Christians do you think the Bible is literal or metaphorical?

Question

If you think it's literal, how do you come to terms with the fact that science has proven it to be false?

If you think it's metaphorical how do you come to terms with the fact that science has proven it to be a lie? Its still a lie weather metaphorical or not isn't it?

Answer 1

If it were literal it would be meaningless. Whether or not it is untrue it is a source of rich cultural meanings and inspiration.

Answer 2

The Bible has bee written over many years, some parts Are of a countries history (Jewish/Christian Peoples History), some parts are stories with morels attached, There are other parts of the Bible which are Laws (Which the British Laws are based on).
Then there are other bits relating to peoples & their lives. So the Bible is not all fiction, but a combination, put together for people to learn from.
You say that Science has proven that the Bible is False, but there has been more facts from the Bible that have been proven to be True rather than False.
Scientists have now found enough evidence to prove that the Mediterranean Sea, was one a great valley where people lived but after the Ice age when sea levels rose, the who area was flooded when the Atlantic Ocean, broke through what we now call the Strait of Gibraltar.
In the British Library there are Roman, Greek & Hebrew manuscripts, by different people who had nothing to gain by writing them, confirm that Jesus Lived, died & was rose again.

Answer 3

Is the Bible a lie? Well it is not. Many people think that the Bible is a lie because that is what society has told them. If people would really read the Bible, they would see that it includes Julies Caeser, Alexander the Great, and The Roman Empire. Histroy cannot say that someone just made it up. The Bible dates back in history for thousands of years. Science cannot say that the Bible is fake either. Science says that we evolved from slime in the sea. If you look more closely at a butterfly's wings, you see the hundreds of tiny veins all neatly and eveny spaced out. How can you say that we just evolved without Creative Design. Also, not to be rude, but the reason you asked this question is because man does not want to humiliate himself by saying that there is a higher power. By eliminating God from society, man has taken the idea that takes a good faith and destroyed it. Since then, all kinds of crime have taken over our minds. Also, the idea that the Bible is outdated is absolutely ridiculous. How can the Ten Commandments be outdated. Oh so not killing someone is outdated? Cheating is outdated? Stealing is outdated? Honoring the people who devoted their lives to raising your sorry self is outdated? It is just absolutely stupid! Don't ridicule Christianity and the Bible because they are what began this country. The government was based on the Bible. The three branches of government were based on the Bible. Isaiah 33:22 states, "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king, he will save us." If you need something to do, go get rid of all the hinduism and islam that is taking over this country. LEAVE CHRISTIANITY ALONE!!!!!

Answer 4

The bible is literal. Just as there is a literal wrong ang right, literal good and evil and a literal heaven and hell. The bible tells us these things literally (pun intended and not!) You see the more science devles deeper into its search for answers without the basis of a creator in mind, the more science becomes confused. For example you tell me how the universe became? Sure you may quote the big bang THEORY or some other Godless case for creation, but if you look at natural law you see that everything has a cause. Simply put before Z there is Y. Before Y there is X and so on. there cannot be one without the other being the cause for the next. Science and the christian faith can coexist because they prove each other. I'll be happy to have an intelligent debate about it!!!!

Answer 5

No, science has not proven the Bible to be a lie; I don't know where you get that idea; I took biology and physics in college; but I believe the Bible can be both literal and metaphorical.

Answer 6

You are wrong. First, science has done no such thing. If anything, the science you worship has authenticated and confirmed both its timeline and historical accuracy. Now, to deal with the rest of your ill-fated attempt at logic. To ask if it's literal or metaphorical is at once to declare that you simply do not know, therefor your inquiry lacks merit in terms of understanding. It is both literal and parable in its construct and meaning. It employs these rhetorical devices because they were common language uses at that time and in some places still are. Your ignorant, modern American misundertsanding in these matters of other cultures and their use of language only compounds the semantical ambiguities and the mental challenges they impose on those like you trying desperately to defend an untenable rationale.

Answer 7

I consider the Bible to be reliable, and a whole lot more complex, than "Is it this or is it that."
It is written communication... and there are parts which are to be read as literal history.
There are portions which are clearly metaphor and poetic.
There are portions which are prophetic.
There are portions which are lovely, and some which are horrific in scope.
It is evidence to me of a mind which is vast, and complex, interesting and interested in us. The Bible demonstrates to me a great intelligence, and a plan much bigger than any of us can imagine.

And no the Bible is not a lie. It is absolute truth.

I'm glad someone else picked up the misspelling on "whether".
All of a sudden I was expecting rain.

Answer 8

The Bible communicates its truths in both a literal and metaphorical fashion. There are some Christians who are exclusively literalists in their interpretation of the Bible, but not all Christians hold that the truths of God's revelation are expressed in textual literalism.

A metaphor is not usually equated by reasonable people as being a deception. A metaphor is an attempt to communicate a meaning, an idea or a truth using symbol or analogy. Further, much of the language of science employs metaphors as a means of communicating more complex ideas and theories ( for example: string theory is not saying that the universe is composed of yarn, thread and rope, but is using the image of a string to communicate an idea about the relationship of space and time. The word string is being used as a metaphor. Does this use of a metaphor by scientists make them liars?)

Science might be able to demonstrate that certain events described in the Bible could not have happened as described because such things would violate, say the laws of physics, or what we know about geologic history, but that does not render the claims of revelation (that God exists, that God exists in relationship to the world, that God has revealed himself )to be necessarily false.

No one can coerce you to have faith in God, but if you are going to make arguments against the claims of faith and revelation, you might want to work harder to produce stronger arguments, make proper distinctions, and substantiate your claims.

Answer 9

Metaphorical. . . a culturally remembered faith story. Science cannot disprove a metaphor since a metaphor is not fact. A metaphor cannot be a lie since it is a conceived and not an absolute statement.

Of course if you knew this you would also know how to spell whether properly in this sentence.

Answer 10

The Bible has to be read in a literal metaphorical and spiritual level, or you miss the point!

Answer 11

Well, for one, it is not a fact that science has proven it to be a lie, that is just your own belief.

And yes, I think it is literally true and metaphorically true too