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IS THE BIBLE GOD'S WORD?
It's not essential that someone believes that the bible is God's word for them to believe in and accept Jesus Christ for salvation. Once you come to see that the Gospels are reliable historical documents and accept Jesus' claims about Himself and the historical account of his resurrection, you'll accept Jesus' view of scripture, which is that it is the "Word of God."

There is convincing evidence that the Gospels give us a reliable historical portrait of Jesus, His teachings, His death and His literal, physical resurrection from the dead. This implies that Jesus doesn't make mistakes, especially when He's teaching central things about God.

It is clear from Jesus' teachings in the Gospels that He believed that the Old Testament was God's Word. He also commissioned His disciples to teach with the same authority He Himself aught. He promised them that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and help them recall what He said and did, help them interpret who He was and help them speak and write in such a way that others would believe in Him through them (John 14-16; see also John 20:30-31).

Though I may not understand all the difficulties of the bible, the evidence of Jesus is clear. The progress of knowledge works from known to the unknown, the clear to the unclear. Star with what is clear (Jesus is the Son of God) and then working to understand the unclear (the Bible).

While the statements and claims of the bible itself is not proof, they are a significant body of information that shouldn't be ignored.

2 Timothy 3:15-16, "the Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training."

2 Peter 1:20-21, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophets themselves or because they wanted to prophesy. It was the Holy Spirit who moved the prophets to speak from God."

The Bible is astounding in it's composition. The Bible was composed over a span of 1600 years. It is the work of more than 40 human authors from every walk of life, including kings, peasants, philosophers, fisherman, poets, statesmen, and scholars. Parts were written in the wilderness, a dungeon, a palace, in exile, in wartime, and in peacetime. It was written on 3 diff. Continents in 3 languages on hundreds of subjects. It contains poetry, detailed history, biography, letters, memoirs, and prophetic writings. Yet in it's diversity there is a unity, with it's one theme: God's pursuit of man.