Taking the Bible Seriously But Not Literally

[Twisp]

Picked up this book at the library this past weekend. Was perusing the shelves and happened upon it. Anyone else read it?

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Bible-...5648973&sr=1-1

I am up to page 100 or so, and the gist of it so far is that the Bible is simply the human response to God rather than a divinely inspired book. The author defines miracles as the spectacular, or as paranormal events. He states that miracles, such as the water parting during the Exodus and the Virgin Birth, were really just metaphors of the truth. They were true in that they are describing a real event, but they are not factually true as described. He reasons this out by saying that the Lord does not do great Biblical miracles in today's world like He did in the Biblical days. He believes that the Lord would not change the way He does things, therefore, if it is not happening today, the Lord probably never worked in that way.

Again, I am only a 1/3 of the way through, but that is what it is so far.

[Sam]

Someone recommended reading the Bible like you would a newspaper i.e. take it literally unless it is obviously metaphorical.

I actually believe in the literal parting of the Red Sea, literal collapse of Jericho's walls, literal manna appearing on the ground each day, literal water from a rock, literal parting of Jordan, etc. The only thing I have a "problem" with is the sun standing still. I'm not quite sure what really happened there.

As far as the Bible being God's Word, I actually believe it is His revelation to us through individuals that He chose and they really were "borne along by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21) as the Spirit of Christ within them testified (1 Peter 1:11), and that the Bible is "God-breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16)

When it comes to this kind of stuff I'm pretty much a fundamentalist (or funny mentalist).

[Dedicated Mind]

I don't have a problem with miracles. Only Noah's ark is a little difficult for me. There was a tv show trying to rebuild the ark with ancient tools and they couldn't make it waterproof. imagine the seal a wood log would have to make to keep the water out. Then the size of the ark to carry elephants and giraffes and hippos, just incredible.

[RandyWayne]

....and then the distribution of species we see on the planet today, such as Kangaroos in Australia.

[Michael The Disciple]

If God is not powerful enough to make the Sun stand still I would not trust him to resurrect billions of people from the dead. He created it right? And billions of other Suns. Should be a light thing for him.

[Jeffrey]

I think those in antiquity were divinely inspired -though were limited to the knowledge and language tools at their time to describe their inspiration. This is why many Genesis accounts use language common of ancient religions in the same time to describe Creation.

[Michael The Disciple]

Are we questioning that Yeshua created billions of Suns? That he even is the Creator of all things? Wow if these things are not true were dead meat.

[Dedicated Mind]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

Are we questioning that Yeshua created billions of Suns? That he even is the Creator of all things? Wow if these things are not true were dead meat.

i've never heard of a sun like ours outside of our own.

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by Dedicated Mind

i've never heard of a sun like ours outside of our own.

Theres plenty of Suns just like ours out there... The problem isn't the suns. The problem is the planets.

[RandyWayne]

Originally Posted by jfrog

Theres plenty of Suns just like ours out there... The problem isn't the suns. The problem is the planets.

While it is true that there are FAR fewer planets like ours then good old SOL, our Sun is rather rare as well based on it's size, the fact that it is a 2nd generation star (created from the remnants of 1st gen ones which have already gone nova), and most importantly it's current age about 5-6 billion years giving us the needed spectrum for human life to survive.