What Is Proof?

INTRO: Some time ago in our Sunday School class the subject came up as to whether we have proof that God exists and that the Bible is true. After my wife asked some more questions later I realized that I had never done a study of the word proof. What is proof? Can we prove God exists? Can we prove the Bible is true? Does the Bible help us to determine what proof is? It caught my interest and since I had taken a break from the Ephesian messages, I thought I would do one message on this subject since I spent a lot of hours studying it.
Here is a question one needs answer: if you have full proof for something, do you still believe it or do you now know it. If we have full proof for God and the Bible, do we still need faith? I want to show you a picture. Now you see that little truck with that huge load. Now let me ask you, how many of you believe that is a picture of something that really happened? [ ] How many of you believe it could possibly be true? [ ] How many of you doubt it is true? [ ] How many of you believe it is not true. It is a doctored up picture? [ ] How many of you know it is not true? [ ] How many of you know it is true? [ ]

Today, with pictures seeing is not necessarily believing. We can't really know if it is true or not unless we were there ourselves to see it. But you can all either believe it is true, or believe it is not true or, doubt it is true.