The Bible is a collection of different writings, stories, and letters. Every bit of it was written by
people... human beings.... imperfect beings... identical to all of the virtue and fault-ridden humans of today. God is perfect, but he did not give us a perfect, permanent record of what to do and how to do it. We must take that into consideration. Your interpretation may vary.
It is a fact that we all have a fundamental need for a sense of spirituality. Primitive tribes, seperated from any external contact, will spontaneously invent rituals of worship. The recent film "Cast Away" lightly illustrates this need... with "Wilson" fulfilling the need as mentor/deity. Even science, that supposed "institute of evil" long criticized by the church, confirms the importance of a sense of spirituality. Scientific evidence tells us that belief is a powerful thing, capable of internally healing (or hurting) our own bodies.
It is clear that we need God. What is unclear is whether he needs us.
I don't believe it is important (or even relevant) to discuss the technical specifics of how Jonah wrote a play while trapped for days inside the belly of a giant deep-sea fish. Such things are totally irrelevant. These stories are exactly that... stories. They were created to illustrate a lesson and eventually convey a *state of mind*.
Achieving this *state of mind*, this intimate understanding of the nature of God, is the ultimate point of almost every religion. Arguing the specific differences will always result in secular logic. Think about it: If Jesus was 100% correct, then Mohammed, the Dalai Lama, and everyone else in the galaxy will die an endless, fiery, tormented death... even if they never had the opportunity to hear the Bible in the first place! Why intentionally bring a massive number of living things into existence just to sacrifice them en masse to horrific eternal torture?
Why would God intentionally inflict such massive suffering upon his own creation? If anything, he maintains a hands-off, wait-and-see policy. Otherwise, he would be responsible for all of the horrible things that happen in our world (babies who die painfully of brain tumors, AIDS, cancer, I could go on forever) and I cannot accept that the God I worship creates such mindless chaos and destruction, let alone excuses the behavior of the people who commit such evil acts. According to the Bible, a depraved serial murderer/rapist of children who lived a long life of evil can have last minute repentance and be whisked off to heaven moments before he dies, whereas a villager on a remote island who does good deeds for his family his whole life roasts eternally in hell because a missionary didn't reach him before he died. This makes no sense, and sets a VERY dangerous precedent for human behavior! If we aren't responsible for our actions, and if God will excuse anything we do so long as ask forgiveness... well... you probably figured that one out already. These are the sorts of inconsistencies introduced by man, not God.
I was raised southern Baptist, so it has been a long time in coming to admit that the Bible is not a perfect document. The Baptists have only one of a number of understandings of the spiritual realm, all flawed but all valid in a number of ways. It has been difficult to disagree with such strong cultural conditioning, but trusting my own senses tells me that I'm onto something. I'm using the Force, I guess.
It's a bumpy road to enlightenment, but the point is to get there while you are still alive to benefit and bring benefit to others. By that measure alone, the journey will have been worthwhile, whatever road may have been taken.
In the meantime, I'm keeping my telescope pointing to the sky. Someday, we will find other members of this universe who are probably working out the very same question: "Why are we here?"
