Do you see any benefits to religious faith?

[Simon Moon]

I make a foundation of concrete with sand and other aggregate. To me, the bible is like a giant conglomerate rock built over many many years....there is usable ore to refine if you are so inclined.  There is also all the coprolite you could want if you are looking for something to throw.

The "usable ore" has nothing to do with being in the Bible. If something in the Bible comports with reality, it does so on its own merit, not because it is in the Bible.

And the fact that there are some things in the Bible that do comport with reality, does not in any way add any evidence that any other particular thing also does.

My entire point is not about the veracity of the bible, it's about what the authors meant by what they said and their mindset when they wrote it and the loss of that conceptual function in todays mindset.

And you know what the mindset of the Bible authors was?

The phone book contains errors, but if I sift through it for information and check with other sources does that make me a Yellow Pagean?

Yes, but the phone book does not make claims as being inspired by the creator of the universe, with the added claims of accepting the contents or be punished for eternity.