Why do believers of the Bible flip flop like a landed fish?

Question

Come on. At times they claim the literal word of the Bible, then other times they yell "parables ...man, take it in context". Ok, let's do that.

The whole book is a parable and nothing is literal. Ergo it is false.

Explain to me why I'm wrong and show me where to draw the line.

eldude:
watch them run for cover of "context" here
http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmV3dfFNJegYBAnABfJcYpjAFQx.?qid=20070628194423AAmRYUK&show=7#profile-info-As04aEPCaa

kevin. That's my point. Why can't I believe it to be false? Show me where to BEGIN to draw the line between "literal" and "contextual".

Answer 1

For some believers, the "bad" parts are parables, the "good" parts are true. The bible is a cafeteria menu.

Answer 2

Just like all other people - each believer is a unique human being. The key word being "human". "They" never all say one collective thing except that "they" all believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ. There will always be debate on how literally to take the Bible. The Old Testament is history with some wonderful "life lessons" from which we can all learn. And Jesus gave us some sensible life truths - "love your neighbor as yourself". Well - if we really would all give that a good try - don't you think the world would be better off? Do unto others . . . . basically says the same thing. In short Jesus taught, and still teaches us, how to live at peace, in love AND that we should all work for a living. He told lots of parables to illustrate His points - He did it so that people could learn lessons in the context of their knowledge base.

After He did all that, He then loved the world enough to give His life. That He lived and died is not disputed - not even by most historians, archaelogists and social anthropologists. The point of dissention is the ressurection. That was the point three days after He died and that will be the point until He returns. Belief is a matter of faith - and study - and that yearning in your heart that keeps drawing you back to this forum to "prove" your point.

You will have to decide for yourself what you believe. But, I urge you, take the time to really study the Bible and some of the Bible commentaries that are available on line. Search out the truth for yourself - and don't ignore your heart and soul. Don't give up your salvation because you might think that some of the Bible isn't the literal truth. Remember - the "fact" that the world was flat was accepted and defended unto death for centuries, as was the belief that the sun revolved around the earth.

Think, search. God Bless.

Answer 3

Each person reads and relates to the world and God through their own glasses. You will hear and read people saying that you should take the Bible as literal truth ignoring context. Others will say it is all a fictional story.

I believe that the Bible is book that contains many different style of literature that was written for a particular group of people in a particular time.

For example the writer's of the New Testament never claimed to quote Jesus verbatim. This type of quoting was not done back then. It was more important to them to get the meaning across.

This is similar to translators at the United Nations. They don't translate verbatim because exact words don't communicate because they don't carry all of our communication idioms.

The Bible needs to be studied within it own time period and literary styles. This doesn't mean you have to be a genius or a history major, but it does mean that you need to take into consideration the context to the first readers if there are "contradictions" or "problems" within the Bible.

Answer 4

the Bible is truth. it is THE Truth. note: capital T. i cannot make you believe what i believe. but here is what i know.
parables are fictional stories that are very entertaining but have a moral. they can be cryptic sometimes, but Jesus normally used them as a way to relate to the people. a lot of what Jesus said was too intellectual for the uneducated public, so he made up stories.
if someone doesn't agree with something literally, and decides it is a parable just to make it agree with them, then that is wrong. I don't care what you say, but they are twisting the truth, therefore lying. and they won't admit it.
you will never catch me claiming parables where there are none.

by the way, Jesus was the only one who told parables in the New Testament (that were recorded, there may have been others but since they are not in the Bible, they are irrelevant to anyone who didn't hear them).

Answer 5

The parables in the Bible are identified as such. People who say things like "the Book of Genesis is a parable, but John is literal" are a mystery to most Christians as well. The point you make is dead on. If you are going to "cherry pick" what you believe, how could you have faith in any of it.

Understand, most Christians don't do that. We believe.

If you leaf thought the gospels, you'll see that when Jesus was telling a story, it is obvious.

Hope that clears things up a bit.

Answer 6

First you make the assumptions that all Christians believe exactly the same thing. ( prejudice and uninformed that you are) 2) Some say that part is a parable because at the beginning of the section it says parable ( sounds like a praetty easy idea ( reading what a concept) 3) Things have to be taken in context because one there are paople trying to prove something by using one verse,section of a verse or word to try to prove something. What they are usually trying to prove has nothing to do with what is being said when one reads the entire section. ( atheists are such literalists)

Answer 7

The Bible is inerrant in the original languages that it was written. There are historical events, places and people in the Scriptures which have been proven by archaeological finds. There has never been a archaeological find that has successfully disputed the Scriptures.
Parables were stories told by Christ to make a point, and He would go on to explain the point which He was making. They are easy to spot. There are also metaphors, such as when Christ said, "I am the door", a reasonably intelligent person would know that He was not saying He was a wooden structure with a handle. A reasonably intelligent person can read the Scriptures and see what are historical places, people and events, what are the parables, and what are figures of speech.

Answer 8

Well, most of the time when there's a parable, it's denoted as a "parable." A parable is a short narrative, meant to illustrate a lesson. When Jesus told stories of nameless people, like the "Bridegroom and his friends" and the "Prodigal Son" and things like that, they were object lessons.

Then there's the New Testament as a whole, dedicated to the life, death, resurrection, teachings, philosophy, etc. of Jesus Christ. It gives His genealogy, the circumstances of His birth, assorted events of His life, the account of His death and resurrection, the account of the evolution of the Church following His ascension and Pentecost, letters written by apostles to the members of the early Church to instruct them on living Godly lives, etc. There is nothing of the short, pithy "parable" inferred in all of this as a whole.

Then you have the Old Testament historical books, books of law, etc. They are full of genealogies, accounts of kings who ruled briefly and unremarkably as well as kings who enjoyed long, illustrious reigns and kings who suffered miserable infamy. If the authors of these books were just looking to make a point, as parables do, it's an awful windy point. They might've spared the details. But no, the Bible was not intended to be received as simply a worthy work of fiction. It is historically accurate, as confirmed by many archaeological discoveries. It is spiritually accurate, as confirmed by its work in the hearts of believers. If you read it thoroughly, and with an open mind, the distinctions will be clear to you.

Answer 9

you have to differentiate between the term "Literal" as in "the meaning intended" versus "Literistic" as in "every word means an exact definition.

All language has euphamisms and idioms. Some Bible idioms are clear, others not - they require some study.

When Daniel describes an Angel, he literally means he saw an angel. When he uses idioms, such as "the countenance was like Beryl" he doesn't mean that the angel had skin made of a shiny stone. He means that this is the best way he could describe it.

It's not that hard, if you're willing to understand what the writer's intended. If, you have a determination not to understand, then you're not going to understand.

If you tell me you got a home run with your girl friend, I'm not picturing you playing baseball. Because it's not what you meant.

The context always determines the meaning, in any language exchange.

If you're in sales and you tell me that you got a home run with your new client, chances are you didn't mean the same thing as you meant with your girl friend.

Answer 10

It's all abou the way different people take in the Bible. Some "sections" of Christianity interpret the Bible literally word for word. It's all about how God sends the message to Christians when they are devoted in his word. I'm not a Bible expert, but I believe certain things in the Bible are meant to be taken literally, some metaphorically like parables, and some have dual meanings.

And for GRITS who says that believer pick and choose the parts of the Bible that they want to take in, they aren't real believers. The Bible states that you should be either hot or cold water. If it is luke warm, ie: picking and choosing, then Jesus spits you out of his mouth.

Answer 11

The 66 books which comprise the Bible are written in many different styles or genres: history, prophecy, poetry. Some parts of the Bible are meant to be taken literally, others are meant to be taken figuratively. When Jesus used parables to illustrate some spiritual truth, he made it apparent that he was using a parable.

In some sense, reading the Bible is like reading any other book.