I don't know why the parables are taken so literally. There is immense wisdom to be found in all religions but over time the message just get polluted and depends on each person's intellect and intelligence to understand that. If you tell someone to pass a message to someone and so on and on. By the time it reaches 100 people it is nothing like the original message.

You have go deep in meditation and prayer to understand and feel one with these things. They are not mathematical in the sense that once you know the formula you can solve the question. Life is ever changing flux and brings new questions everyday.

There are more intellect based mystics for people who are not comfortable with prayer based religions. Buddha original message, Tantra's 112 meditations and Golden verses of Pythagoras. Yes the Pythagorean theorem Pythagoras. He was a great mystic but because of his hobby of mathematics he is mostly known for that.

I don't post much in these discussions as despite the good intentions not much good comes out of them. Same with never ending debates of theologicians. They debate and focus on trying to win the arguments but never on the inner fulfillment of one's inner soul.

Pray/meditate on these scriptures. There are many paths to God or ultimate salvation, clarity, Nirvana etc.

Love and Peace.

Not even the pastors in my church believe the Earth was created 4000 years ago.

I just look at it this way, back in Moses' days people didn't even have a Grade 1 education. Even if God did explain about dinosaurs et al, there was simply no benefit or logic in trying to explain that to people of that time as A) They couldn't understand it properly, and B) it was irrelevant to their lives. The seven days of creation were not literal days (days didn't exist yet) but creation periods. Dinosaurs existed prior to Man being placed on the Earth.

This entire post is nothing but fluff. Not an ounce of effort to attempt to answer the OP in any way. Astonishing how blissfully ignorant some people are.

Far from blissful and ignorant but i am sure you are not interested in spirituality and more just negating all forms of its presence. I am not a christian but i have respect for the religion and thus i made the post. I wanted to say that people should focus on what's important and core concepts. No one is saying the flinstones is real and talking snakes were part of history. Make what you will of it. 

I'm so disillusioned and bored with the world right now NO joke I have started to consider Christianity. Would I even be welcome after all my atheist views? Probably not but I'm seriously considering it right now. I need something.

I can't speak for all the random Christian churches that pop up all across the nation, but I can tell you that one of Christianity's cornerstones is forgiveness. That means if you walk into a church and start asking questions and decide that you like what you hear all you have to do is genuinely ask for forgiveness and you're good to go. Contrary to general misconceptions of Christianity you can be a sinner and still be loved by God. That's kind of his thing.

Before I comment, just a little disclaimer, I used to go to Church, in fact I used to lead the praise and worship band, but after my Dad had a stroke and Dementia and then passed away, I had serious doubts if God actually existed.  As time has passed since my Dad died, I'm now kinda neutral, I mean I'm undecided.

Okay, now back to the topic, I'm not sure if the events in the Bible can be taken literally in terms of time scale.  Also, maybe God created evolution to test a person's faith....who knows really?

^^^ This lol

Half of the posters tried to actually answer my question, the other half decided to rant on their beliefs and why mine was stupid XD

Anyway, this actually turned into a decent discussion. Learned from a lot of different opinions and was genually surprised.

Well, my opinion on your question is why not? Personally I never understood the point of being an atheist. If there was a chance of there being an afterlife, why wouldn't you choose a religion to follow? Doesn't make much sense to me. Many atheists believe in hell so I guess they assume they'll go there anyway? Idk. But I digress....

Anyway, you could start by talking to a family member that is a Christian or going to a local church and sitting down with a pastor. They are VERY easy to talk to and if anything are great therapists hah. 
Christianity is just very easy to follow (no mecca trips involved :) and I recommend it not only to those seeking to believe in the spirtual side, but also the psychological side.

If anything just pray by yourself and see what happens. I feel like praying has helped guide me, so maybe it could help you too.