Do you have to take Genesis as 100% literal? What do you think?

Question

evolutionists i know your pre fabricated answers.

athiests i know yours.

im looking for a christian perspective.

i am not announcing my alliance, just looking for opinions and the reason or thought behind them. writing a book.

BACK UP CRITICISM BASHINGS WITH EXAMPLES.

Answer 1

does not matter. all that matters is faith. you got it or you dont. nothing else matters.

Answer 2

Well, I am neither a Christian nor an atheist, but I have a very strong Christian background.

Most Christians do not take Genesis literally, as it is, among scholars, understood to be a myth. That is not to say that it is wrong; it is a form of expressing what happened in a way that the people who wrote it could understand it. Remember, these folks had no understanding of what we understand to be modern science, so they just wrote what they thought was going on. Even though they have the details a bit oddly written, the point behind the tale remains the same: God created the heavens and the earth.

Again, I don't believe that (I'm an agnostic), but I've spent 14 years studying Christian theology and was raised in a deeply Catholic household.

Answer 3

The Bible is a fascinating historical document; but it should not be taken literally. The value of the document is not in literal details, like how many cubits long Noah's ark was. Common sense will quickly tell us that it was impossible for Noah to carry 2 of every type animal in the world, plus enough food for them all for the duration of the flood and for the period after the waters had receeded while plants grew again. It is also good to keep in mind that the Bible as we westerns know it has been translated many times. God may be infallible but humans are humans. Over the centuries errors have crept into the scriptures. You have only to Google "translation mistakes, Bible" to get dozens of websites on the topic. I snatched this small error from the Free Thought Debater" site:

2 Kings 8:26 says "Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign..."

2 Chronicles 22:2 says "Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign..."

King Ahaziah aged 20 years pretty quick there. But, his age is not the point of the story. The value of the Bible lies in the philosophical and metaphoric lessons we can derive from it.

Answer 4

No, I don't think it is possible to take literally. I am a christian, but that does not mean that I am so single-minded and blinded to believe the creation story in every detail.
We have proven ourselves time and time again, as the scientific community has grown. Through the centuries, we have attempted to discover as much as we can about this world, and how it came to be. We have cretaed countless inventions---ones that we could never have dreamed of beforehand. We have proven gravity and electricity and continue to improve upon our theories. So, knowing this....knowing all that science has brought to us, all the things that we now take for granted, we cannot fully discard it when thinking of the creation of the earth.
When the Bible was written, science was only in the ''toddler stages'' of its birth. People were uneducated, living their lives simply to survive---work all of the time. They did not have the time and energy to try and think of the impossible. But they did want answers. They needed answers. And what answers were there to give? There needed to be an explanation. So the writers of the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit or not (choose which one you please), wrote of the creation in the only terms they knew---everything figuratively. They kept to the traditions of oral history...storytelling...myths. It needed to be simple enough, but yet convey the proper meaning...that God is the creator of all things. Ignorance of ignorance is far more comforting than knowledge of ignorance. A reason, an explanation, a story for creation....no matter how truly preposterous....was better than no answer at all.
Yes, I will say that God (or simply 'a higher power' if you please) created this world. How? In seven days? Each day adding more to our world? Well, no....I don't think of it in that sense. I do, however, believe that he began the processes of this world. I believe something had to. The Big Bang? Its possible. But, I believe that ultimately he put the events into motion, so to speak. The ensuing creation of our universe and the many others, the hectic beginning of this world, plants and animals, survival of the fittest, evolution....all of these things are made possible only by some beginning....I believe that was God.
I am not here writing to say that my theory is right. It is very well possible a utterly foolish thought, but it is mine. And I am not here to criticize anyone else....they may be right also. But above all, I don't think it matters all that much how it began as long as you believe it began somehow. Like the people of long ago who simply needed an answer, we can choose to believe whatsoever we mayplease....if we need to feel comfortable. Really, what does it matter what we individually believe? What's more important is that we live the life we have....

Answer 5

You have to pick one. You can't claim literal interpretation of part of the bible, and then allegorical or philosophical interpretation for another. It wasn't written that way.

Unless God left some sort of index identifying history vs. parable, We cannot accurately distinguish which is which. In other words, if you view Genesis as an allegory, then view all OT events as an allegory. To mix the two without guidance from God would be to presume to know the mind of God. The only other possibility would be to state the the OT is not totally of divine inspiration, which is not a Christian option.

Since there are biblical sections that Christians must, by definition,consider as literal (ten commandments, prophesies predicting the coming of the Messiah, etc.), then Christians must take all sections literally, including Genesis.

Answer 6

I'm a Christian & I don't take Genesis literally. That doesn't mean I don't believe in what it represents. I take them as parables. Tales meant to simplify complex ideas for the people of the time so that they could understand.

It seems that science & theology are at odds but I believe in both. Each has its merit & each has its holes. I have yet to see a satisfactory scientific explanation for the origin of the universe. (Big bang? Who caused it? Has to be a First Cause. Evolution? Don't really buy that either & still you can't create something from nothing so how did the first creature get there?)

Good luck with your book! Everyone is entitled to their own point of view. None of us can actually know for sure. For me it's a matter of faith. I know there is a God. I feel it in my gut. People that don't have faith could never be convinced. Those who have it can never be dissuaded.

Answer 7

Why not? What's the problem?
A big flood? I can imagine that.
Samson as a very strong man, I can imagine that.
The first human's gaining knowledge (and discovering nudity), what's the issue?

A God creating the world and speaking it into being? It a creation story, every single civilization has had one, I choose to believe this one. Someday our children will snort at the idea of the Big Bang just as I may snort at the idea of the Earth sitting on the back of a turtle.

It's all fine.

Answer 8

i aske dthis question a long tiem ago to a priest and he gave me a wonderful answer. he said that the 7 days and 7 nights could have been millions of years. and if ou want to argue the questionablility of gods omnipotence cuz it took god millions of years to create the world then yo can also amke the argumetn that the bible does say that god will confound those that seek to question him, cant remember the passsage, its new testamnet bt not the gospels, maybe romans

Answer 9

i don't. no matter how it's read it won't change for me the idea that some existence greater than mine had something to do with the creation of this world. being a christian has nothing to do with that. the O.T. comes from the jews. i accept jesus christ as being god in the flesh to undo what adam did to his work. and no matter what, believe that the god i believe in loves all things and wants there to be nothing but peace and harmony.

Answer 10

Yes and no.
Consider this, by the time Moses wrote it, it had been an oral tradition for hundreds of years already. The core of the story may be completely true, but the details will inevitably be fudged along the way.

Answer 11

With the bible it's not the question if it's true or false. It's the symbolic form in the sense of the doctrine