Evangelicals say, "I believe it because XYZ proves it."
Is one better than the other? One more spiritual than the other?
I think that to say "The Bible says so" and claim that's a reason to do something is childish. This is the kind of thing you say to kids when they ask questions they can't understand the answers to. It's OK for a while, but it's not the kind of response that can last for forever. Eventually you have to grow up and study the Scriptures and delve deeper than just "it told me so".
Also, using the above method makes it extremely easy to manipulate the Bible into making it say what you want it to say. When you ignore culture, history, and years of church theology, you make yourself an easy target for liars and thieves. You become prey to bad theology, putting unnecessary strain on yourself at best, and leading yourself into disobedience against God at worst. (Hello everyone, this is exactly why we have so much bad theology now!)
Lastly, when you live in a culture that says the Bible is just a bunch of myths or doesn't know anything about it, saying "because the Bible says so" will make no sense what-so-ever. If you are trying to preach Christ and Him crucified, it would help immensely to answer people's basic questions like: Did Jesus really exist? (Give people a break, it's been over 2,000 years since Jesus came down to earth. It's not like when Peter got up and preached to the Jewish crowd--who already knew Jesus existed and that he'd died.)
Why should they believe what the Bible says? Because they have a burning in their bosom? Are we Mormons now that we depend on feeling over reason? It's not like they know you (other than that sketchy religious person who keeps telling them about Jesus), so they have no reason to trust what you have to say.
People need a reason to believe. Whether it's because you've shown yourself to be a truthful person, or because the Bible has shown itself to be a truthful book, a reason is needed. Paul and Peter and many others after them always gave a REASON to believe, a reason for their hope! So too, should we remember that the "Bible says so" will not be enough of a reason for many people to believe.
THAT BEING SAID....
How much proof does a person need? Some people just won't believe. You can throw every historical and scientific fact at them and they will simply brush you off as a religious nut. There's no point in chasing after people who adamantly refuse to listen. (This is what is called "throwing pearl before swine.")
And how many times must we (within the church) re-examine scripture before we believe it? We've got 2,000 years worth of church history at our finger tips! If our Christian fore-fathers have not figured it out already, I highly doubt we will. In which case it's either time to move on or just believe what's already been said on the matter.
There is, perhaps, an element of pride here too. There are things in the Bible that will just look foolish to the world. No matter how you rationalize and sugar coat it, the world will look at you and laugh. I think many Christians find the idea of being publicly shamed like this for the Gospel very very uncomfortable. They don't like it. So they try to make themselves look reasonably, clever, and intellectual, because they can't bear the thought of looking foolish.
Lastly, we defend scripture because we believe it to be true, not because we're trying to decide whether it is true or not. Let's not kid ourselves, we have a bias toward scripture. We already believe the Bible is true. Everything we say and do is based off this. So lets not pretend like we're being objective about our arguments. We're not. We're totally and completely defending our bias. (And lets also admit that that's OK, everyone has a bias.)
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