That's a false choice. For years we've been presented with this silly idea that one must consider the Bible a well-intentioned group of fairy tales (or a divinely inspired message that nevertheless is full of weird schlock, as if the writers were listening to God dictate on a really staticky radio) or one must hold that every word is literally true, so there really was a Good Samaritan and ten virgins with lamps, and the sun really did stand still once...it didn't appear to stand still, or the Earth didn't stop rotating around it it stopped in space.
Horse hockey!
The Bible is truly and faithfully recorded. Some of what it truly and faihfully records is people lying or getting things wrong, and some of it is literary (such as the parables) but all of it is faithfully recorded and inspired by God for the purposes of sending a truthful and clear mesage overall message.
It's not even self-consistent.
Oh...well, cite some inconsistencies for me.
God (Genesis 2) created animals after creating Adam.
18: And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19: And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20: And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
No, that's your own injection. That choice wasn't given. The question was, is the Bible literally true? Nobody said if the answer is "no" then it is all fairy tales.
Oh...well, cite some inconsistencies for me.
Sure. The gospels are ripe for this because they are different versions of the same story. But the versions aren't the same. If one believes that every word in the Bible is true and divinely inspired, there can be no contradictions. But there are.
Take two simple examples. Check the gospels for the following facts. Check each gospel.
What was written on the sign above Jesus when he was crucified?
When Peter denied Jesus three times, to whom did he issue the denials?