"But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you." "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven." Luke 6:27,28,37
"By the sky and the Night-Comer- What will explain to you what the Night-Comer is? The piercing star- there is a watcher over every soul. ... They plot and scheme, but so do I: [Prophet], let the disbelievers be, let them be for a while." The Holy Qur'an, from The Night-comer
I do not believe in The Bible because an authority tells me to. I believe in The Bible because it says things like this, and because it offers difficult solutions to life's most difficult problems. I believe in the Qur'an because it says things like this.
Don't believe because an authority tells you to believe. Look for the wisdom, and believe in that. If you go looking for wisdom in any of the great holy books, The Bible, the Buddhist scriptures, any of them, if you go looking for wisdom in them then you will find it.
And in your moments of doubt, read Ecclesiastes, because Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes specifically for our moments of doubt.
God loves all of you, including all you doubters, and He sent Solomon to write Ecclesiastes specifically for you!
One more thing: in the English language, for The Bible, look for a King James translation. Most of the Bible is complex, difficult answers to difficult situations, and the complex ideas need the complex literary language of the King James translation. The simplified language of modern translations simply cannot hold many of the ideas of The Bible.
This is probably a good idea with any translation of a sacred work: you are probably less likely to go wrong with a translation into complex literary language.
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson