Genesis: is it to be taken literally?

A caveat fro prospective readers.The following contains my own opinions on my Christian faith (impossible to avoid given the nature of Proboscis's question) and does delve somewhat into Christian theology.Proboscis: Hey I was wondering what all you thought about Genesis, especially those who are Christians. I just thought I'd toss that out there. To the Christians in here, Do you take Genesis literally, or do you think it is figurative? If you think it is symbolic, how do you know what is symbolic and what isn't?Genesis is symbolic, and should (IMHO) be read as allegory.Some creationists would opine that all Biblical doctrines have their foundations laid in Genesis (see: Morris, Henry M., 1983. Creation is the foundation. Impact 126).
This is patently in error if one cares to examine the New Testament, especially Matthew 22: 36-40.Other Creationists would have it that without a literal 'fall' and original sin there was no point for Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
Again, this is erroneous since free will and the dualistic nature of humanity allows us to choose evil (more often than not) over good.
Christ's life & ultimate sacrifice were important as they demonstarted that there is an alternative to selfishness - selfless love.In fact the entire Bible can be viewed under the lens of Christ's teaching of love (as outlined in Matthew 22).If a particular scripture does not conform to this central tenet of Christianity, then it cannot be taken literaly.If we, as Christians, accept that God is unchanging and has always been the apotheosis of what is good & right, then how can we take Genesis literaly and accept a God that slays the innocent along with the guilty? And regardless of original sin, babies, toddlers & little children are still 'innocent' in every sense of the word.If we, as Christians, accept the omniscience of God, then how can we accept a deity that has second thoughts (the 'fall' and the deluge)?Obviously we cannot - unless the scriptures in Genesis are taken as parables or allegories which illustrate that evil & ignoring God's teachings have consequences (which we bring upon ourselves).The Bible does have wisdom to impart to us, but we need to sift through much to find it. It takes, in part, faith, logic & empathy to do so.
A literal reading of scripture without conscious application of these methods does a disservice to God, our faith as Christians, our intellect, and to the rest of humanity - be they theist, agnostic or atheist.Cheers

I'd be interested to know what, in your opinion, was the central tenet of Christianity?Terry: Christians are on a very slippery slope if they start deciding for themselves which parts of the Bible to believe and which to refect as myth.Faith is very important, but so too are logic & empathy.
Without logic, we cannot live in the world around us.
Without empathy we cannot deal with others, nor understand how they feel, and if we can't do that then we cannot practice Christ's teachings of love.All our faculties are given to us by God.To squander them by taking everything in the Bible literally is tantamount to worshiping the text of the Bible rather than Word within it.But that's just my opinion.Cheers mate