Taking the Bible literally...?

Question

I don't get why people take the Bible literally word for word. Even Jesus himself said that the stories in the Old Testament were symbolic and not to be taken literally. To take the stories in the bible Literally is to miss the point of the stories. The stories in the Bible are about redemption and forgivness. They are desinged to give people moral guidance in their lives and to teach people how to live moral lives. It gets so old hearing people try to prove the Bible scientifically when the bible is so obviously not a textbook.

Answer 1

"Even Jesus himself said that the stories in the Old Testament were symbolic and not to be taken literally." When did Jesus say that? Show me in the Bible.

Yes, many of the stories told in the Bible tell of redemption and forgiveness. They don't do that any less by being stories of real life events.

Answer 2

Jesus said God made us male and female from the beginning (Matthew 19:4). That sure sounds to me like He's taking Genesis literally as historically accurate. I don't know where He said to not trust the accuracy of the Old Testament. He said it was the Word of God, quoting it like it had authority. Now the parables Jesus told were just moral tales. They may or may not have been true stories, but the audience knew that they weren't intended to be accurate. It's okay to tell such a story in that context. Sometimes the Bible uses figurative language, not meant to be taken literally, like when God told Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore. Nobody knows how many stars there are or grains of sand on a seashore, but it's far more than the number of people that have lived in all of history. So it's obvious that God is just telling Abraham he'll have a lot of kids. But to think that every miracle in the Bible was made up simply shows that you really don't believe in God, or you believe in a very limited version of Him. If Jesus didn't literally die and rise again, then He didn't literally pay the price for our sins either, and He didn't literally win the victory over sin, Satan, and death. Literally, there is no hope for any of us. That stinks. Then people wonder why so many kids commit suicide these days. It's a lie from the pit that life is pointless and the Bible is untrue.

Answer 3

I take from the Bible, messages that were meant for me. What is a little confusing to some, is that the Bible is not literal. We have been given the Word of Life so that we, as individuals could read a passage and know that it was meant soley for that person. Yes, the Ten Commandments are literal and I live by them the best that I can. There are suggestions God gives that are meant for us as a whole. It's nice to go into a real church and hear a real preacher, tell of the life and times of Jesus Christ. It's nice to hear him say to love one another as God has loved you, instead of "The plate is being passed around, make sure you put your wallet in there."

God's words are sacred to us all. Even symbolically, they are meaningful. Each and every one of us has used symbols in our lives and not all of them were exactly the same or had exactly the same meaning. That is how the Bible is, symbolic to each individual reader. Good point you bring up. God Bless

Answer 4

It's not the question of taking the Bible literally or not. You need to take the principle from it rather than try to enforce the justice system of the biblical times. It was wrong to be gay during the Bible times. It is the same today. It was wrong to be disobedient in Bible times. It is the same today. As for the stoning, we live under the justice system of our own country. Each country has it own laws agreed upon. During the Bible times that was the law agreed upon. The laws of today are not based on the Bible and so certain things may not be considered wrong according to the present laws. That does not make them right.

Answer 5

The doctrine of the double motion of the earth about its axis and about the sun is false, and entirely contrary to Holy Scripture.” So stated the Congregation of the Index of the Roman Catholic Church in a decree in 1616.1 Does the Bible really disagree with scientific facts? Or has it been misrepresented?

IN THE winter of 1609/10, Galileo Galilei turned his newly developed telescope toward the heavens and discovered four moons circling the planet Jupiter. What he saw shattered the prevailing notion that all heavenly bodies must orbit the earth. Earlier, in 1543, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus had theorized that the planets revolve around the sun. Galileo verified that this was scientific truth.

To Catholic theologians, however, this was heresy. The church had long held that the earth was the center of the universe.2 This view was based on a literal interpretation of scriptures that pictured the earth as being fixed “on its foundations, unshakable for ever and ever.” (Psalm 104:5, The Jerusalem Bible) Summoned to Rome, Galileo appeared before the Inquisition. Subjected to rigorous examination, he was forced to recant his findings, and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

In 1992, some 350 years after Galileo’s death, the Catholic Church finally acknowledged that he was right after all.3 But if Galileo was right, then was the Bible wrong?

Finding the True Sense of Biblical Passages

Galileo believed the Bible to be true. When his scientific discoveries contradicted the prevailing interpretation of certain Bible verses, he reasoned that theologians were missing the true sense of the passages. After all, “two truths can never contradict one another,” he wrote.4 He suggested that the precise terms of science do not contradict the everyday words of the Bible. But theologians would not let themselves be persuaded. They insisted that all Biblical statements about the earth are to be taken literally. As a result, not only did they reject Galileo’s discoveries but they also missed the true sense of such Scriptural expressions.

Really, common sense should tell us that when the Bible refers to “the four corners of the earth,” it does not mean that the Bible writers understood the earth to be literally square. (Revelation 7:1) The Bible is written in the language of ordinary people, often using vivid figures of speech. So when it speaks of the earth as having “four corners,” a durable “foundation,” “pedestals,” and a “cornerstone,” the Bible is not offering a scientific description of the earth; obviously it is speaking metaphorically, as we often do in daily speech.—Isaiah 51:13; Job 38:6.

In his book Galileo Galilei, biographer L. Geymonat noted: “Narrow-minded theologians who wanted to limit science on the basis of biblical reasoning would do nothing but cast discredit upon the Bible itself.”5 That they did. Actually, it was the theologians’ interpretation of the Bible—not the Bible itself—that put unreasonable constraints on science.

Similarly, religious fundamentalists today distort the Bible when they insist that the earth was created in six 24-hour days. (Genesis 1:3-31) Such a view agrees neither with science nor with the Bible. In the Bible, as in everyday speech, the word “day” is a flexible term, expressing units of time of varying lengths. At Genesis 2:4, all six creative days are referred to as one all-embracing “day.” The Hebrew word translated “day” in the Bible can simply mean “a long time.”6 So, there is no Biblical reason to insist that the days of creation were 24 hours each. By teaching otherwise, fundamentalists misrepresent the Bible.—See also 2 Peter 3:8.

Throughout history, theologians have often distorted the Bible. Consider some other ways in which the religions of Christendom have misrepresented what the Bible says.

Misrepresented by Religion

The actions of those who say they follow the Bible often besmear the reputation of the book they claim to revere. So-called Christians have shed one another’s blood in the name of God. Yet, the Bible admonishes followers of Christ to “love one another.”—John 13:34, 35; Matthew 26:52.

Some clergymen fleece their flocks, wheedling hard-earned money from them—a far cry from the Scriptural instruction: “You received free, give free.”—Matthew 10:8; 1 Peter 5:2, 3.

Clearly, the Bible cannot be judged according to the words and actions of those who simply quote it or claim to live by it. An open-minded person may therefore want to discover for himself what the Bible is all about and why it is such a remarkable book.

Answer 6

Yet, it is historically, scientifically and prophetically accurate. It not only shows redemption and forgiveness, but shows hope for those who want to know God and shows how we all can have a personal walk with Him.

Jesus never said not to take scripture literally. He simply showed how man's efforts don't work. He also showed how the Pharisees twisted words of the Old Testament, turning them into something fitting their hypocrisy, but not fitting the message God was conveying.

Answer 7

Most religious people I know do not inisist that the bible must be considered absolutely, word-for-word, literal truth. And, for that matter, many of the arguments we hear do not actually come from the bible. Example: 6000 year old Earth. Not in the bible. This came from the calculations of a monk about 1600 AD or so. It's only a minority (with many of the same characteristics as our enemies in the mid-east) who insist on something as silly as that. They give the majority of christians a bad name.

Answer 8

The Bible, as we have it today, is the result of a long process.
First it is a collection of books (scriptures) passed down through time.
Roughly the time period covers 4 thousand years.
But some stories may be much older, they were oral myths.
Each book has different authors, sometimes many.
The books were selected because they had some merit.
But they range from history to myth, & some are fiction.
But they all reveal something about GOD for mankind.

Answer 9

HE NEVER said that! It may not be a "textbook", but, there are principles that people miss that ARE scientific. For example:

Isaiah 40:22  It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

"...circle of the earth...", about 3000 years ago, Isaiah knew that the earth was round!!! Modern people didn't catch on until much later!

There are other examples.

GOD bless

Answer 10

Boo,
Christ NEVER said that the "stories in the Old Testament were symbolic and not to be taken literally". You are taking what HE said completely out of context and you probably know it. HE used stories to explain things in simple terms. Have a wonderful weekend.
Thanks,
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