perhaps more than you know.

according to [link to www.biblica.com] the earliest writings of the bible are roughly 3500 years old, these are predated by the epic of gilgamesh, by about 500 years or more. this story was considered worth logging and keeping around and the bible was too, for like you say, it's relevant. it's relevant, though, because we believed it to be the word of god and therefor correct. the bible is just stories inspired by 'divine works' much like the epic of gilgamesh. there's probably some truth in there, or at least used to be lost in translation. other bits of truth are harder to hide but are skewed with associations to other traits and deeds.

if god really wanted us all to know 'his word' then he'd tell us. each of us. it can't be that hard for an omnipotent super-being, can it? does it make sense that he/she/it'd want us to learn for ourselves the meaning of 'god'... ie, 'going home.'