Should the Bible be taken literally, word for word?

Question

If so, how are the following versus supposed to be taken?

I Cor.14:34 "Women should be silent in the churches for they are not permitted to speak, but should be submissive, as the law also says."
-Are women really supposed to do this?

Deut.22:20-21 "If, however,... no proof of the girls virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death."
-Are christian's supposed to kill any woman not found to be a virgin on her wedding night?

Deut. 23:2 "No one of illegitimate birth nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord."
-Are children born out of wedlock not welcomed by the Lord?

Eph.6:5 "Slaves, obey your human masters, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ."
I Peter2:18 "Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel."
-Does this condone slavery?

Answer 1

The Bible, especially the Old Testament, was written for it's time!! The laws were written for good reasons at the time, but obviously should not be read as applicable today. It is the most interesting but also the most misunderstood book of all times!! Read it in context of the time it was written, otherwise fear the belief that you might burn in hell!

Answer 2

Shall we take them one by one....
1 Corinthians 14:34 is written to a church that was mostly Jewish. Jewish women were not permitted to be in the sanctuary with men during services. So most had limited knowledge of the Torah (Old Testament). The churches allowed women in the sanctuary. In this church, several of the women were interrupting the services with questions. It is the interrupting of the service that Paul is forbidding. If you read the whole section, he tells them if they have questions to wait and ask their husbands the questions AFTER the service is over. In context, the scripture has nothing to do with muzzling women. It has to do with keeping order in a meeting.

Deuteronomy 22:20-21 If a woman was falsely passed off as a virgin, (with a swearn statement and for which additional dowry, etc was paid), the deception was punishable. The Bible takes the sins of fornication (sex before marriage) and adultry (sex outside of your marriage) very seriously. In the section of Deutronomy where this is listing, it is giving court procedures. If the woman was tried in a court of law and found quilty of fornication, perjury (lied under oath about her condition), and extortion (accepted money for being a virgin), the court could sentence her to death. As Christians today are not "the court", they do not have the legal authority to stone a person.

Deutronomy 23:2 does not prevent God from welcoming that person. He (and 3 generations that followed) were not permitted to enter the "assembly" of the Lord, which was a position of leadership. Again, the Bible treats fornication as a serious sin that has consequences. Among them is the exclusion of the illegitimate children from high office in the Jewish religion.

Ephesians 6:5 and 1 Peter 2:18 simply acknowledges the society in which the people lived. In those days the majority of people were slaves. Infact, for the vast majority of human history, people have been slaves. Until the last couple hundred years, businesses did not have employees, they had slaves. If you worked, you most likely a slave. At the time Paul and Peter were writing, roughly 90% of people in the Roman empire were slaves. It was a fact of life. The verses simply instruct a person how to live in that condition. The Bible writers knew that it would be the condition in which the majority of humanity would live for most of human history.

You will not find anything written by either Paul or Peter that say to go out and buy slaves. Those scriptures do not condone (or condemn) slavery. Rather they acknowledge what existed and tell people how to survive under that condition. Try reading the book of Philemon sometime. Paul does address the issue there by asking a slave owner (Philemon) to release his slave.

Answer 3

You know, the Bible was written a REALLY long time ago, and I think you'll find that in every culture and religion, there is some sort of sacred text full of rules that maybe worked back in the day, but would be considered completely bogus in our modern society. For instance, the ancient Sumerians only allowed boys to attend school, and if a boy was caught misbehaving in class only sllightly (whispering to a friend, coming in late, etc.) he was whipped quite vigorously and sent back home. Clearly that wouldn't fly in today's world. I think that at the time the Bible was written, those maybe really were the rules people lived by, but we have since evolved as a species and gotten more sophisticated in terms of judgment and punishment to fit the crime. With each generation we evolve a little bit more, and the rules change. Things which were totally unacceptable just 35 years ago (interracial marriage, people living together before getting married, etc.), while still not accepted by everyone, are much more accepted by the mainstream. So to answer your question, I think that taking any text that is over 2,000 years old, not just the Bible, literally is probably kind of a silly thing to do.

Answer 4

Corinthians is talking about speaking in tongues and prophesy-not speaking in general.
As for Deut.--you have to read the whole chapter to understand what they are talking about. Killing someone who is not a virgin would be absurd---
Chapters 12-26 are talking about righteousness in practice.
As for children out of wedlock--we are all created for a purpose and God has a specific plan for our lives. The Word says, that all things work for the good, for those that love the Lord. So even in bad situations God is still working and that child has a wonderful future and is most certainly welcomed and loved by God.
We are all slaves to someone---you work for someone--then you have a master of some sort--be respectful, humble, and obedient and do all things with the joy of the Lord.
We sometimes only read bits and pieces of the Word when we should be studying it intensely and praying for wisdom and discernment.

Answer 5

Not all of the Bible is literal however the verses you are showing are literal Corinthians stands true. Deaut. and Eph. are Old Testament Law and are fulfilled with the atonement of Christ. Now if the Corinthians verse is giving you trouble it has spiritual meaning although as I say it is literal and means what it says there is a spiritual reason for this rule it is a law under Old Testament Law. We are not under law but are taught to follow this as it has a spiritual meaning. When you seek the meaning of this consider that Christ was in ssubmission to the Father as the Church is in submission to Christ as a wife is in submission to her husband as the flesh is in submission to the spirit. It is the order of God and it to has a spiritual meaning.

Answer 6

HILARIOUS JOKE,,(read)

Dear President Bush,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from you and understand why you would propose and support a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage. As you said "in the eyes of God marriage is based between a man a woman." I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination... End of debate.
I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some other elements of God's Laws and how to follow them.
1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanness - Lev.15: 19-24. The problem is how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is, my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2. clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there 'degrees' of abomination?
7. Lev.21:20 states that I may ! not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle- room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev.19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)
I know you have studied these things extensively and thus enjoy considerable expertise in such matters, so I am confident you can help.
Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and unchanging.

Answer 7

yes it should, us women folk, have a way with our own mouths... as for slavery, Masters were held accountable too. and if we were still stoning those un-pure girls, there would not be so many illegitimate children, and they do pay a price for the sins we committed, they were not permitted to enter the synagogues, but they were loved by God. As for word for word, yes, but also know what meant what in those times... it makes for clearer picture.

Answer 8

I think the bible is allegory (teaching spiritual truths via stories)

The Bible WAS divinely inspired; but that inspiration came through the filter of a man's comnsciousness; and any divinely inspired message was God teaching THAT man according to his level of understanding.

To hold ANY scripture as "THE WORD OF GOD" is dangerous because the finite mind of man cannot comprehend the infinite mind or God.

Answer 9

Those are all laws of the old testament, which Christians are not to abide under (Col 2) besides Ephesians and I Peter.

And as for those, well, no. It doesn't condone slavery. It just says that if you are a slave, obey your master... because obidience is rewarded in heaven.

Answer 10

Not all word for word, much is symbolic and much of it (like the versus you mentioned) have more to do with the culture and era of the time it was written.

I have a feeling you knew that, and are just curious what people would say - and that's okay.

Thanks