Do you believe in ALL the stories in the Bible?

Question

This is a question for believers, obviously. I'm just curious if you interpret the Bible literally. I mean, there are some stories in the Bible that would be considered impossible by today's standards: i.e. the Creation story of Adam and Eve, Jonah being swallowed by a whale, Noah's ark, people living for hundreds of years, etc.

I was raised Catholic and currently go to a Catholic high school so I have read the bible many times. We are taught in class that some of those stories are simply metaphors that represent God's message, and that some stories might've been corrupted when they was passed down through many generations.

So: do you believe that those stories represent actual events?

I said they would be impossible by today's standards, I didn't say they would be impossible at all. I don't want anyone to get all "You don't believe in God's word! You'll go to hell!" on me. I was just curious as to what Christians believe and how many of you are open to other possibilities. And when I said that some stories might be metaphors, I was paraphrasing what we learned in CLASS. I'm not trying to disprove anyone.

Answer 1

Hi Monika,

When I was younger, I used to struggle mightly over this (being an intellectual at heart who has to figure everything out and could never just accept the "party line").

What exactly does an "inerrant" Bible mean? What does it mean for something to be true?

It was hard finding people who actually wanted to explore the issues. Mostly there were just given interpretations of the Bible; and if you didn't accept them wholeheartedly, I felt like I was being deemed a fool.

Having gone through a lot of faith crises over the years, and having read a great deal more (so I was exposed to much more), and stepping back from everything to try and get a better view, it seems to me that Scripture is compiled from many different types of sources. Some books are poetry, some are history, some are wisdom, some are instructive in nature, and so forth.

And yes, some of the text (such as the early parts of Genesis, and perhaps Jonah, among others) seems to be written in a "mythical" style as opposed to a literal style.

(Is this the same as what you describe as learning in school?)

Viewing things this way doesn't make the content any less "true," to me. Whether or not some of the early stories are literally true does not change their value to me in describing the truth of whom God is, what creation is about, who people are in relation to God, and so forth -- these stories still embody what C.S. Lewis and others have referred to as "deep truth."

(If someone wants to believe them as literally true, that's fine. There are just simply some problems that one has to overcome, to justify that position... and I was never able to overcome them personally. And I think people focus more on those arguments rather than examining God for his impact on one's life personally.)

The Flood is mentioned in many cultures. Chances are there is truth to the idea of a large-scale flood occurring, since it seems so predominate in separate parts of the world.

As far as the age of people go, I have little idea how that can be reconciled. Those who take it literally surmise that conditions before the Flood were different, allowing longetivity far past what we experience today. Or perhaps the years recorded are simply in different measurement than what we consider years to be. I can't answer that question intelligently, and to be honest, I've focused on other things as higher priority...

In any case, I think the thing I wanted most to stress is that something does not have to be "literally true" in order to still be true conceptually -- and thus dependable and valuable. Some of the Bible was intended to be historically true, some of it was not, but in any case it captures for me the real "essence" of God.

Answer 2

I think you have to...the alternative is that, as you say, some of the stories are either metaphors or corrupted, so who gets to choose which ones are true and which ones are just "nice stories." You didn't mention it, but the parting of the Red Sea...there are chariot wheels and spears in the middle of the Red Sea today! By scientific reasoning parting the Red Sea is impossible, but then why is there a bunch of stuff there? People living hundreds of year - 2 theories I have hear 1. - People needed to live long lives to speed up the process of populating the earth. 2. - Since the earth was so "pure" in the beginning the human body did not encounter as many pollutants, thus allowing his body to live a longer life.

Basically I feel that if we can figure out everything God did, then we have brought ourselves up to His level. As a baby there was no possible way you could figure out how your parents knew every time you woke-up, but as you grew older you realized they had a video baby monitor that showed your crib.

May God richly bless you!

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Answer 3

maximum Christians see the Bible as Morality thoughts, a number of that are traditionally precise. some imagine each and each and every of the thoughts are traditionally precise. those are many times called 'Fundamentalists' even if 'Literalists' can be a more advantageous effective time period.... ...because you'll settle for the 'mandatory' morality of the Bible with out believing each and each and every of the thoughts are literal historic previous. So who 'believes' the Bible thoughts? nicely all and distinctive believes they exist. many who do not have self belief in God, have self belief the thoughts are particularly sturdy advice. many who do not have self belief Jesus became divine evaluate his teachings a sturdy starting place for a compassionate society. And in case you've self belief the Bible is fairly a lot the perfect advice ever committed to writing & Jesus is the neatest guy ever .... nicely that makes you a Christian. yet in case you have not study the Bible, distinctly the elements about Christ, calling your self a Christian is somewhat stupid. And even as that is relaxing to consider what percentage Commandments God will be responsible of 'breaking' this misses the point of JudeoChristianity.... it really is the laying out of an ethical Compass to education guide your life & prosperity.

Answer 4

Everything in the Bible is Completely Factual! One thing tho, we asume that it was impossible for people to live that long - thinking the earth has always been like it is today. Before the Flood, things were alot different. I believe that like in Genises, & Psalms, where it talks about there being water above the atmosphere, that it made the oxygen levels much higher - therefore making it possble to live alot longer, & actually be alot Bigger! There are LOTS skelotons found that were 13 ft tall! Have you ever seen the effects of things growing in an oxygen ehanced environment? Things get Huge & live a long time! - Thus explaining the Dinosaurs, & logevity of life!

Answer 5

So if God can't lie and Jesus is God's son. Why would he quote lies? So either he Jesus is a liar or you'll have to believe all the words of the old testement which is what most people don't believe.

Also God wrote the ten commandments with his own finger and those are the only things we always question. I think God knows what he writes and what will be said about him. I trust the word cause it has always been fullfilled.

Answer 6

yes i do.
The creation of Adam and Eve hasn't been proven false by Evoultion standard.
Jonah being swallowed by a whale is totally possible.
Because, there has been a modern documented event of a man who was swallowed by a humpback and manage to stay alive (i believe it's in 20th century).

Noah's Ark trail has been research and there are many evidence leading thru the existence of it.
People's living for hundreds of years are possible due to the clean environment back then.

Have you notice that the span of human live is getting shorter each time.
We have humans to thanks for that. With the pollutions all over the place, now we have many reasons to catch diseases and die.

Bible is the word of God. If they believe that it is corrupted, then they should reexamine their faith.

Answer 7

Some our just copies of older tales.
Noah Ark is real, the Arab mythology calls Noah "Nu" and you can find also on the Chinese manuscripts or the Central American ones.
There was a big flood, you can call it a deglaciation period or the sinking of Atlantis depends on who you read.
Also when you refer to Enoch Noah and other individuals like Manco Capac ( the creator of Inca Empire) you are referring to individuals with ET connexions.
In the case of Noah Ark don't believe what you are told, just go up in Ararat a guide will cost $200.00 see it, and tell me after that why the wooden pieces, have contents of aluminum, magnesium and titanium, when we supposed to be talking about individual on Stone age?

Answer 8

I believe in the bible as far as it is translated correctly.
I do think alot of the things we consider impossible can happen. Because we don't understand how everything works, how can we say that "It can't happen at all." What we should say is that "It can't happen unless there is more to it that we don't know." LIke a magic trick, we don't see the whole picture. Perhaps God has not revealed how things work because our mortal brains aren't ready for it.

Answer 9

You have to interpret the bible for yourself, I think that it was meant as a guidebook. Much of the bible is written in metaphors. Many of Jesus' parables are metaphoric, and meant to be interpreted, I also think that parts are missing, as in the creation.

Answer 10

i do not because of some of the negativity towards women. for example it states that after war u could take any women from the defeated land that u want and divorce her if she doesnt live up 2 ur expectations. also how paul n timothy both feel that women should learn in silience n have no authority over man