Is the bible meant to be taken literally as fact or is it a series of metaphores and implications?

Question

I have read many bible type questions and it seems to me that many people think the bible should be literal and others belive that there are metaphorical stories or teachings. They cannot both be right, nor can you dip in and choose bits you like and effectively read in or make up a completely new context somewhere else to prove a point. It is either literal or not - which is it?.

Why is it that the athiests give solid, factual answers, whilst those religious replies suggest I pray to god or I am going to hell. Yes i do read poetry the same way I read legal briefs etc. and as for the 10 commandments you picked about the only one with legal consequence. Is there adultery police? Or Anti-ox coverting militia going to lock me up? I await one reasonable answer from someone with religious faith, just one to actually read and reply to the question and not feel they need to pray for me.

If you are suggesting parabals are just stories with a meaning so people understand them better then Aesop must have been the 2nd coming. He had loads of parables - rabit and tortoise being one of my favs!

Kendra - when was it illegal to be a Christian and face stoning etc? I am a non believer but I ask questions whose answers may sway me - but as yet no-one has really answered my questions with anything resembling an arguement for religion.

Answer 1

When people first began to believe in the bible it was taken literaly but as more and more things in it were found out to be impossible religions lean more and more toward metaphorical.

Answer 2

The Bible is a collection of different types of books from a broad period of time. Some books are history, some are more philosophical, law and some are poetry. You certainly don't read all these different types of books in the same way.

Do you read a poem the same you way you read a legal brief? The answer is no. this is why it is important to approach the Bible with basic common sense and some level of serious study if you are really trying to get at what is being communicated. it is also why we need an interpreter and just some opinion is not enough.

Answer 3

Yes. You are right. They cannot both be right. So, the question is, is the Bible a historical account of the Jewish people, their kings, their victories and defeats, their culture, values, beliefs, and accounts of real Jews that existed or is it metaphorical ? History, culture, geography would 100% unaminously agree that the book is a real account of the experiences of the Jewish people thoughout history. Now, are there metaphors? Sure. There are also similes, puns, alliteration and other figurative language. "As the deer pants for water, so my soul longs after You" (King David talking to God). Does this mean that David was a deer? No, clearly not. But the meaning is that his desire was to know God. Are there symbols in the Bible? Sure, but you must always understand the context of what is going on in the time, place, and people that were there. If you take anything out of its context, you skew from the meaning. So, bottom line, the Bible is literal in meaning, but uses figurative language to express illustrations.

Answer 4

It CAN be both, not because We want it to be, but because of the occurances of the time. During history, there has been many times when it was illegal to be a Christian, to the point that Christians were stoned to death {and other ways of being murdered} for their beliefs. Some of the books of the Bible were written in these times in what they thought back then as code. Some stories were told almost as fairy tales so that the message of God and Christ could still be told, but that it wouldn't be caught by officials as an illegal item, and people could freely still spread the word of God. You can't just say this part of the Bible was historical certainty, and this part is just stories. You need to look deeper, you have to go through history. You need to know what was going on at the time in the world, where the authors lived, the laws they lived under and so on. Jesus even stated at many times that He was telling a parable, a story so that people could better understand the deeper concepts He was trying to get them to learn. I can already tell by your tone that you won't like my answer, but we should never ask questions to answers we don't want truly answered. You've already made your mind up, so I'm not really sure why you even asked it? In a hope it would make us change our minds? Mine is as set in stone as possible. :) Because of PROOF, not because of supposed things that could or could not have happened.

Answer 5

The OT has a number of literary techniques.
There are -generally speaking- two types of Midrashic writings
"Prophetic" literature [ remember that OT prophetic literature was written after the fact...and was most assuredly not "prophetic" with the English sense of the word.
"E" source material and "J" source material were more socio-political in nature than theological
Essene influence , Greek philosophical thought , "King" literature,
"star prophecy" literature....and a lot more

On the other hand....some war commentaries are probably to be taken more or less at face value

it is probably overly simplistic to say that the OT is either literal or allegorical...it is probably closer to the reality to say that many/most of the stories were never understood to be historically accurate but that most stories carried a moral, cultural, social, religious message that was implicitly understood by the Jewish readers..

but not literal...

The NT uses some of the same literary techniques ..but basically.operates under a totally different set of exegetical constructions...


for a different point of view...google "form criticism", "Bultmann"
"therodore of mopsuestia"---no , I didn't make up that name

Read the "Avesta" and "Gilgamesh" for much earlier versions of many of the bible stories

Answer 6

Take the Bible as the living Word of God. Everything is meant to be taken literal except when noted like parables and prophecies.

Answer 7

The Bible is God's word which is meant to touch and move everyone.

Just like God made some short, tall, blond, brunette, red-head's, rocket scientists, plumbers, teachers (etc) ... God also has words that are meant to touch each of us in unique ways. Since most humans are built the same, the Gospel is designed to talk to most people. Of course, there are the "Doubting Thomas's" ... but God's also got words to reach them. Very much of the Bible is literal. Jesus does use metaphors/parables to help some of us understand where we could not in the literal.

Answer 8

God put down the Ten Commandments in rock. What do they mean to you. If I kill some one will go the prison? For people who break the Commandments Hell is a real place. We need to cry out to God for forgiveness and seek & trust in a Savor. ( Jesus ).

Answer 9

you can take things literally or metaphorically. for example, the bible says to be born again. well, you can't actually do that, but you can be baptizeed, which means the same thing(Romans 6). thats just one example. try to read it, and find different metaphors and literalities because soon you'll be able to tell the difference!God bless you while studying the Bible!

Answer 10

The Bible is to be taken very seriously! If you are speaking of parables, They ALL have meaning. Rewording the Bible is to put it in laymans terms. easier for some to understand.