I think if you really took the heart of the word of the three little pigs into your life, you would understand that the parable points towards hard work being done in reality to help people, rather then building your house (i.e. intellectual foundation) cheaply and assuming everything will be alright, since evil people (i.e. the big bad wolf), will come and blow down your house (i.e. take control of your life and tell you what to do), if it's not build out of bricks (which stand for science and reason). Also, you'd be able to shelther those who have been deceived (the two pigs who got their house blown down), from the evils of group-think and dogma.

But don't worry, there will always be room in the brick house for you when the big bad wolf comes.

Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

but then again, foxes appear to be stronger than wolves.

Neh 4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.

Ahah, that's why the original changed from fox to wolf! The author saw his error.

"Makes me wonder why anyone would need the bible." Oh! The Bible is a start, sort of a map. The Living Word is in you, waiting to be revealed. It is so much more than The Bible.

But for you,
1Pe 2:8 a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

But hey, don't despair, we'll remember this conversation, indeed we'll remember a whole lot more when we are all in God.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Good day, Dutch

So the bible's all parable then? Makes me wonder why anyone would need the bible, instead of oh I don't know, let's say the three little pigs; I'm sure they teach comperable morals, at least no one gets stoned in the three little pigs.

How about this quote from "Judges." You could really use this to poke fun at The Bible.

Jdg 9:10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
Jdg 9:11 But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?
Jdg 9:12 Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.
Jdg 9:13 And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?
Jdg 9:14 Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.

Talking trees? Maybe the writer of these verses saw either The Wizard of Oz or Lord of The Rings? Then again, the parable is somewhat answered by in the following verse - Jesus had jst healed a blind man.(being blind means you have no understanding)

Mar 8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.

Good day, Dutch

take care, Dutch

Dutch:
I'm not sure that transposing biblical events to "heaven", Changes anything. If your collective body corporeal (us in your theology?)is experiencing the world as it appears to be, with the logical and critical faculties we appear to have, the inconsistancies remain. The argument from evil obtains whether we are in heaven, hell or Kansas as we have no objective way of experiencing the world otherwise.
My original response to your post incidentally was not about suffering, merely questioning your claim to "know" God and suggesting that in this context you were actually substituting "Knowledge" for "Faith" to bolster your position.

goyo,
It is a new form of Christianity, as far as I can tell anyway. George Fox, a writer and theologian that lived about 300 years ago, wrote about Christ's second coming as being in man as opposed to external. So he was/is right about that, and William Penn was a devoted student of his. One of my brothers called me one day while I was driving. He excitedly said to turn on the TV and watch msnbc(I think it was MSNBC). It appears a pastor of a rather large southern church was being interviewed, and he was claiming that our earth is in fact hell. My brother, who wouldn't believe what I have been telling him for almost ten years, now he found out this preacher was saying the same thing. My brother still wants to believe Jesus was born in earthly Jerusalem, lying in a manger - the truth seems to hurt his little Christmas story; this is the reason our church pastors have been called names, and once even shoved by other pastors.
Anyway, it is very hard to explain in such a short space. First of all, The Bible is spritual, the events depicted in the Bible are spiritual(unseen). Adam's story is spiritual, The Garden of Eden, and it's "trees" are spiritual and located in heaven. If Adam was created in heaven, then the birth of Christ was/is in heaven. When Christ died, he was laid in a grave(hell, pit, etc.) Christ's body is us, his body is us which occupy the grave. Yes, everything that has happened to every living thing, past, present and future will be known by everybody once we are in Christ for as jesus said, "I and my father are one." How can it be otherwise. How can we truly and thoroughly know what evil is, unless we all experience every bad thing that has and will happen? This is so difficult to explain, especially for me. Terrence, God bless him, doesn't seem to understand it. In his defense, how God could have created the conditions for all of the suffering, has been asked by others and myself in the past.
My intention is not to try and convert atheists; this would probably prove futile anyway. The one thing it does do, and this is construed by many atheists as being a bit too convenient, it takes away atheists ridiculing the seeming inconsistencies of The Bible. I have the feeling that some atheists who are not quite sure, and who want answers and a deeper understanding of why we are here in the first place, will be more willing to probe the deeper mysteries of the Bible - virgin ground so to speak. It has been my experience that mainstream Christianity abhors our little group(s) In order to get verification(reward) of our knowledge, you need to be a freethinker, pure in motive, and a dilligent student of the Bible, but never use another opinion(interpretation) of the Bible - this work must be done by you, and better you and another or more. Ultimately, everyone must build his own house.

I am rambling too much - I have to back-off. Ebonmuse has been most gracious.

Take care everybody

And I assume, if one of your loved ones got beheaded, you'd give the same pass to the swordsman that you give God?