Does a God exist?

[robvalue]

The issue is not whether or not the authors are telling what they believe to be the truth.

The issue is whether what they are saying actually happened.

These are two different things. People can be mistaken. People can misremember. People can hear stories that aren't true, or at least not completely true, and believe them to be true.

Theists use a different standard of evidence for their holy book than other holy books, and for everything else in life. It would be better, in my opinion, to admit that the belief is not based on the book itself. The belief comes first. By trying to rationalise the belief and make the text into credible evidence, you're trying to square the circle. It can't be done.

If you could just as easily choose to not believe the stories, then you haven't been convinced by them. You can't just un-believe stuff at will. Or rather, if you can, you're an extremely unusual person. One I'd be very worried about, in fact.