I read The Hobbit, there's way more hidden meaning in it than in the bible. A better ending too.The Bible is not a "fairy tale," it is rather an embellishment of real events...
To understand the Bible, you must first parse it into two categories...
THAT which EVERYONE SAW
THAT which NOBODY except a handful of Chosen liars saw.
Take, for example, Exodus. Here we have this magic staff... that nobody ever observes do magic....
After the Israelites cross the Sea of Reeds at low tide, the Amalek attack. There is something EVERYONE saw. WHAT did they see??
They saw Moses run up a hill like a coward while only the LEVITES fight the Amalek. The Bible says Moses is a LEVITE. His acts there suggest otherwise.... and the staff doesn't have ANY POWER AT ALL....
Ditto with Jesus... all of his "miracles" are observed by the Disciples and nobody else.... and when given a trial, a public forum which EVERYONE SAW, the guy couldn't heal a hangnail...
Let's summarize....
1. the only demographic to observe Jesus when he lived, Jews, reject him and consider him a fraud
2. when the "authorities" show up, the Disciples bolt.... instead of standing firm by the "son of God"
3. when given a public trial, this guy shows NOTHING, not even a witness who claims he was healed.
4. when crucified, Jesus is still obligated to care for 5k people who gave him "everything" and he left them with nothing
5. when put in a popularity contest with a murderer, the "Son of God" loses... shouldn't he have been popular if he really was healing all those folks who didn't show up to the trial???
lol....
Any book of stories that starts with "In the beginning" which amounts to "Once upon a time" and then proceeds to introduce a talking snake is exactly like a fairy tale or fable even if loosely based on actual events.
You really need to take another approach if you ever hope to understand what the stories are actually about.
Sure the books are full of fantastical stories, mythological creatures, and glaring contradictions but they are intentionally included to inspire rational thinking, like a giant X on a treasure map marks the exact place where something of great value was buried and hidden.
If all you want to do is punch holes in the stories there are plenty of holes to punch but if thats as deep as you can think you will never find the treasures hidden and in the process you will only succeed in making yourself look and feel extremely stupid..
ask Taz.
lots of symbolism in ancient literature. what else is new?