Hello foreveryoung, nice to meet you.
foreveryoung writes:
If you say some of it is true, is it only because it already agrees with you have decided for yourself to be true?
Most probably, this is the case. There are probably some things that can be demonstrated to be true, i.e. Jerusalem exists. But for the more "miraculous" stuff, I'd say it comes down to personal preference. One wants to believe there is a god, and that he can do certain things (mostly because they were taught this belief as a child), the bible describes some of the things one imagines this god could do, and so, one believes those parts of the bible.
If the bible is book that is littered with stories that are pure fiction but that are conveyed in such a way to appear as legitimate, why would you trust anything else that it had to say?
Things can be learned from stories, even if they aren't true. Some of the lessons of Jesus are quite good, in my opinnion. Whether he existed or not is irrelevant to the fact that those stories convey a certain meaning. It's that meaning that can be of value, and the ultimate purpose of the stories, I'd say.