Well, I'll just use the Quran as an example because I'm most familiar with it, and because it's the most recent of the principal scriptures.
It exists today, word for word, in the original Arabic in which it was either "revealed" or written by someone. The life of Muhammad is the most well-documented of all the prophetic figures; there are several extremely detailed biographies, written by impartial, non-Muslim authors. The most important point is that he was illiterate, being able to neither read nor write. It is impossible for him to have written the extremely poetic verses. Hundreds of firsthand accounts from the period corroborate his character, his illiteracy, and that he was the source of the verses. He left behind children and a bloodline; many still claim that they can trace their genealogy back to him.
So his existence is irrefutable. His character, at least in public, once you read the unanimously praising accounts (even secular ones) of his life, is beyond doubt as well. The only question left is whether or not a man whose character and honesty shaped and transformed an entire region and sparked an empire was lying about being a messenger of god.
|