For the first question, my understanding (which I fully accept may be wrong), is simply God is Love. God Loves. And so he wants us to Love him.
why do it via Big Bang and evolution? Why not? Why not set the universe in motion with one almighty explosion - done might see that as one big breath - Ruach, the breath of God. maybe the pleasure he gets from a relationship with a human is all the richer and more valuable to him simply because it took so long to come to fruition?
I believe we are here in order to love God. And each other. That that is the primary purpose of each of us. And I believe if we can get that right then the world would be a fundamentally better place for everyone and everything.
how does ID relate to the bible without backwards shoehorning? I don’t entirely understand the question, sorry. The Bible is a collection of 66 books with multiple different authors. Some of the places and stories within it are corroborated by archaeology and contemporaneous accounts. Others aren’t. Some of it is allegory, and it is my belief that the creation story in genesis falls within that. And some of it is historical record - take a look at Numbers or Chronicles (if you are awake and can’t sleep. It’s incredibly tedious in places). A record of how many men were a part of each tribe of Israel. How many pounds of gold were brought to the temple. How many slaves were captured, etc. I’m not sure why anyone would record it all if it weren’t true.
I don’t think stating that some parts are allegory and some are history is shoehorning anything. Song of Songs is a long love poem; some say to God but personally I think it’s more like erotica. Psalms is a collection of poems and songs, some marking events others guides for worship. And then you have the books of prophecy. Prophets warning of dire things if Israel doesn’t turn back to God. Israel turning back, God relenting, Israel forgetting, turning away, Prophets warning, disaster striking, Israel repenting, God relenting.
kind of like how people warn about climate change now really. We all know it’s happening, the prophets keep telling us and we are mostly sticking fingers in ears and continuing to burn fossil fuels and create emissions, and gradually or rapidly destroying the balance of the earth. God gives us a plan for life, we ignore it at our peril.
and then the New Testament. 400 years or so after the last voice in the Old Testament, along comes a new prophet John, and starts warning people to get ready for his cousin Jesus. Do we get the gospels who tell us about the things Jesus did, then Acts tells us about what the early Christians did. A bunch of letters from Early church leaders to different churches and to all believers, and then another book of prophecy at the end.
is it ok to answer your question with “I don’t know?” I don’t have the answers. I’m not God. What I do know is that as science reveals ever more about the complexities of the universe I find myself more in awe of the one I believe created it to be this way. We sing about hands that flung stars into space, hung the moon and the sun and set the planets dancing. And that’s beautiful. But it’s incredibly simplistic. Now we know more about the universe. And the more we know the more we realise we don’t know. So that God of the gaps grows ever bigger for me. Lots of scientists at our church. Some of whom became Christians through their scientific research. and lots of scientists within my circle of friends. Some of whom are atheist due to their own research. We seem to coexist happily enough. Without Vimto.