Why believe in the Bible?
There is no 'Bible'. The word is used to describe a collection of writings. Different groups have different collections.
OT writings are credible if they have the security feature that Paul called 'the mystery hidden from the beginning'. The security feature might even be called a proof for God. It locks in the text so securely that changes to the text, or addition of text would be discernible.
The NT writings were collected together because the churches had been using them for hundreds of years individually as actual writings of the apostles or those close to them, such that they contain the teaching of the apostles. They are credible because they are dependent upon the mystery of the OT. NT & OT are interlocked.
The invisible God speaks to men through the writings in a verifiable and reproducible way. He first 'knocks' then verifies, then speaks to you.
God knocks by establishing a pattern in the writings. For example, there is a long string of barren women who cannot have a child, but then has one with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
Then he visibly establishes the pattern in Christ. In this case, the Virgin birth.
Finally he speaks to you: Like the desolate woman, you are not fruitful without the Spirit. He gives you the fruit of the Spirit. And like the child, you are born of the Spirit when you are born again. These teachings are validated in the NT.
The pattern is established in the ideas linked by words and actions. Many can be done in English. Many more can be done in Hebrew using puns and word formations.
The human authors had no knowledge of the cross, yet it is the central theme and most common trope of the hidden layer. God wants to be known, and the cross is the culmination of the mystery teaching of the OT.
