Why do some Christians take the Bible literally, when Jesus spoke in Parables?

Answer 1

Not everything He said was a Parable, and even in His Parables, He Taught Absolute Truths. Therefor The Bible is Literally True.

Answer 2

There are a lot of things in the Bible that are analogies, parables or visions and these things are recorded as such. If the passage doesnt SAY its not literal, then we believe it to be literal, but the message will always be truthful. We dont believe that something being a parable means "not true" the parables were always meant to bring the truth through a story. And Jesud didnt ALWAYS speak in parables, only when He was speaking to people who didnt understand.

Answer 3

Yes, Jesus spoke in parables, but not all the time. But he also speak about literal things. When He says you shall love your enemies or I am going to prepare houses for you and return again, He did not speak in parables. Those were literal.

Answer 4

How do you translate that into everything in the Bible is a parable? Jesus standing on the shore on the sea of gallilee telling a parable and then healing someone is not some great parable in itself.

Answer 5

IF all of the bible is not taken as literal truth then NOTHING in it can be considered literally true. how could WE possibly know which is which? Jesus says to cut off your hands and feet and pluck out your eyes if they cause you sin, and yet no christian has ever taken him literal on that point. then the bible says that if you confess jesus is lord and believe god raised him after 3 days you will be saved! WHICH IS THE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE AND WHICH IS LITERALLY TRUE??? and furthermore, HOW DO YOU KNOW? what we should see are a bunch of blind and amputated christians roaming around. but we don't, so that means we must pick and choose which verses are literal. Jeebus' point above is right on.

Also, IF the bible were literally true we should find skeletal remains of unicorns and giants, we should find evidence of a world wide flood... the flood thing, tho, that's just impossible... i'm SORRY. ALL OF THE VEGETATION WOULD BE DEAD after the flood. ALL OF IT. this means, yup, NO FOOD for those who don't eat meat, and for those who do, they would have to feast on the only 2 left of many many species. Jonah would have dissovled in the fish's belly, that IS what stomach acids are for... etc. Even more evidence for the disbelieving of the bible is the fact that most of those stories are found in much older writings around the region, but not of the jewish tradition. (e.g. http://geocities.com/paulntobin/floodorigins.html on the flood story and gilgamesh).

Basically what i'm saying is that in order to have your bible taken figuratively you must discredit it because there is no way to know which is literal truth and which isn't, "saved" for example could just be a figurative way of saying you'll have a nice life. And if you want to take it all literally then you have to reconcile the errors, both internal, as well as with the physical evidence of the earth.

Answer 6

I am sorry that you don't know why Jesus spoke in parables. If you have never trusted that He died for your sins then you can never understand the parables He used parables to tell about a coming kingdom. He us parables so that no-believes could not understand them. Matthew 13: 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? Matthew 13: 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Answer 7

Some things are literal and others are not. I think Jesus was clear as to which was which. How would you interepret this when Jesus said that " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the father except through me." Seems pretty simple. And he didn't prescribe this as a parable. If he did, it would have been explained to the disciples afterward.

Answer 8

The parable itshelf is not literal, but the message it conveys is literal. To understand the parable you must understand the message.

Answer 9

Those who take the entire Bible literally do so because they were either taught that it was infallible or they accept that idea on faith. The Scriptures present the thoughts and acts of men who were searching for God, and who in their writings left us their highest concepts of righteousness and truth. The Scriptures do contain much that is true, very much; but you should realize they also contain much that is misrepresentative of the loving God Jesus came to reveal to all the world.

Nothing which human nature has touched can be regarded as infallible. Through the mind of man divine truth may indeed shine forth, but always of relative purity and partial divinity. The creature may crave infallibility, but only the Creators possess it.

The Scriptures always have and always will reflect the intellectual, moral, and spiritual status of those who create them. But never permit yourself for one moment to believe any Scripture which tell you that the God of love directed our forefathers to slay all their enemies-- men, women, and children. Such records are the words of men, and not very holy men; they are not the word of God.

But the most deplorable thing is not the erroneous idea of the absolute perfection of the Bible and the infallibility of its teachings, but rather the confusing misinterpretation of these sacred writings by the tradition-enslaved leaders of Christianity, and how they employ both the doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible and their personal misinterpretations thereof in their effort to withstand newer teachings of the gospel of the kingdom.

Never forget: God does not limit the revelation of truth to any one generation or to any one people. Many earnest seekers after the truth have been, and will continue to be, confused and disheartened by the doctrine of the perfection of the Scriptures.

When Jesus used a parable for illustrating his message, he utilized just one feature of the story for that purpose. (Many wrong ideas concerning the teachings of Jesus are produced by attempting to make allegories out of his parables.)

Jesus used parables because they provide for a simultaneous appeal to vastly different levels of mind and spirit. They stimulate the imagination, challenge our discrimination, and provoke critical thinking; and they promote sympathy without arousing antagonism.

Parables utilize the material and natural as a means of introducing the spiritual and the supermaterial.

Parables favor the making of impartial moral decisions. They evade much prejudice and put new truth gracefully into the mind, and they do all this with a minimum of personal resentment.

To reject the truth contained in parabolical analogy requires conscious intellectual action, which is usually directly in contempt of one's honest judgment and fair decision.

Answer 10

Because, as Jesus said, the Holy Spirit gives wisdom to those who believe to understand the parables. Even a four or five year old is capable of understanding them, why aren't you. YBIC