The Bible does report real events in the lives of real people. But while recognizing this fact, let us also credit Biblical authors and the Holy Spirit with creativity sufficient to use figurative and symbolic as well as literal means of conveying the divine revelation. Insistence on literal interpretation can become legalism. We are not saved by either our theology or our morality. God saves us through grace and power promised in Jesus Christ.
Grace invites, evokes, enables, and creates our trust.
As we live by God's grace, we are continually in need of both intellectual clarification and moral sanctification. How about setting aside time each day to study the Bible using a version such as the New Oxford Annotated Bible, available with Apocrypha as well as abundant footnotes and cross references. Don't rush your reading. Ponder the footnotes and compare the parallel accounts of the same events as indicated by the cross-references. As you open your mind and heart to the witness of Scripture, you will hear the Word of God speaking to you with assurance of mercy as well as conviction of sin, and with revelation both of your weaknesses and of the gracious life-giving power of divine mercy.