The bible... why take it seriously?

[robvalue]

When you look at the bible, is there any reason to even believe that this book is meant to be telling true stories or is meant to be taken seriously?

There is no introduction by god telling you what this book is all about, that it is accounts of actual stuff, that it is how you should live your life- like any serious book meant to teach you something would do.

It just goes straight into a story. And from there, another story. And so on. Like... a story book. What makes this story book any different from any other one? Sure it has some interesting characters (the worst being god which is the cruelest most hideous character that could be imagined, if you bother to read what he actually does) but why think that this is intended to be real?

Because everyone tells you so?

A lot of books have some semblance of reality in them, and some correlation with real events in history. It's part of storytelling, and it doesn't mean that the whole book is true. Or even that this is the intention.

It sure doesn't look like the word of god to me, it looks like the word of a printer putting ink on paper. Surely god could to better than that. It would just be in my head available at all times, and I'd be instantly corrected if I misinterpreted it. If god really is trying to communicate with me, he is the worst communicator ever in history. And you'd kind of think he would be the best. Why would he create me with a brain that is going to reject this "word of god" as myth, knowing that is what I would do, and then punish me for it? That's not cool.