Genesis for example.
If you didn't would that make you nonChristian.
2006-08-29 00:19:56 · 24 answers · asked by zorro 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hello!! :o) As a Christian - I believe that it's IMPOSSIBLE to interpret ALL of the Bible 'literally'. What often makes me smile is when I hear from a Christian who CLAIMS to take the entire Bible literally - and then proceeds to 'interpret' a passage from the Bible that they just read. [Hello?!] IF all of the Bible was to be taken literally [as SOME Christians say it is] than there would be no need for interpretation. Have a great day!! Craig!! :o)
2006-08-29 00:29:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The early Christians talk about different ways to interpret the bible, literalism is only one and was considered the most shallow way. If you interpret Genesis literally and not the other science statements the bible makes (around 50 of them in physics alone) then you are being intellectually false. Genesis is an issue regarding creation because evolution is a direct attack on fundamentalism but not Christianity.
2006-08-29 09:19:36 · answer #2 · answered by OPM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know for sure if it would make you a non-christian.. but I don't take it literally, and I never have. The entire bible was taken from scriptures that were written by men, compiled into an 'anthology' that was edited by a man , and then translated by men.. How could you possibly take it all literally??? The margin for error is soooo huge that I would never think it a good thing to take it literally.
I was taught to be my own person, and to take from things what I wish.When I read the bible, I see a story that was passed down through time and rewritten over and over again ( before it became the institution that it is today) .. and I cannot wrap my brain around those who take it word for word implicitly as true.
I don't think this makes me a non-Christian.. I think that this makes me a logical and thinking Christian. I believe that the bible is like an Urban Myth.. or Old Wives Tale... They are all taken from an actual account or true event and distorted beyond all recognition so that there is hardly any truth to it at all.
Perhaps there are many truths in the bible that can be taken literally.. but I think that it has been distorted beyone all recognition so that there is hardly any truth to it at all. That is what, as a Christian, I take from the bible.
2006-08-29 07:29:50 · answer #3 · answered by Imani 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't interpret the Bible literally. Why? Because it has been interpreted so many times that I think it's lost a lot of it's original meanings! I'm still a Christian though, for I always keep the most important ideals near and dear to my heart!
2006-08-29 07:29:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, the Bible must not, even once, be interpreted literally.
The Bible is more like a code like for example;
"And there roar a giant animal with worm's legs and a head of a lion, bursting out flames that is a threat to man."
That means it's an M1A1 Abrams.
The Bible is written down in those structures because, really, there is no such thing as "tanks" from those days.
2006-08-29 07:28:14 · answer #5 · answered by The Guide Giver of the West 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Bible is only an interaction by Man of how they had interacted with God and is not the exact word of God. Man wrote the Bible, not God. There are literally hundreds, if not thousand, of version of the Bible.
Not literally interpreting the bible does not make you less of a Christian, it make you just human.
2006-08-29 07:34:43 · answer #6 · answered by Shaula 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The most important thing about interpreting the Bible is context.
And an understanding of ancient Hebrew and Greek cultures.
2006-08-29 07:46:00 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most Biblical scholars (college professors, not preachers) agree that many parts of the Bible are not literal. The story of Jonah and the whale, for instance. Christ used parables, and certainly they were a common way to make one's point understood in that region of the world.
I honestly think that the best thing to do is to read the Bible and make your own decisions. Religion is a very personal thing, and whether you want to believe the Bible is abstract or literal is up to you. The important thing is to believe in the love and forgiveness of God.
2006-08-29 07:29:27 · answer #8 · answered by annabellesilby 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I definitley don't, but some people I know do. People who recorded these things... it wouldn't occur to them that he didn't do these things, so they thought up ways that God did things. I mean, the new testament records things that really happened. Anyone who is a christian believes that Christ came back to live. Thats all, you then have to make up your own mind... he could perform miracles but did he? As long as you believe he came back to life, you are a christian. Personally I don't believe half of what is in Genesis, but I'm still a christian. You have to make up your own mind becasuse noone can know for sure. Just believe in the father, son and holy ghost and you're a christian.
2006-08-29 07:29:59 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No one interprets every word of the Bible literally. Usually it's pretty obvious from the context as to whether it's literal or not (such as, when Christ is referred to as the "bread of life," it's not saying He's literally bread and no one interprets it that way because it's obvious).
2006-08-29 07:23:49 · answer #10 · answered by KDdid 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋