Quote Originally Posted by Oneironaut
Of course. The Bible can never change, because faith, unlike science, is incapable of admitting it was wrong. [...][edited for the sake of brevity]... And curing cancer with my hands would be pretty sweet too. All I have to do is convert to Christianity, huh?
I don't agree that, "Faith is absolute devotion to ideas that don't have any evidence for them," (as you said). Faith, bibilcally, is holding a belief so strongly that you are willing to hold it central to how you live your life. And you're allowed, in fact your're *encouraged*, to gather and examine evidence to strengthen your faith. I beleive Peter, in the Scriptures, asked people to go talk to those who claimed to have seen the Christ ressurected so they could judge their story for themselves. So I have no problem examining historical evidence that supports or harms my faith. In fact, I've only been encouraged to do that by Christian teachers, and the Bible itself. And it has only strengthened my faith.

I understand you've heard people of other faiths say the equivilent of, "If one starts practicing the teachings of [enter religion here] he will see the types of results it promises." That's why I would hold that experience I have had personally as the sole evidence for my faith... because that alone is not very strong evidence. I would just say that has encouraged my continued examination of Christianity, since that is one area in which it has held as true in my personal experience.

So my logic is not "circular" as you imply. I think it is wise, not "circular", for someone to examine if a particular set of religious principles have held true in the faith he practices. There are true principles that are a part of almost all religions. That is why I say that examining those principles should not be the sole basis for someone's faith. In my experience though, Christianity has the most truth, and Christ is in fact the way and the truth.

The signs you quoted Christ as refering to in the 1st century (healing the sick, et. al.) are signs he told his disciples they would see as they preached the gospel. And they are recorded in various Scriptures and pieces of history as having occured in the disciples view.

You seem to expect that you will also view those signs. I'm not sure that is going to be the case. He did not say that each and every sign would be practiced by each and every believer throughout time.

This is just my opinion, but I think one of the reasons God may not give us the "exact physical proof" we sometimes may ask for is because we would be held to a higher standard for our rejection of God given that proof. I think in the end there will be a lot of people thankful that God didn't give them the proof they asked for when they asked for it, because they now realize they would've continued rejecting Him. I know there have been times I have been so addicted to sin and had particular sins so engraved in my psyche (be it anger, lust, etc.) that even if I had proof of God I still would have hard times trying to avoid that which I knew was sin.

That is just my opinion. However, I do know this... God does have reasons for everything He does. If He does not answer someone's prayer for Him to physically show Himself to that person He does so with good reason.