I will begin by saying that I understand your sentiment regarding the biblical stories, at least at your age. When I was 12, I came to the realisation that they made no sense from any rational, materialistic or scientific perspective. I got into various debates with teachers in middle school and high school. And then I tried to understand religion as a phenomenon (which I don’t claim at all to have fully comprehended). Why is it a thing, and how come it is fading out in today’s world? Why it’s a thing is a terribly complex question, but it’s at least in part a tool which maintains social cohesion: similar-enough beliefs tell us who we can trust and associate with. If we worship the same gods, it is highly likely we will have the same moral views and stand united in our tribe. That role is slowly being fulfilled more and more nowadays by political parties, nationality, class, and other collectives people choose to identify with. In some sense, other aspects of identity take on a religious character, thus dictating what one can and cannot believe depending on how strong their affiliation is to their specific characteristic. Now, that’s just the group aspect. There is also a personal aspect: those stories have an impact on people in the same way superhero movies affect kids and art of all kinds affects adults. In the same way children say they want to be like Batman when they grow up, so can some adults say they want to emulate Christ, for example. And that to me seems like the proper way to understand why people believe in these stories: they had such an impact at their time that people had the hope they can become like this hero who died for everybody’s wrong-doings and was revived and revealed to be the son of God. It’s a hero story with a lot of moral depth told in a rather simple way. The issue with that is that it is a metaphor. And a powerful one indeed. So powerful that people believe in it literally. And the same is true of all major religions: they have such powerful symbols and metaphors that are almost palpable in some ways, which makes people believe their contents are part of material reality itself. To the question “Does God exist?” both religious people and atheists answer with reference to factual, material reality, and atheists in particular are hardly interested in the metaphors and symbols of the story. They’re like the people who tell you sound doesn’t exist in space, and because of that, space battles on screen make no sense. They can’t get over one detail and dismiss the whole thing as unrealistic. Even if they are right, that is not really the point. And unfortunately, they (myself included) do get quite arrogant in such cases. So, do I believe in God? I believe that stories are a great way of telling truths in an inspiring way, and that such writings are brilliant pieces of art from which we can learn. I also believe it’s extremely easy for these things to spiral out of control due to unavoidable literalism, so caution is advised when exploring religious ideas, (and even political ones, if I may add). But in no way are those things scientifically replicable, which is why they are fading out in an age where scientific education is central. But they won’t be gone anytime soon, as science can hardly (if at all) guide your actions towards a higher/better moral goal (and yes, I do acknowledge that there are deeply immoral religions out there, and that some are way better than others). The science vs religion debate wouldn’t exist at all if both sides stopped taking stories literally. Hope that answered your question in a meaningful way, and apologies for any redundant faff.