Do all christians believe everything in the bible?

Question

I believe that everything in the bible happened just like it says word for word. I recently met a friend who said she was a christian but she didnt believe that the earth flooded, that people lived as long as the bible says, and that Mary could not have been a virgin. Can she really consider herself a Christian if she doesn't believe god's word.

Answer 1

Why would someone "pick and choose" what to believe in the Bible?? Read it for what it says.

The Bible Was Written To Be Understood

* Deut. 30:11-14 the word is not out of reach.
* 31:9-13 to be read to men, women, children every seven years, an enduring process
* It was to all Israel: smart, dumb, conservatives, liberals
* those who didn't know it were expected to learn it Luke 1:1-4 Luke carefully investigated the life of Jesus that you might know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
* 2 Cor. 1:13 Paul wrote no other thing but what you can understand.
* Eph. 3:3-4 Paul wrote so that "you can understand when you read."
* 1 John 2:21 John said Christians can know the truth and can distinguish a lie.

All human languages have two types of speech: literal and figurative. Literal language is the type which is found in the historical books of the Bible such as Genesis and Exodus, the book of Acts, etc. It is fact. Literal words must be understood to have their actual meaning. In literal language, if a sheep is mentioned, it means a four legged animal which has wool on its back.
Figurative language is different. Words are used to represent ideas or thoughts which are different from the actual meaning of the word. For example: a sheep or lamb may be spoken of, but an animal is not meant. It is being used to represent something else which has some of the qualities of a sheep or lamb. Jesus was a man. He is the Son of God. But in figurative language in the Bible, He is sometimes spoken of as a lamb. John the Baptist said of Jesus: "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29)! Lambs were used for sin offerings under the Law of Moses. John did not mean that Jesus was an actual lamb. But he meant that Jesus would be the offering for our sins.

If People Understand the Bible Differently, The Problem is With the People Not With the Bible

Answer 2

Well, lots of people say they are christians but only few will actually find the narrow gate (the true gospel) and many will chose the path of destruction (the false christian gospel plus other non christian religions). Sorry to affend but I don't sugar coat the truth and the truth in the gospel does affend most anyway. As far as me believing everything in the bible, yes, I believe that all things truly happened and will happen and it has been 100% acurate already with prophesies being fullfilled. I do also believe that some (not much) of the text was misinterpretted but not the foundation of the gospel in it. Just a few small words that were replaced with others because the word is very explicit in places and early writters softened it up a little to make it not so offensive in some places. All one has to do to get the correct text if there is any question to the text in the bible is to get a Hebrew /English bible along with Greek/English one along with Hebrew/Greek/Aramaic dictionary of definitons. It takes awhile to get use to using it as a study guide, but it sure elaborates into more detail what each word can mean. But the foundation of Christ and the Torah, the bible and history and future events have stayed intact.

Answer 3

Some things are meant to be taken literally and some are not. For example in the book of revelation John is describing things in a vision that God reveals to him about the end of times. John lived during the first century and he is describing metaphorically what he is seeing. Like when he is describing giant locusts that has faces of men, and their wings making a loud roaring noise like a Lion.

John could easily have been describing a Helicopter, but living in the first century he had no knowledge of aviation, and certainly did not have knowledge of helicopters that can fire missiles.

The Book of Daniel uses the same metaphoric language to describes the things he sees in a vision.

One should not be so caught up with every word that is described where you fail to think and and fail to use the reasoning skills that God has blessed each man with. That is a mistake that some Christians make, and they wonder why the Bible never becomes more than the words on the page. We are to use the Bible as a tool, along with the mind that God has given us.

God does not want us to be a robot. If he wanted a robot, then he would have created a race of robots. He wants us to use critical thinking tools, to decipher what he means about certain things.

Answer 4

It is not wrong to accept the bible word for word. Not all people do and they still are Christians because they follow Jesus and his words. Your church may teach you that you should not go outside the bible, that is OK if that serves you . When you seek more knowledge, you will find that It was not God who wrote the bible. It was men who were inspire to do so.
There are other scriptures that were burned because the church Fathers or one Roman Emperor paid for, and decided what was to be in the bible. There are also books coming to light today that tell us that the flood was not over the entire earth, but a region and to the writer, that was the whole earth.
You will find that Noah did not take all the animals on his boat. It was his own live stock. I basically believe most of the bible but there are some gray areas. Study the words of Jesus and you can't go wrong, no matter what anyone says.
Hold fast to your faith, but if you wish to learn, you will have to step out of the box. The church will put fear in you not to.
Your choice. It has only made my faith stronger.
Rev. TomCat

Answer 5

Thousands, if not millions of Christians, do not believe every word of the Bible. It kind of depends on whether you believe God ensures the accuracy of "His Word". If one believes every word is God's word, than it becomes sort of hypocritical not to believe every word. If , on the other hand, one believes the Bible is man trying to convey God's message than one can question (and many do) the interpretation . On the matter of Biblical stories, it is well to note the writing style of that age. People often wrote in allegory. Hence, a story such as Noah and the Great Flood may not be literally true but conveys a message or lesson such as the destiny of those that are faithful and those that are not...

Answer 6

The Bible is a collection of 66 different books, some history, some poetry, some songs, some letters, as well as the rules of an ancient religion . . . written over the span of thousands of years. Problems arise when people can't tell one from another, and confuse them into each other.

Problems arise when you try to take a rule written for and by a certain group of people, and apply it to your life today (taking your disobedient child to the gates of the city to stone him, for example).

People tend to focus on the words in the Bible, and miss the message behind the story. The creation story of Genesis 1 and 2, for example, are poetry, the message is that God is powerful, neither of which is a history lesson.

Adam and Eve is a metaphor -- not literal history. It's poetic parable -- not the literal story of two people, for example.

The Bible is a fantastic collection of stories written by, about, and for the followers of the God of Abraham, and the followers of Christ.

Of course the Bible isn’t THE WORD OF GOD . . . it’s translated into a language we can understand – Jesus didn’t speak English, for example.

But the Bible is God’s Word . . . meaning the message, not the medium or the method, is what God tries to tell us.

Being a follower of Christ is about having a personal relationship with a risen Savior, not about a book. The Bible is important, but God speak to us in many different ways, not just through the Bible.

It's not up to any of us to really "question," someone's relationship with Christ, unless they are living a life that is dramatically different than the teachings of Christ -- but that's another answer.

I'm a pastor in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.). Most churches with a pastor who actually attended seminary can explain this to you in person.

Godspeed.

Answer 7

I beg to differ.

Not ALL Christians believe EVERYTHING in the Bible. This will entail quite a lengthy discussion and discourse but I'll cut it short for now... Before getting into particular doctrinal issues, let's touch on semantics first.

While the Bible CONTAINS the Word of God, we must all agree that NOT EVERY WORD in the Bible comes from God alone. Plain and simple as that.

What about the WORDS spoken by Satan to Jesus then?? Even Satan himself quotes scriptures to tempt Jesus... What about the words of the Pharisees?? ...Agreed?

Peace be with you.

Answer 8

Have you ever question the condition of the world? why after all these years of human governments things have only gone from bad to worst. BIBLE PROPHECY EXPLAINS THE MEANING OF WORLD CONDITIONS. Many world leaders acknowledge that mankind is on the brink of disaster. The bible foretold these conditions long ago; it explains their meaning and what the outcome will be. (2 Tim. 3-5; Luke 21:25-31) It tells what we must do in order to survive the impending world destruction, with the opportunity to gain eternal life under righteous conditions here on earth. Zeph. 2:3; John 17:3; Ps. 37:10,11, 29

1) The Bible enables us to understand the purpose of life.
2) the Bible shows how we can have the very thing that lovers of righteousness desire most.

YES,AS JEHOVAH IS MY GOD I BELIEVE EVERYTHING HE HAS WRITTEN.

Answer 9

I believe that the Bible, in its original language, is the inerrant Word of God. In those cases where the Bible is very clear, such as the virgin birth and the age of people, yes I do believe it happened thay way. To reject the plain language of the Bible in those cases where it is plain is to 1) consider God a liar, 2) put the All Powerful God of the Universe into a very small and limited box, and 3) open up the Bible to interpretations contrary to what it says.

I would ask your friend why she thinks what she thinks. If it is (as I suspect) because she does not believe in miracles, then ask her how she can claim to believe in a supernatural being if she denies the existence of the supernatural by denying the possibility of miracles.

Answer 10

The only Christians that I know who believe the Bible word for word have never talked to a real bible scholar or a Rabbi.