What are your answers?

[salty]

So is your bible an accurate and/or reliable source of information or not? In other words, is there anything in it which is meant to be taken literally? If so, how do you differentiate those parts from the non-literal bits?

Knowing biblical language, from continued study of the scriptures, can help you understand symbolism from literal use. "...and I saw one like a son of man coming on a cloud." The name son of man is used by Jesus to describe himself, it is also used in prophecy in Daniel to describe the messiah, therefore we know whenever the term son of man is used it refers to Jesus Christ. Now the other part of this sentence is literal because Jesus was killed for saying that he would be coming again in glorious splendor, therefore "coming on a cloud" is literally how he will arrive, this not just drawn from this statement that is present in Daniel and revelation, but also present when Jesus ascends to heaven when he sends his apostles to speak to the world, angels appear and declare that Jesus will literally descend on the mount of olives when he returns.

So basically, by having knowledge of the old and new testament you will easily understand how it locks together and what is symbolic and what is literal, there are a few incidents where things could both either.