OUR METHOD
How We Weigh the Evidence
Anyone can assert that the evidence “proves” their case. We would rather show our work. Across this site, each piece of evidence carries an honest strength rating — and we tell you plainly what it does not prove.
Why grade our own case?
Because trust is earned by candor, not confidence. An apologetics site that rates everything “irrefutable” teaches you to distrust it. When we mark something Debated, we are not conceding defeat — we are showing you we can be believed when we say something is Very Strong. Honesty is the argument.
The four levels
Direct, well-attested, and accepted by the great majority of scholars. Little serious dispute that it says what we claim.
Solid evidence and the mainstream reading, with only minor or fringe disagreement about the details.
Suggestive and genuinely illuminating, but not decisive on its own — helpful background rather than proof.
Genuinely contested among scholars, or beyond what outside evidence can settle. We flag it honestly and lean on it lightly, if at all.
Strength is cumulative
No single item has to carry the whole case. A dozen “Moderate” threads woven together can be far stronger than any one of them alone — and a handful of “Very Strong” anchors can hold a great deal of weight. We rate each piece on its own merits so you can judge the whole for yourself.
What the rating is not
A strength rating measures how well the outside evidence supports a historical claim — a coin, an inscription, a dated event. It is not a measure of theological or spiritual truth. Matters of faith — creation, the resurrection as a divine act, the meaning of it all — lie beyond what a spade or an inscription could ever confirm, and we say so rather than pretend otherwise.
Where you’ll see it
These ratings appear throughout the interactive guides — on every discovery in The Bible Was Here, on each witness in Jesus Outside the Bible, on the events of the Story of the Bible, and on the cases in Too Detailed to Fake.