There is good evidence that God exists.

Point 1. The Biblical accounts are themselves historic documentation and therefore have historic merit in themselves. Let's remember that at the time these New testament documents were just a collection of letters sent to certain churches. 1 Corinthians: 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians by Paul the Apostle. The first eleven verses are the earliest account of theResurrection appearances of Jesus in the New Testament. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles." The antiquity of the creed has been located by most biblical scholars to no more than five years after Jesus' death, probably originating from the Jerusalem apostolic community. Concerning this creed, Campenhausen wrote, "This account meets all the demands of historical reliability that could possibly be made of such a text," whilst A. M. Hunter said, "The passage therefore preserves uniquely early and verifiable testimony. It meets every reasonable demand of historical reliability." source: http://en.wikipedia.org... 1.2 Roman Census Luke and Josephus may not be talking about the same event. or In Justin Martyr's Apology he writes Quirinius was a "procurator", not a governor of the area of Judea. As Gleason Archer writes, "In order to secure efficiency and dispatch, it may well have been that Augustus put Quirinius in charge of the census-enrollment in Syria between the close of Saturninus's administration and the beginning of Varus's term of service in 7 B.C. It was doubtless because of his competent handling of the 7 B.C. census that Augustus later put him in charge of the 7 A.D. census." Archer also says that Roman history records Quirinius leading the effort to quell rebels in that area at exactly that time, so such a political arrangement is not a stretch. If Quirinius did hold such a position, then we have no contradiction. The first census was taken during the time of Jesus birth, but Josephus' census would have come later. http://www.comereason.org... 1.3 "No competent historian will argue against the historicity of Jesus." - I agree that this is an appeal to authority. But it is worth noting that nearly every single competent historian agrees that Jesus was a historical figure. No one is disputing that. Let's move on" Point 2 Non biblical accounts of the crucifixion Why do you insist on historical accounts that are extra biblical? The historical accounts that were collected into the new testament were collected precisely because they were the earliest and most reliable accounts. Why would you ignore these accounts that date to within one generation of Jesus lifetime. never the less; 1.Josephus" born in AD 37 A.In antiquities 12, chapter 5, B.Antiquities 17: Book 10, 2.Ignatius d. 117 A. Ignatius (Epistle to the Ephesians, 16). 3.Justin Martyr"" 100 - 165 A.First Apology, 61, 4.Tertullian 160 - 220 A.Against Praxeas, 1). 5.Origen 185 - 254 Cyprian d. 258 7.John Chrysostom"" 347 - 407 8.Ambrose 337 - 397 (Two Books Concerning Repentance, 2:4:24, 2:4:26). 9.Augustine" 354 -" 430 (Expositions on the Psalms, 99:8) Augustine (On Christian Doctrine, 3:16:24) 10.Cyril of Alexandria""" 376 - 444 http://carm.org... I rest my case. Point 3 Jesus fulfilled over 400 prophecies set forth in the old testament books, a mathematical and statistical impossibility for anyone other than God himself. you said; "An alternative explanation is that the legend was created in such a way as to fulfill these prophecies." According to the Christian church, the four Gospels were written by the apostles and/or those under the direction of the apostles of Jesus. That means that they were written under direction of eyewitnesses of the actual events. Luke was written before Acts (Acts 1:1). The book of Acts is a history of the Christian church, which doesn't mention the fall of Jerusalem either, nor does it record the deaths of Paul, James, and Peter which all happened in the early 60's. This means that Acts was written at least by A.D. 62 and Luke was written before that. Therefore, the time between the events and the writings is around 30 years. This further means that eyewitnesses were around who could have corrected any statements written in the gospels. Yet, we have absolutely no corrective or contradictory writings from that time, from anyone, denying the accounts of the gospels. The gospel accounts are four different accounts from four different people. They were penned by either eyewitnesses or under the direction of the eyewitnesses. These same gospels were distributed throughout the region very quickly and we have no account anywhere on any of the contemporaries attempting to refute any of the facts written in them including those accounts dealing with the miracles of Jesus. Conclusion - In order for Jesus to be a myth, it would have to be shown that the gospel accounts were highly embellished and inaccurately copied and transmitted. Point 4 "God maintains a personal relationship with billions of humans alive today." - you chalk this up to "delusion" There is no reason to believe that great thinkers of history such as C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther, St. Thomas Aquinas, Francis A. Schaeffer, G.K. Chesterton, george Macdonald and billions upon billions of others throughout history and alive today are or were merely "delusional". I don't think that any of these people I mentioned showed any signs of being delusional. On the contrary it is the atheist which denies the existence of God who is delusional. "You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"? - Isaiah 29:16 "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:" - 2 thess 2:11 Point 5 "God loves you." 1. If jesus of Nazareth was God in the flesh and came to die for our sins then God loves you. 2. Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure. He lived a life free from sin, he was crucified on a Roman cross and was raised back to life. 3. By accepting Jesus as Lord you can be forgiven of all your sins because of what he has done for you. 4. Jesus is Lord 5. He died for you. 6. He loves you. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:10 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13 CONCLUSION God exists. God came to earth and lived as a man for over 30 years. The evidence is sufficient to prove Gods existence for those "with eyes to see". *SUPER BONUS EVIDENCE FOR GODS EXISTENCE* 1.the cosmological argument from contingency 2.the kalam cosmological argument based on the beginning of the universe 3.the moral argument based upon objective moral values and duties 4.the teleological argument from fine-tuning 5.the ontological argument from the possibility of God"s existence to his actuality These are ALL good arguments for God"s existence. They are logically valid; their premises are true; and their premises are more plausible in light of the evidence than their negations. soften your heart friend and come to the Lord Jesus Christ. amen