Who wrote the bible, and under what conditions?

Did men write the bible as the "Spirit" told them what to say? Did the "Spirit" actually move the hands of the authors, so that in fact, the men's minds weren't involved in the writing process?

If we are to say that the Bible was actually written by God, let's look at the implications of that belief:

If the books of the Bible were written directly by the hand of God (basically grabbing ahold of the bodies of all these men and making their hands move to produce writings on the writing materials), what are the implications? Among other things it would mean that:

• The (supposed) authors of the various books of the Bible had nothing of value to share from their lives. Perhaps living a godly life didn't give them anything of value to write about.
• Men aren't capable of writing anything of true significance.
• The minds of mens were of no value in the writing process.

If the Ten Commandments were written by the very hands of God, isn't that proof that God can produce writings without using human bodies and hands?

If God can and did wrote the Ten Commandments himself, then why didn't he write the rest of the books of the Bible the same way? Was He incapable of writing on papyrus or other fragile writing materials?

I was raised by parents who called themselves Christians, but had their own set of beliefs. As a result I developed my own set of beliefs about God, the bible, church meetings, etc. Part of my belief system was what seems common in the Christian world today. That belief was "The bible is the inerrant, infallible, Word of God, the final authority in all things relating to faith and practice".

However, when I went through some very long and difficult years my religious beliefs crumbled. I realized that my beliefs weren't based upon truth. Although my faith in God has been greatly strenghthened,  I've had to rethink and evaluate much of what I once thought and believed about the Bible and religion. As I write these pages, my working premise is that various parts of the Bible were written by some godly men. (They wrote as honestly and truly as they were capable of writing. They wrote about what they had seen and learned about history and God's working.) However, the perceptions of the Bible by many today is distorted and has gotten way off track. The Bible has been made into a form of an idol. (Everything is based on the Bible, and it is called the "Word of God".)

Much of what I've been learning over the years is kind of fragmented, and just in my head. I decide write these pages to help me to put together what I've been learning. In other words, I'm mainly writing these pages for myself so that I can better understand all this myself. These web pages are a collection of ideas and beliefs that I've been learning over the years. This section of pages are focused on what I've been learning about the Bible. I'm writing these pages to clarify:

1. What do I think or believe about the Bible
2. What is true?

It is my intent to study, research, and write about the Bible:

1. What is the Bible?
2. Who actually wrote the various parts of it?
3. How is it perceived?
4. What is it's purpose?
5. How can it be used?