Are holy books nothing more than a Mirror of Erised?

Thats possibly the best interpretation of religion....

The mirror of erised shows you exactly what you want. Religion on the other hand comes pre-packaged. For example, if you believe the bible, you have to believe in heaven and hell, the garden of eden, the death and resurrection of jesus, etc...etc... But you can't change that if you wanted to believe in reincarnation, or evolution or whatnot. Yes, there is some room for personal interpretation, but you can't believe anything you want without also believing what the bible tells you. If you agree with it, good for you, but the bible isn't what it is purely bc you want it to be that way.

Though it might be if you're a narcissist. They have an odd form of delusion where everything is exactly what they want it to be, they'll deny that certain events happened, even if its obvious that they did, they'll claim things happened that didn't happen. They'll even interpret the bible to be whatever they want it to be, though of course this would include them claiming that bible claims things that it does not, and even supports things that the bible actually condemns. But this isn't a result of the bible, its a result of their own warped mind.

More like a Sword of Damocles. They leave a threat of eternal punishment by a Cosmic Bugbear hanging over your head, if you don't believe the fairy tales contained within.

I'm an atheist, but I see tons of truth and wisdom in the Christian bible. I know a bunch of it is bull crap, but there is wisdom in it.

Yes, all holy books fit your description with the exception of the Bible. It shows the good, the bad, and the ugly of humanity.

well they've got some moral stories in them but yea its pretty heavily interpreted, id much prefer the mirror though

You have never read the Hindu vedas Kamasutra dont you? l mean you dont even have to since its totally illustrated yay! =)

no