasures, to the point of being divinely inspired, Holy Tradition.
But how do we really know what ‘tradition’ is? Or what the right tradition is?
If there was only one Church claiming to be the original apostolic Church passed down through tradition this may help a little, but there are others. Most prominently of course is the Roman Catholic Church, which claims that Tradition and the early church fathers would actually uphold the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, over the rest of the bishops, and as such they are the true apostolic Church. This doesn’t even get started on all the other issues the early church fathers would disagree on.
We can easily get lost in the weeds here, and theologians and historians can argue over this forever... they’ve been doing it for centuries! How on earth are we meant to arrive at the right conclusion?
Well, let’s go back to the foundation of our discussion. Jesus. Listening to him in the Bible. What does he have to say? What does he think salvation is? Is it by trusting in him and his sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and nothing else? Are there good deeds involved to also merit our salvation? And what about all the things Orthodox Tradition introduced that have no explicit existence in Scripture? Should we pray to the saints?
I think the Bible has very clear answers. And we could go into those further if you’d like. But let’s try and clarify that the Bible is our go-to, and all traditions, including the Reformed one, can be helpful but will always be fallible and subservient to the authority of God’s very words.
I can go on and say Reformed theology has the biblical view of salvation - that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus by his grace alone, and the biblical view of God’s sovereignty, and the biblical view of how we relate to God.
But how are you going to test that? It’s easier said than done, but to keep going to the Bible and seeing what God has to say through the human authors of the text.
Some good resources (other than the Bible, and of course having no authority in themselves unlike the Bible, and should be tested by it!)
Dig Deeper by Nigel Beynon and Andrew Sach
https://www.amazon.com/Dig-Deeper-Tools-Understanding-Gods/dp/1581349718
The above is a really helpful toolkit to read the Bible for ourselves. It contains a number of different ‘tools’, like the ‘context’ tool, and other tools to understand and digest a text and unearth the treasures that God has for us in them.
Knowing God by J.I. Packer
https://www.amazon.com/Knowing-God-J-I-Packer/dp/083081650X
The above is an absolute classic that richly and clearly illustrates who God is and how we can know him.
God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Big-Picture-Tracing-Storyline/dp/0830853642
The above explains God’s incredible narrative throughout the entire Bible. Very helpful to understand what the Bible is all about.
Here is a good visual of Gerhardus Vos' two age eschatology:
http://learningandlivingtheword.com/documents/twoagemodel.pdf
Lots in this book as he outlines the development of God's kingdom through the Bible:
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Big-Picture-Tracing-Storyline/dp/0830853642
Here is the most compact summary of covenant theology I have come across:
https://imgur.com/a/YHEJb
Edit 1:
Here is a good one on Christ's Humiliation and Exaltation: http://apostles-creed.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/exaltation-humiliation-1024x617.gif
This one is okay - Its the work of the Triune God in salvation: http://apostles-creed.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/trinity-salvation-saving-grace-plan-1024x617.gif
Christ's threefold office: http://apostles-creed.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/prophet-priest-king-1024x617.gif
Some of the people who argue these ideas are scholars and aren't slouches (David Meade, James Dunn, Joel B Green, Richard Bauckham, Luke T Johnson, and a whole raft of German academics), so the parent comment is technically correct in reflecting a view from scholars.
Whether you think it's appropriate or right or legitimate is a secondary issue ;)
Edit: this is response to (A)
Try this combination of books. The first is fantastic in terms of notes, references, etc., and is complete for Eastern Orthodoxy but not for Ethiopian, and has some material that the Ethiopians don't consider. The second should fill in the gaps with Ethiopian material - I don't know how good this version is and would have to rely on the reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Orthodox-Study-Bible-Ancient-Christianity/dp/0718003594/
http://www.amazon.com/Apocrypha-Including-Books-Ethiopic-Bible/dp/1933580690/
There is one single version in English but it is expensive and gets poor reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Ethiopic-Containing-Testament-Apocrypha-considered/dp/B004R1BU3Y/
You might try following some of the links here to see if they can help, perhaps even contacting one of the Churches near you.
http://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/links.html
Directory - not sure how good it is.
http://www.eotc.faithweb.com/dire.html
These books helped me to get my bearings right when I look at a particular passage in the Bible. I now ask questions like, "Where is this passage in relation to the redemptive history?" and "How does this OT passage point to Jesus?"
also
http://www.moravian.org/faith-a-congregations/for-congregations/moravian-lectionary.html
http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/lectionaries.aspx
http://www.theafricanamericanlectionary.org/
http://www.amazon.com/An-Uncommon-Lectionary-Companion-Lectionaries/dp/0944344917
http://opensourcelectionary.com/lectionary-mods/narrative-lectionaries/
Saarinin
Patristics
N.T. Wright
You will find that Jude and 2 Peter are incredibly similar.
I did a short teaching on the two, and would be happy to send you the PDF of those notes too. Not too in depth, but perhaps worthwhile.
To increase your intellectual enjoyment, I recommend Robert M. Price's Holy Fable: The Old Testament Undistorted by Faith. It's a chapter-by-chapter commentary giving (skeptical) background and historical insights. You can keep that open in your Kindle and the Bible open in another window (I recommend the Blue Letter Bible for online reference), and go back and forth between them.
I'd recommend this book -- short SUPER easy read that helps explain the different genres in the Bible, and how the different pieces fit together.
This translation has the additional fragments, but I don't remember how the commentary was: https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Judas-Night-Iscariot/dp/1610973712
Hope this helps!
200 Proofs Earth is Not a Spinning Ball
https://www.amazon.com/Terra-Firma-Planet-Proved-Scripture/dp/1445507897
https://www.amazon.com/100-Proofs-That-Earth-Globe/dp/1523463317
https://www.amazon.com/Zetetic-Astronomy-Earth-Not-Globe/dp/1523612126
https://www.amazon.com/Zetetic-Cosmogony-Conclusive-Revolving-Stationary/dp/1534909184
https://www.amazon.com/Atlantean-Conspiracy-Final-Eric-Dubay/dp/1304634396
https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Heaven-Earth-Globe/dp/0986130540
https://www.amazon.com/Flat-Earth-Clues-Skys-Limit/dp/1523851430
https://www.amazon.com/Firmament-Vaulted-Earth-Zen-Garcia/dp/136507384
https://www.amazon.com/Babylon-Rising-updated-expanded-First/dp/1492170097
https://www.amazon.com/Genesis-Conspiracy-Societies-Descendants-Humankind/dp/1632692902
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Inception-Satans-Psyops-Armageddon/dp/0998142646
https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Torah-Book-Portions-Testament/dp/1492112097
https://www.amazon.com/Books-Enoch-Watchers-Extensive-Commentary/dp/1936533073
https://www.amazon.com/Zetetic-Astronomy-Earth-Globe-Forgotten/dp/1605064173
https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Beyond-Poles-Physical-Continuity/dp/0986130532
https://www.amazon.com/Greatest-Lie-Earth-Proof-Moving/dp/1943056013
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A nice cheap way to get a hold of these other books is through Edgar J. Goodspeed's translation of the Apocrypha. Goodspeed's translation is a bit older but it's still fine. You also get books like 1 and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manassah, which were often in copies of the Vulgate but seen by Catholics as non-canonical. Some Catholic Bibles now omit them for the exact same reason the Protestants omit the Apocrypha.
I'm not aware of any catechisms that are structured that way, but what you are describing is basically the difference between Systematic Theology and Biblical Theology.
If you want to get a good primer in Biblical Theology, there are several great sources out there.
The Goldsworthy Trilogy (Gospel and Kingdom, Gospel in Wisdom, Gospel in Revelation) by Graeme Goldsworthy
According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
God's Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts
What is Biblical Theology by James Hamilton
You might try The Rest of the Bible. I have a copy, but have yet to finish it. It's not the actual Scriptures, just outlines and highlights from them. An introduction to the Deutero-Canonical Scriptures.
I'm not sure I understand what you're asking, but institutions have utterly failed this particular discipline. It's terrible. I've known numerous people who turned to the academic press or, even worse, the Internet and heard reams of data with nothing helpful or even really true.
The thing(s) I've found most rewarding are, in order:
Actually (if prayerfully) believing Christ and doing what he says. I've had the most astonishing miracles happen in and around me following a foolish risk that I took because of believing what God said. The scroll of Jeremiah says that God promises to be found by people who earnestly seek him, and literally anyone can step on the gas anytime they want just by trying. (I don't mean this offensively or anything.)
Meaningful studies in substantial topics. Literally nothing approaches the value of knowing firsthand the supernatural authorship of the Bible. Saints learn this by walking with God; skeptics beat it out of others by arranging the "rules" to make its textual bases appear untrustworthy. God neither fears truth nor eschews knowledge.
Similarly, centuries of brilliant saints have made it their life's work (grammar) to condense the treasure of God's person and revelation into formats like daily devotions (Spurgeon), systematic theologies (Calvin), defining the impacts of the Gospel (Wesley?) or the figure of Christ in the Pentateuch (Henry Law.) Hymns frequently combine the best of the above; reading them (when the reality of them is present in your life) is like spending a day in the Louvre. A random page from any of them has more of Heaven's dew than a year of carnal erudition at the world's most prestigious colleges.
At the risk of sounding cliche, protestant theology is an awesome resource -- and shockingly scarce in the United States. The Canons of Dort is a short document that covers the entire subject without encumbrance.
People were designed to complement each other and find satisfaction in each other's community (not unlike the Trinity.) A decent body of genuine Christians (or even a handful) will tap the best of everyone's resources who all have different gifts and experiences. Think of what you're best at.... now imagine you had a team of experts who were that good in a dozen other areas where you could stand to benefit from that access.
I'm fairly decent with languages, so it really isn't much of a stretch to learn Hebrew and Greek for reading. There's only a few thousand different words between the two of them, and anyone can simply learn the alphabet (ideally from the title page in the dictionary in back of a concordance) and start from there. Not ideal, but cost-effective.
That said, your experience will obviously have shown you that a non-trivial difference among established English versions is quite rare. I'm a big fan of HCSB, and also NASB and NLT. The Living Bible is pretty great for those with the background to appreciate it, and others have their strengths. As you see, I like a sanguine read.
Denominations are a bit like martial arts: a good representative of a mediocre one is better than a poor one belonging to an outstanding tradition.
Google has blackballed a number of spiritual resources and topics. Go to a university library and browse the relevant resources, and you'd swear they came from a different universe.
I realize the above sound kind of... fringe. Well the first to state his case seems right, until another comes and questions him. There's no harm in being informed.
You may be interested in this. It is an adaptation of the Bible by a scholar who wanted to emphasize the literary aspects of the stories.
There's a slick online version
There's a decent looking print version
There's even a good, modern, Reformed Baptist version
> EDIT: Do you happen to mean The Atheist's Introduction to the New Testament?
I believe the book I'm thinking of is The Atheist's Bible Companion to the New Testament: A Comprehensive Guide to Christian Bible Contradictions, which I think was previously fully available online at http://www.atheistsbiblecompanion.com/ but that site now appears to be down.
I hope it's archived somewhere; it was a really thorough run-through of the entire NT arranged by chapter and verse, and very convenient to have online.
A quote from a review highlights one of the merits of this work:
> In addition to the many contradictions, there are numerous examples of what I would call awkward juxtapositions, i.e., Bible verses which do not actually contradict each other, but when considered together create theological difficulties for the Christians. To cite one example: in Matthew 10:33 Jesus says that anyone who denies him before men will be denied by him before God. But Peter denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26:75), so will Peter be denied entrance into heaven? This is not exactly a contradiction, but certainly raises a difficult question for Christians to answer.
Yeah, the Bible is super intimidating. My girlfriend says it's like learning a new language. So kudos to you! Most of the time it's best to skip parts of it for later. You may want to invest in a short guide like this one (it's from a Catholic publisher but it's applicable to all types of Christians), or even a Sparknotes chart.
Happy reading! Be blessed by the Word.
>Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; Amen.
> There seems to be some marked differences between the God of the old testament and new testament.
There is a discipline called 'Biblical Theology', which shows that the Bible is one whole narrative with recurring themes throughout.
If you want to see how the Old and New Testaments fit together, this is a good direction to take.
If you'd like to explore this (which I think you should), here are some worthwhile starting resources:
If you feel that you want some more materials on this topic which are more in-depth, please let me know as I am happy to direct you to them.
Edit If you have a look at the Don Carson video series you'll notice in the top right corner a 'courses' button, which gives access to a large range of great teaching on many important topics. This includes foundational materials, doctrine, church history, practical issues and teaching on every book of the Bible. I heartily recommend all of the materials produced on this website. End Edit
Some other resources I'd like to direct you to are some free ebooks by R.C. Sproul on fundamental topics. Crucial Questions will help you navigate through 28 important topics and help you get a good foundation.
>suggest a (roughly) two-month reading plan to get through the Old Testament? Ie, how much to read per day, in what order to read the books
I'd suggest reading one whole book at a go, i.e. finish reading Genesis either in one sitting, or in a few sittings. The Old Testament is such that you need the big picture before you can fully understand each part.
>recommend extra-biblical resources to help me understand the OT? I know the [1] Rose Book is a good one, any others?
I'd suggest two books. Graeme Goldsworthy's Gospel and Kingdom and Vaughn Roberts' God's Big Picture. Those two are very short and easy to understand books. These two books help you understand that the role of the OT is to point to Jesus, and gives you a very quick big picture and central message of the OT and thus the whole Bible. I'd highly recommend them first before you start your OT reading.
>give general advice/tips on how to make the reading time most productive/effective and not cause me to burn out?
Read the OT narratives as stories, rather than trying to do a Bible study on them every single time. You can do your bible study after you have finished reading it. :) Secondly, when reading wisdom books or prophecies, keep in mind the timeline of Israel and when it is written and the history behind it. It will illuminate the prophets for you, otherwise they'll be a mystery to you.
It's okay if you feel confused about which version to read. Christianity is very diverse. On top of that, there are dozens and dozens of English Bible translations of varying quality. The NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) is the kind you'd commonly see in a classroom setting, so I will start with that one. The Access Bible (NRSV) is a beginner's academic study Bible designed for undergrad college students, and I think it's quite good.
For something simpler, there is the CEB Navigation Bible, designed for people completely new to the Bible. The CEB (Common English Bible) is a newer translation that is designed for a simpler reading level.
A simple abridged version of the Bible is The Story. It's in the NIV (New International Version), by far one of the most popular English translations, and feels somewhere between the CEB and NRSV in reading level. The Story shortens the Bible and divides it into chapters like a novel to covers key events of the biblical narrative.
In terms of companion books - The Abingdon Introduction to the Bible is good for a beginner. And so is A Reader's Guide to the Bible.
An online resource that I like quite a bit is Enter the Bible, which was created by scholars for students. In terms of material it would be most similar to the Access Bible because it tries to distill academic insights for students. https://www.enterthebible.org/
The Apocrypha
https://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/proof-that-god-exists-faq.htm
https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Big-Picture-Tracing-Storyline/dp/0830853642
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/january/32.62.html
https://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/historical-and-scientific-proof-of-jesus-faq.htm
4 of my favorites. Jesus is probably the biggest factor for me. We all know Muhammed existed, but no proof of his prophethood. But for Jesus, the apostles continued their work after his "death". For me that is the largest proving factor.
And trust me, I know when someone is flaming and someone is not and i appreciate you for wanting to start an actual conversation