Jesus instructed often by parable. If the people in His parables were not real individuals, then was Jesus lying?
There is a clear danger in taking the entire Bible literally. There is no way to reconcile the evidence that supports the idea of evolution, while believing the Creation Myth to be literally true. However, salvation does not depend on believing that Adam and Eve were real people. Neither has God said that we must accept that Creation was accomplished during 1-terrestrial week.
This is the root of the Creationist's frantic angst: the Genesis account of Creation must be proven and defended at all costs, for to do otherwise would allow the uncomfortable thought that we humans are not the only sentient life God created. It must be frightening indeed to consider that we are not the center of God's Universe. The Creationist declares that God physically molded Adam from clay and then breathed into his nostrils. After a time, God removed one of Adam's ribs in order fashion a suitable mate. The story implies that God didn't realize ahead of time that Adam would be lonely. Is this the "omnipotent" God that Creationists defend with such vigor and vitriol? One who has to tweak His creation from time-to-time because He didn't get it right the first time?
Or...was the God of all Creation indeed almighty, and fashioned the entire Universe during the first milliseconds after the Big Bang...knowing ultimately that a tiny planet encircling a third-rate star would be teeming with life billions of years in the future.
Thanks, but if the Universe requires a God, I'll take my version.