The basic tenets of Christianity deem that some parts of the Bible are parables (stories with a goal?) and some parts are fact. How can I, as a questioning, intelligent human being, put my faith in a book that was written and re-written centuries ago, and that is admittedly interspersed with truths and fables, without anyone being able to accurately tell me which is truth and which is fiction?
2006-07-18 02:14:55 · 11 answers · asked by Village Idiot 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Now... don't get me wrong... I consider myself an Agnostic. While as I don't necesarily believe that there is a God, I'm open to the idea that there may be a higher power... but I need WAY more proof than what's been given.
2006-07-18 02:29:26 · update #1
Simply put...Adam and Eve while not being a parable is written as a truth but with symbolic infrastructure. If you are need to validate this..simple follow the theme throughout the course of the history of reference..difficult to do if you don't know your (the) Bible. However, as most "christians" don't know their Bibles..a few..some...here is the best way to check for continuity. Go to all the anti-Bible websites available..at least 2 or 3 and they will have listed for you a vast array (I'm not being facetious or sarcastic...they have scrutinized the Bible front to back looking for errors and inconsistancies) of "supposed" conflicts. Take the conflict and ask these questions...
1. Was the verse, chapter or book reference taken from the KJV of the Bible. (No other versions are more accurate)
2. Was the verse, chapter or book taken out of context? Such as they lifted a phrase from a verse that asks a question rather than makes a statement.
3. If symbology is involved...reference this by using the Bible as its own interpretor. Certain symbols flow through the Bible such water, light, sword, wine, blood, sheep and etc. Where literal..it will be literal...where allogorical it will usually be symbolic.
4. Would the omission of a certain event detracted from the impact. Would the absence of an embarrassing event such as David stealing another man's wife have been conspicious by its absence. If you notice, most of God's key peeps are very flawed, human and imperfect..except for...Jesus.
There are many more ways to tell if something doesn't jell out of scripture..but mostly if you examine closely you will see that not only does it jell where put..but also flows rather miraculously with a cohesive unity through out scripture.
Such as for instance:
Adam and Eve...both brought sin into the world...they disobeyed, hid in shame and then lay blame outside themselves, never repenting. It took the bloodshed of what had to have been a pure animal to make a covering for their nakedness.
Jesus took sin out of the world (paid for it). He was obediant and calls us to lay our sins before Him, confessing and taking responsibilty for our choices and then to repent. He was the pure bloodshed that covers our shame, guilt, sin...nakedness.
Also..another handy tool is to use an online Bible reference guide like http://www.biblegateway.com and enter in a key word, phrase or name and see what other information you will find as this are referenced throughout scripture. Like for instance..Adam..(omit the begat scriputures..tedious and boring).
Good luck in your search. It might be good to note that when the Bible scoffer sites have done their job...try and realize..that with all of their efforts they have contrived still..very few real or even nearly real errors or conflicts in scriptures compared to dealing with a manuscript that is...66 books, written by 44 different authors over 1500 years. So, having said all that...God bless you. Love in Christ, ~J~ <><
2006-07-18 03:06:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 11⤊ 8⤋
Jesus often told parables to get a point across. Basically though, read it and use your own judgment and beliefs to decide if it is a parable or not. You have to ask yourself if you believe that God could really do such a thing or whatever. I guess your first question should be whether or not you believe in God. If you do not believe in God, then the Bible means nothing to you, just like the guy that posted first, and second, and fourth, and everyone else that makes it obvious that they don't believe and they want to tell you that you can't believe either.
2006-07-18 09:21:07 · answer #2 · answered by Icy U 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's pretty easy, really... the Old Testament consists of the myths, superstitions, fairy tales and fantastical delusions of a wandering bunch of Bronze Age goat herders, interspersed with a tiny bit of real history, a whole lot of pseudo-history, and sprinkled with some morality tales. Adam and Eve is not a parable... it is myth and pseudo-history.
The New Testament is a total fraud. The 'sayings' of Jesus are really tidbits from the Greek Cynic and Stoic philosophies, placed into the mouth of a storybook character (Jesus).
The entire bible can be dismissed as a literary curiosity, and you will be none the worse off for it. The entirety of meaningful content in the Wholly Babble can be condensed into a single sentence: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Live up to that, and you will get along fine in life. Fart off the rest... it is just out-dated commentary.
2006-07-18 10:10:46 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Outside of the Psalms and Proverbs, Jesus told the most parables. There is one in the Old Testament about trees looking for someone to be their ruler.
If you are reading a parable or history from the Bible, you need to be looking at what the moral of it is saying.
2006-07-18 09:40:59 · answer #4 · answered by tim 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The bible fables are copied from ancient civilizations predated Hebrew/ Jewish acestors. The creation and deluge were some examples..
Mesopotamian mythology is the collective name given to Sumerian, Akkadian, and Assyrian, and Babylonian mythologies.
2006-07-18 09:27:32 · answer #5 · answered by sidneysee 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Bible is all just stories...some might have some basis in actual events, but they're really all just lessons someone thought you should learn and they stamped it as the word of God...
2006-07-18 09:20:22 · answer #6 · answered by musikurt 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
To put it simply, everything is just a story in the Bible, albeit very clever ones.
2006-07-18 09:18:13 · answer #7 · answered by =_= 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Here's a hint - the fiction bits have to do with God.
2006-07-18 09:17:48 · answer #8 · answered by bonzo the tap dancing chimp 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You either take the time to sort it out yourself and decide, or take someone else's word.
2006-07-18 09:18:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you should pick Tim.. You can always trust a man who wears red scarfs..
2006-07-18 14:55:16 · answer #10 · answered by dbrady 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋