Any; Athiest Christian Student whomever explain this --- if you do not know what i mean ask for clarifacation.

Question

Christians - how do you justify taking some parts of the Bible literally and not others?---what exactly do you see and or hear that 'Christians' are taking what parts literally and not others....
esp...to that guy or girl who just asked that question,
give a specific example..........????

Answer 1

Fundamentalists say they take everything in the bible literally, but the bible clearly says that eating crab is a sin. Eating lobster is a sin. Eating shrimp is a sin. Any kind of shellfish eating is a sin. So why aren't they picketing Red Lobster and trying to pass laws against shellfish eaters?

The bible clearly says anybody who wears fabric made of 2 different kinds of material, say, poly/cotton blend, is going against God's ordained law. Do fundamentalists follow this?

The bible clearly says that a farmer cannot harvest the corners of his field when he cuts his crops. Do fundamentalists follow this?

The New Testament clearly says that slaves should remain slaves and NOT try to gain their freedom. Do fundamentalist support slavery? I hope not.

There are many examples of these. Whoever says they take the entire bible literally either has never read it for himself or was daydreaming while he read it.

Answer 2

There have been 3 different dispensations since creation. The Patriarchal system was where the eldest male in the family was the spiritual leader for the most part. God dealt directly with these males.

The Law of Moses came along and was only for the Jewish Hebrews or proselytes. This was to purify a people through whom Jesus would come into the world.

Now, these Last Days consists of the Christian era. This is the last of the religious eras. When this one ends the created world will burn and no longer exist.

Now, to your question -- all examples of hell fire and of golden streets in heaven are given as examples because there will be no physical things in the time after this life. All will be spiritual. Physical things will not exist at all. Those things were used as ideas to help the mortal mind to comprehend the spiritual world.

The parallel statements, the parables, used idea statements to help to clarify the real things. These were not literal.

Many statements of the Bible are to make an impression for the truth instead of the truth itself. Some exaggeration is used in the Bible. The basic teachings in the New Testament are to be followed and the examples are a part of the teachings. These are to be followed.

No, everything in the Bible is not for us today, so we should only use the teachings of the Christian age as things to follow. The Law of Moses demanded animal sacrifices while Jesus nailed those demands to the cross. The Old Testament, including almost all of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are not for us today because they were for another dispensation. Jesus lived and died a Jew. No Christians existed while Jesus was alive so not all of the Bible is for us to follow today. It is to be read and understood as the way God expects us to live and to see who God is.

Answer 3

Different parts of the Bible were written to specific people for a specific time in history.

For instance, just one example, we no longer sacrifice a one-year old lamb without spot or blemish. That was, indeed, a literal event, but it no longer applies today.

There is ONE thing that remains constant throughout the Scriptures, and that is the call for people to repent.

But it always begins in the house of God: "Judgement begins at the house of God".

God calls first and foremost His people, "If MY people who are called by MY name would humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

But it doesn't stop there. God cries out, "I don't want ANY to perish, but that ALL should come to repentance."

And again, "For God so loved the WORLD (not just a select group), that He gave His only begotten Son, that ANY body who puts their trust in Him (ie in Jesus) shall not perish but have everlasting life."

Some things transcend time and are applicable to all people of all time, while other things refer to a specific group at a specific time.

But ALL of it is real. Except for the specific parables that Jesus told to illustrate heaven and hell, the Bible is generally intended to be taken literally. Those parts that are NOT literal always have an explanation within the context of the text itself.

Also, things that are more general do not ever take the place of things that are more specific, but rather, specifics explain the generalities.

In Bible college, this is called Homoletics" and "Hermaneutics", and it helps to understand just exactly what is going on.

There's a humorous story of a man who was desparately crying out to God to speak to him, so he flipped open the Bible randomly and his finger fell on the passage, "Judas went and hanged himself."

He considered this a moment, and decided to try again, so he flipped open the Bible once again, and his finger fell on the passage, "Go and do thou likewise."

Again, he decided to try this once more time, and this time his finger fell on the passage, "What you must do, do quickly."

It's a cute story, and we can only hope that the guy got a little wisdom. But the point of the story is that if you take things out of their contextual setting, if you ignore the original language, or who is being spoken to, or the culture in which it is being written, then you can get all kinds of crazy notions about the Bible.

And finally, people who depend too much on commentaries (whether antagonistic to Christianity, or in explanation of the Scriptures) but never actually read the text should keep in mind that "The Bible throws a lot of light on all them commentaries."

Answer 4

The Bible is a collection of books -literature.
Some parts of the Bible are literal recounting of historical events -some parts poetry -some parts are stories written to make a point and not necessarily based on actual people or events .

Answer 5

This passage I take literally "And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:"

This is symbolic, but also literal: "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all."

It is symbolic in that Babylon stands for another great city, and the birthplace of a "prophet" "What great city is like unto this great city"

Answer 6

because we are humans, our views on such issues tend to differ sometime but at the end of the day we should look critically at the make-up of the Bible. It has a mixture of facts, stories, parables...there are things that you can sit with pastors and they will all find different meanings. what i believe is that to every complex or parable-looking part of the Bible, its purpose will be made known by waiting on Him and to the straight forward one, its easier.

Answer 7

They find somethings are more practical then others. The Bible is not the only thing that governs a christian. There interaction with the world is what shapes there views.

They ignore the ones that are no longer valid.

Answer 8

There are two billion christians out there and i can tell you think we all have the same beliefs. That isn't true. Evangelical american christians say the bible is the word of God, period. But that isn't the only viewpoint.

Answer 9

for example many pick and choose at what genisis actually mean in acordance with evolution, and fill in the gaps, you and i both know people do that by saying 'oh and this happened and this is why this is like this's and they are making ups content to fill in inacuraccys with in the bible.

but then they will say 'its wrong to be gay' as an absolute gay christians don't say that though again more pick and choose
and so on and so on like jesus's mircials happened as it says etc its all pick and choose until the point where its nothing like it was

Answer 10

I take everything literally, except maybe part of Revelations, which will always be a mystery to everyone except the Father, at least until the events happen.