Why can some things in the Bible be metaphors and some cannot?

Question

It annoys me. I have an intelligent Christian friend who believes that Genesis is an allegory to the Big Bang and evolution. Yet, when I suggested that the stories of Jesus might be just tales to encourage people to live a moral life, rater than a literal history , he got angry at me. How does this make any sense?

Answer 1

You might point out to him that Jesus believed literally in:
1) Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:1-6)
2) Jonah being swallowed by a great fish (Matthew 12:39-41)
3)Noah and the flood (Matthew 24:37-39)
4)The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone (Luke 17:26-30)

Answer 2

The Bible should be read in the sense in which it appears to be written. Those details which are set forth as history should be taken as such, barring clear language which indicate otherwise, such as "Jesus taught a PARABLE..." There is really no decent reason for treating the scripture any other way, including the presence of things which seem fantastic, such as miracles. If we believe that there is a supernatural God, then we should not be surprised to find accounts that speak of the supernatural as if it were an ordinary thing.

There is no good reason to take the Genesis account of creation as an allegory, unless of course your Christian friend happens to buy into the evolutionary paradigm. If he has become convinced that evolution actually occurred, then he must find another way to interpret that part of the bible which speaks of creation or else feel foolish. This is, however, a slippery slope which leads to the kind of thinking which you seem to hold, which is that the "stories of Jesus might just be tales to encourage people to live a moral life, rater [sic] than a literal history."

When the foundation of a building is destroyed, the whole structure becomes unstable. If one discounts the Genesis account, then one can discount any and every part of the scripture for any and every reason.

The fact is, if we evolved over a period of millions of years, then we ought to tear the Genesis creation account out of the bible, since it clearly indicates that the earth was created in six days, and even tells us what is meant by days: periods of light and darkness. If evolution is correct, then Christians are in big trouble, since Genesis indicates that plants were created on day three and the sun on day four. If these "days" were thousands of years long, as I have heard many well-meaning Christians argue who have bought into evolution, then you have thousands of years with the earth in darkness and yet somehow plant life is sustained. The more straight forward approach is to take it for what it appears to be: a literal account, and question the science behind evolution; it's not that hard to do, since I have never, and I mean NEVER been shown anything other than rank speculation supporting evolution of species, and this includes taking and acing college level courses in chemistry, biology, and anatomy and physiology.

I think your friend is running scared, and he doesn't need to: there are plenty of scientists who dissent from Darwinian evolution: http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org and I suggest to both of you to take the bible at face value, even if you don't believe it.

Consider its audience: bronze age up to the 1st century AD people. They were simple folk, so do you really think that they were looking for an allegory under every rock? I think a good book on basic biblical interpretation would be helpful, and I recommend "Basic Biblical Interpretation." Check it out at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Biblical-Interpretation-Method-Survey/dp/0738899399/ref=sr_1_1/102-3109190-4729754?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179093326&sr=8-1

Hope this helps!
Tom

Answer 3

Well, I don't know that Genesis would be metaphorical of the big bang and evolution. In fact, recent modern science actually show how Impossible evolution and the big bang are. I take scripture literally except when studying parables( which are analogies Jesus used to get a point across) and some prophecy (which is made to be realized as it happens more so than before). If you would like to know a web site you can go to for some knowledge and truths about the big bang and evolution theories, go to www.drdino.com and go to the articles. There is all kinds of info there. And if you can, download the seminars (audio) by Dr. Kent Hound.

Answer 4

People have their own points of view which they are entitled to. I too believe that some things in the bible are historical fact and some of it is metaphor. We see this all the time in people's writings. Why is it so hard to believe that God might use metaphor, especially to explain some things that man then would not have understood.
Say Genesis is a "metaphor" for the evolutionary process or something, people in that day lacked the knowledge to understand these things. We have since discovered things in science etc. So why can't the church and people evolve with their views about the bible and perhaps some of the things in it?
When you believe in God and have given your life to Him, you are imparted with the Holy Spirit. When you then study the scriptures the Holy Spirit is able to "interpret" God's message to you.
I believe that my faith in God is a personal thing and that sometimes I may learn something person from a verse that some one else may learn something different from it.
I don't mean that we can just interpret it any way we choose, but say in one verse it says something about "Your body is a temple". To some, through studying and praying over this passage might find God telling them that they should not get a tattoo. For other's it might lead them to fell that they should not overeat.

Answer 5

It's a very interesting question. The whole Catholic / Protestant split hinged on whether the text "This is my body" was to be interpreted literally (Catholics) or metaphorically (Protestants). There are other texts that Catholics interpret metaphorically and Protestants interpret literally.

There is actually no answer to this question. All language is metaphorical, including the words I'm using now. What language actually refers to outside language, if anything, has been a major crux of academic theory over the last few decades. Perhaps the major crux.

Similar questions have arisen in regard to the holocaust, to such an extent that the German government have actually made it illegal to deny that the holocaust took place. (They haven't quite got around to that in the US in regard to the stories of the Bible...yet.)

Answer 6

If you read the actual words of Jesus, you will see he often spoke in analogy and metaphor. That's the thing about the Bible...it is almost always quite clear when a statement is made in metaphor and analogy. But to believe the ENTIRE scriptures are metaphor overlooks the fact that there is plenty of historical evidence to the contrary even in the secular writings of the time that mention Bible accounts and collaborate they actually did occur, and certain characters did in fact exist.

Answer 7

The language spoken in that culture has its own idiomatic way of expressing certain truths and meaning(s). Alot of the bible is metaphor for other meanings that most people in our culture simply don't grasp because they're not exposed to it. For example, if I call you a "mad dog", you're going to think, "Uh, ok. Whatever." But if I called someone in that culture a "mad dog", they're going to absolutely freak-out. In 1986 when Reagan ordered the bombing of Tripoli, afterwards he called Ghadafi a "mad-dog" on national news and Ghadafi was so enraged that he wrecked what was left of his palace. I was stationed in West Germany at the time and the unit I was in went on DRB2 status because of that nonsense. For three weeks we had 24/7 guard duty because muslim extremists were setting-off car bombs outside the front gates of various kasernes because of this situation with Reagan's insult to Ghadafi.
It's all a matter of culture and tradition. Most of the bible is literal and some of it is metaphorical, especially prophecy.

Answer 8

You're trying to prove it wrong, so you INTENTIONALLY take metaphors out of context and interpret them literally, and you take things context demands be taken literally, and you want them to be metaphors.

If you were an honest expositor, you'd be a believer by now.
I'm sure your friend is trying to be sincere, probably having been convinced of evolution in public school or a university somewhere, but when he gets around to studying genetics, he'll realize evolution is an imaginary belief system.

.

Answer 9

Both biblical literalism & human secularism are dead ends.
More Excellent: neither broadmindead nor narrowmindead.

It defines itself as "allegory" in both "covenants": Galatians4. It also defines itself as "mystery" to solve by "seek and find".
It also notably says it is written "aforetime" for our "learning".

Thinking is not only biblically allowed, but very much required.
With all thy getting, get it: understanding = grace glory (Pr 4).

As for your X-ian friend, it says: "from such like turn away".
It also says: "if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant".
It won't change the end of the shew that's already written.

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 10

its raining cats and dogs.
Its still raining but to a greater degree.

You drive me up the wall. Saying one thing...meaning another..the straw that broke the camels back
1 straw can't but that one was just too much to bear

my dogs are killing me


everyone uses figures of speech

they tell stories,,emphasize others....and use humor or angst to create mood