What does 'inspired' mean?
Not secular ideas of inspired, but how God's Word defines the idea...
2 Pet 1:20-21
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy
came not in old time by the will of man:
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
(KJV)
Thus God's Word is written through... holy men by The Holy Spirit. It is God's direct revelation to all the world. This is why The Bible is unlike any other known literature in the world.
Could Paul or Peter or Luke provide a better picture of who God is than Christians today?
Yes, as they were chosen to serve in The Gospel having been sent by Christ Jesus as His Apostles. Confusion of their Witness comes by others have a lack of understanding given only by The Holy Spirit. Some have the spare vessel of Oil to go with their lamps, and some do not. Some are given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom, and others are not (Matt.24; Matt.13).
Who decides which scriptures are literally interpreted and which ones are allegory?
God The Father through The Holy Spirit. God's Word written by The Holy Spirit; help by The Holy Spirit is required to properly understand it.
John 14:16-17
16 And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
(KJV)
Clearly, that in-dwelling by The Holy Spirit is not something that can come through man's science and ways of this world, which is why many have refused Him.
John 14:26
26 But the Comforter, Which is the Holy Ghost,
Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
(KJV)
The Holy Spirit Comforter is sent ONLY through Christ's Name, which again is why many are not given to understand God's Word, because they refuse to believe on The Father 'through' His Son Jesus Christ as Immanuel God with us having shed His Blood upon the cross, which NO OTHER can claim.
What role do the scriptures play in our salvation?
The Scripture (The Bible) is The Word of God, and reveals the Testimony and Witness of Jesus Christ as God The Saviour born in the flesh to die on the cross for the remission of sins for those who believe. The Bible presents witness of the beginning of that Plan from Adam down to Christ Jesus, and the foundations of Christ's Church thereafter, even to the world to come. By it all things are and will be measured. Thus the wise will take heed.
Is it possible to exalt the Bible above God in our own minds and hearts?
Christians do not worship the paper and ink God's Word is printed upon, but The Father directly through His Son. And the words written upon the paper with ink which God gave through His servants represent God Himself speaking. No Christian believer in their right mind would detract from those words simply because they are in written down with ink and paper. And no Christian in their right mind would exalt other writings above the Scripture in their place.
What would have to be proven wrong about the Bible for your faith to be affected?
An irrelevant question, for it is impossible to prove The Word of God wrong. Bible translations are a different matter, for they are only translations. But The Word of God exists outside the print itself, and will always exist forever even when printed paper is no more (Luke 21:33). The Word of God is written even in the stars (per Bullinger's documentation 'Witness To The Stars'). That's another reason why The Bible, The Word of God, is not comparable to man's literature. Truth cannot be proven to be un-truth.
Is the Bible written about God's people's relationship with God? OR God's relationships with humans? OR both?
God's Word is written about one family as they come in contact with all other families upon the earth. That family is the one which Jesus Christ would be born through. God chose that family to be servants in The Gospel for the benefit of all other families upon the earth.
How do you handle secular disagreement with the Bible?
As those who speak without real knowledge of The Truth according to The Word of God. If secular reasoning can make the Christian believer have doubt, then that Christian believer does not yet possess God's Truth according to His Word. And without It, both the doubter and the secularist fall into the ditch.