converting back unto theism - yes it's true.

[Frank]

I consider myself pretty smart, thanks.

Again, in the early days of man, yes, he was more paranoid, and thus you see an extraordinary amount of superstition to the Bible which can not be substantiated or backed up, really. However, in modern times, when people are more rational and aware of the world around them, as well as how it works, you see quite te pull away from such superstition and begin to see religious folks with more philosophical outlooks on life.

It's not that the Bible is invalid, but that it was written at a time when society and science were barely forming(science not even), and so was based more on presumption and fear than anything. IMHO, I can pick out certain parts o the Bible that really nail it when it comes to God, and point to others which do not so muc hrepresent God as they do man's hunger for power and superstition.

I view it more simply I guess. Either you believe a spirit god took the form of a burning bush and spoke to a guy named Moses, or you don't. Either you believe there's an all powerful god, who rather than creating mankind ex nihilo, elected a several billion year long evolutionary process (not to mention the long drawn out process of creating the universe as it exists today), or you don't. Either you believe this god had as an eternal plan the desire to create a depraved species, just so he can take their physical form and allow them to kill him, so he could make a ritualistic blood sacrifice for their sins, or you don't. Either you believe we're a bunch of hopeless depraved creatures because our first mother was tricked by a talking snake into eating from a magical tree, or you don't.

If you don't believe these things but still believe in god, what are your options? I guess you have to think all the worlds holy books are distorted manifestations of this god. IMO, that's wishful thinking. There is absolutely no empirical reason to believe what you're asserting has any relationship with reality, not a single one. Sure, I admit, I'm not enthusiastic about my future as worm food, or the potential entropic death of the universe, but that's what all the real evidence we have suggests will happen.

As far as mankind’s paranoia, it's a survival mechanism built in by natural selection (so it's still there). But we also have an innate predisposition towards cooperation, group think and social interaction (also features built in by natural selection). Comparatively we have immense intellectual capacity; and all these things are able to mitigate the harmful potential of our paranoia (but it remains a prevalent feature in extreme forms of religiosity, nationalism, racism, etc.).