Please elaborate. Is the only argument "the Bible is right because the Bible says that it's right"?
No. That's why I used the word
reliability.
The Bible has been called the most challenged or criticized (or something like that) book in the world. And that's probably not an exaggeration. Time and again, throughout history, some group or scholar has announced that he's discovered a fatal error in the Bible or that it's entirely phony. And time after time, the Bible has stood up to the challenge.
We should also realize that the Bible is not just a collection of sacred insights, which however
is what many of the most important writings of other religions rely on. The Bible is, as you know, an amazing compendium of the human experience with a carefully explained outline of the origin of Earth and mankind, the history of God's people over the course of thousands of years, and much more than that. The Bible, in short, could be faulted in dozens of different ways, and yet it has proven itself repeatedly.
Consequently, there is good reason for believing its message(s), even if here and there the translation from the original languages is tricky or confusing.
I studied the Bible, I applied its promises to my life, it failed to produce the promised results.
I don't know what you have in mind when you say that.
What arguments can I use to dismiss my personal experience with the Bible in favor of other people's experiences and claims about it?
For one thing, I would be cautious about assessing the Bible through the use of something other people insisted had "happened" to them when they read something in it.
There are plenty of claims, including some posted on this website, that take off from reality, are not what any of the important church bodies teach, and aren't what the Bible reveals or commends to us. Not at all.
For another, I would suggest that no one just wade through their own doubts unaided by anything but what seems logical. Or scientific. This is where the assistance and guidance of a reputable church body comes in. I have met many people who are absolutely sure that something they read in the Bible is bunk or contradictory or impossible, etc. and they proceeded to build an entire worldview around that particular idea, totally on their own. Then they denounce organized religion.
Oddly enough, we live in a society in which there is financial help from experts available, and medical advice, and a jillion other bits of information about the world around us, and we seek it out; but when it comes to the things of God, we have a tendency to think we should rely on our own resources instead.
