Do you think you'd still be a believer if the bible were more pleasant/accurate?

[Mister Agenda]

My initial rejection of Christianity, particularly the literalist Pentecostal variety I was raised in, was entirely based on reading the Bible and realizing what barbarity was actually in it, and how much of it was laid at the feet of God. However, I did not conclude there was no God, only that the Bible could not actually represent an all-loving being; which is still what I thought God was. I was personally incredulous of how the universe could be here without Someone making it happen, and that was a sticking point for me for almost 20 years.

I didn't have the first glimmerings of skepticism (concerning the Duke ESP studies) until several years later. That eventually led to being skeptical of God. I can't be sure I would have been receptive to pursuing that if I hadn't already been turned off from organized religion by a Bible that was an assault on my conscience.