how can any one religion make a valid claim to be the fundamental truth?

Since no two religions teach the same, one must look at origins of religious doctrines. Most come from the teachings of a person or persons. The Bible is the only existing book which tells and fortells the history of the world from beginnng to end. The origins cannot be verified but much of the prophetic content has been accurately fulfilled and many future unfulfilled prophecies are now in the scope of likelihood of fulfillment. So I guess my answer is that no religious organization is true, but the Bible has been proven to be true, so the closer a religion is to it's fundamentals, the closer the religion is to truth.

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In Jehovah God's Universe, time, energy and boundless space had no beginning and will have no ending. The universe, by and through him, is, has always been and forever will be intelligently designed, changed and managed by his providence. buzsaw

Have you got 59 years? That's how long I've been a Christian and daily in the Bible, being especially interested in the prophecies of it. When I began studying it as a kid, age 10, Israel was a brand new nation, phenomenally, with the Jews, after have been disperssed world wide for 19 centuries were returning, remarkably still as bonafide Jews as prophesied by Jesus and the OT prophets. Search the scriptures objectively and you will then have your eyes opened to it's uniqueness and worth as reliable foundational truth.

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In Jehovah God's Universe, time, energy and boundless space had no beginning and will have no ending. The universe, by and through him, is, has always been and forever will be intelligently designed, changed and managed by his providence. buzsaw

My answer implicated that, rather than reliance on someone's biased academic study of the prophecies or historical analysis, the best approach is to do one's own hands on objective study of it. There are many books out on the prophecies and historicity of the Bible, but sadly, even those done by so called Biblical fundamentalists are not objective in many respects. A good example of this is Hal Lindsey, likely the most widely read and believed fundie on the prophecies. He's good on some stuff, but way off with the herd on other very important stuff. I'd like to do a Great Debate with him on things like the so called revived Roman Empire, his interpretation of Mystery Babylon and the so called pretribulation rapture of the Christians, et al.

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In Jehovah God's Universe, time, energy and boundless space had no beginning and will have no ending. The universe, by and through him, is, has always been and forever will be intelligently designed, changed and managed by his providence. buzsaw

Judging from some of his lectures, Francis Schaeffer, who wrote "The Christian Manefesto" would be a fairly reliable author on the Bible and history, imo.

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In Jehovah God's Universe, time, energy and boundless space had no beginning and will have no ending. The universe, by and through him, is, has always been and forever will be intelligently designed, changed and managed by his providence. buzsaw

S'matter; you don't like my answer? Too much to ask, for one to study it for themselves? The Bible itself is the ultimate study. For prophecy I suggest the entire book of Isaiah, the minor prophets, the short books towards the end of the OT, Ezekiel 37-39 and Jesus's Olivet discourse in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 for starters. Then, after having thoroughly studied them, move on to the book of Revelation. There's important stuff on history related fulfilled prophecy in these books, as well as other Biblical texts.

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In Jehovah God's Universe, time, energy and boundless space had no beginning and will have no ending. The universe, by and through him, is, has always been and forever will be intelligently designed, changed and managed by his providence. buzsaw

An honest researcher can objectively write on something one believes, so long as his research and works on the subject are subjective, substantiated by known history, and honest set forth without personal bias. Some writers do that. Some don't.

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In Jehovah God's Universe, time, energy and boundless space had no beginning and will have no ending. The universe, by and through him, is, has always been and forever will be intelligently designed, changed and managed by his providence. buzsaw