personally i believe that some of the stories may or may not have happened and many have been exaggerated. however i do feel that it is not important to argue over whether or not it actually happened but to focus on the message.
i would like to tell all you extremeists a little story about not taking what wou read too literally.
the wisest of all rabbis, Hillel, was approached by a roman soldier. mockingly the soldier told him to teach the entire torah standing on one foot. being the man that he was Hillel raised one foot and said this "be good to one another, all the rest is explanation".
2006-07-27 19:22:20 · 9 answers · asked by larry j 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I studied the Bible in college and found that the books of the Bible were all written at different times and under different circumstances. Some were written as fantasy... some as poem... some as myth....some as actual account. In any case, each book must be looked at individually...written in the time period in which it is written and by the person who authored it. In any case, and on a more personal level, I believe it gives us a picture of a very close God who is also far away. Some of it is figurative...some of it is real. And, as a wise counselor once told me..." good science lines up with good religion, and good religion lines up with good science."
2006-07-27 19:31:36 · answer #1 · answered by Tonny D 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Allegory????? Pretty strong suggestion there.
I think the eye-witnessed accounts scribed in The Bible were what the writer, in his best efforts, perceived what he believed was happening....and we have the challenge of piecing together what that writer really saw.
Let's say that Ezekiel, for about 5 or so minutes, saw a popular brand TV set materialize out of nowhere, sent BACK in time by some smart M.I.T. students in a time-travel experiment:
Ezekiel would blaze "pen" to parchment, excitedly but clearly IN HIS TERMS, write what he witnessed. When we would later read what he saw, we more likely would have NO idea it was a TV set he saw; we'd probably debate on for eons what it was Ezekiel actually saw.
Some Biblical stories are also written as a parable; a "what if" type lesson the writer feels WE should live our lives as he believes God wants us to.
I'm not saying ALL Biblical witnessed accounts are allegorically exaggerated or even fabled. Many such accounts may have a scientific explanation, but also very well may have happened by God's hand. And other written accounts may well even have been truly miraculous by God's hand as well; events that will forever defy scientific explanation.
It's sad to also note that the actual Biblically written accounts have been altered by King James and will remain so....given a discovery of a true untouched copy of The Bible out there awaiting archeological discovery isn't found
2006-07-27 19:41:13 · answer #2 · answered by Mr. Wizard 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
this is complicated. some have faith all the thoughts surely handed off. maximum have faith the bible is stuffed with mythology, history, prophecy, poetry, narrative, and so on and distinctive kinds of writing could be examine of their literal as properly as cultural and historic context. Others have faith the bible is thoroughly mythological and is in basic terms a e book coaching morals and none of it is going to likely be taken actually. so which you notice there is an entire spectrum of interpretation, i've got faith in case you plotted the numbers of people believing the extremes and the middle floor you will see some thing like a classic distribution curve with the extreme liberals and extreme fundamentalists interior the minority on the perimeters of the bell curve and the final public of christians someplace in between those 2 extremes. desire this facilitates.
2016-11-03 04:22:40 · answer #3 · answered by saturnio 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with you. I have asked a similar question a while back. I referred to talking snakes, a wooden boat carrying every animal on the planet from a flood etc. Yes God can do whatever he wants, but they seem pretty far fetched
2006-07-27 19:26:40 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I do believe that all the stories in the Bible are true. I do believe they were told for the lessons that they taught but nevertheless they are true.
2006-07-27 19:27:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes i am a firm believer in the BIBLE and its stories,teachings. how can you not believe ? everything written that was going to happen on earth has happened and will happen. read REVELATIONS, which is where we are today and see that it is correct of what is going on in the world today.
2006-07-27 19:35:59 · answer #6 · answered by ronald r 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I like Hillel. My kind of guy!
2006-07-27 19:26:03 · answer #7 · answered by dt 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are not stories, they are actual events. So yes I believe that these events actually happened.
2006-07-27 19:33:26 · answer #8 · answered by Geoff C 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Exactly.
2006-07-27 19:26:18 · answer #9 · answered by jaybirdri 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋