I think my favorite point for beginning research into the historical validity of the bible is Penn & Teller's Bullshit on the Bible. It really illustrates the folly of trusting anything inside the bible as historical and provides some great starting points to do research into the history. Whether the bible is right on some accounts is really not a good valid argument, half of what we know in history from 100 years ago isn't true. The important thing, and the necessary thing I believe for a period this long ago, is to be able to reconcile the specific instances you are looking at with archaeological data, independent secular sources, and consistency. If the bible decided true historical events made the best stories to exaggerate into biblical events then that still has nothing to do with the religion itself. The only relevant points of the bible from a theistic point of view have no corroborating evidence outside the bible.
My religion is the understanding of my world. My god is the energy that underlies it all. My worship is my constant endeavor to unravel the mysteries of my religion. 
