A cruel, unforgiving world is what we would expect if the Bible were true. It explains how God’s enemy started the whole problem.
If the Bible were not true it would be mythology, and it would bear the marks of mythology.
One of the marks of mythology is inconsistency with history and with archeology. The Bible bears neither.
Virgin births, miracles, resurrection(s), gods fathering children, a global flood, messiahs, the underworld; it's very much mythology, and present in many other cultures.
The Bible isn't even consistent with itself, much less history and archeology. Israeli archeologists had every reason to find evidence for the Exodus, but even they were forced to admit that there literally is none. That's just one example.
If I were a religious archeologist, I would have focused on the saints rising from the graves of Jerusalem at the time of the crucifiction described in Matthew. It's a fascinating visual, and it's surprising that few Christians I talk to have even heard of it.