I have been skimming through a lot of the comments in the In this thread and I think I am going to take a shot at answering your question here.
First off saying that everyone can experience God in their own way is a total lie. It is a lie fabricated by a world that is sick and tired of trying to come up with something other then God. This statement of course can only be backed if the Bible really is the truth. So, I am going to try my best. The fact of the matter is words are a poor form of communication, and only God gives the increase.
Lets start in the garden. God created man and set them in the garden for the purpose of glorifying and worshiping him. I know this sounds a bit egotistical but hopefully by the end of this you will realize that there really is no other way for a bunch of people to survive together unless they are constrained and protected by God.
The Bible says that God made man in the image of Him, and that man is the only creation of His to have a spirit. In other words man is the only creature on the planet with a will, or, the only creature that can choose for himself. The Bible also says that man was made perfect, the biblical term for someone that is perfect is someone who has summited their will, or what they want to do, to God and is constantly seeking to stay in that relationship with him. David was said to be perfect and yet he sinned, so is the bible contradicting itself? NO! Even though David sinned he repented and begged God not to cast him away but to return to that relationship that they had before.
The tree of knowledge of good and evil was Gods way to let man choose if they wanted to stay in that perfect relationship with God or if they want to leave that relationship. Adam and Eve of course eat that fruit and their eyes were opened, they realized they really could place something else at the center of their lives other than God. I believe that is why they realized they were naked.
God said that after man sinned they would die, God also cursed the ground after they sinned and made life hard. Why did he do this? So that men would hate the world and seek after something else. We have already seen what men have done to each other with a limited time here on earth, men are evil. Even if you say you are not evil because you have never killed anyone think of it this way. If you have chosen to disobey God in anyway shape or form you are just as bad as a murderer. Here is the reason for why I say this: God is the ONLY guard against sin, it is by his grace that the world is not already a living hell, when you chose to disobey him you are purposefully removing the same safety feature that that murderer did. The only thing that is separating you from him is that circumstance.
Well I am in high-school so I have to get to work. I know what I have said so far can be picked apart because it really is incomplete and is still resting on the Bible which you still don't believe. I would just like to say that if you don't believe that the OT is correct you are making a logical faulisy thinking that you can believe the NT is correct. The NT is build on the OT.... if you don't believe me study the Bible.
P.S. The bible was carried orally by the jewish people for years. This would seem totally ludicrous to us because we are so dependent on written documents. The Torah was and Is everything to them.
I will try to finish this later... pick it apart, let me know what you think.
