*Originally posted by Mofo Rising *
**I do not want to start any sort of war of words here. Of course, that me be impossible considering the nature of my question.
Why is the Bible considered the literal truth?
The literal truth filter is not universal. All readings require some sifting. But using the mode of literal truth some form of verification is more likely to be observed. Some consider it literal because she believes that another powerful mofo wrote it and she ain’t gonna mess with a misinterpretation of that dudette.
Others, including this writer, uses a modified relaxed mode. If it is reasonably possible to accept the statement “Let us make man in our image” literally, what does it say? A pluraility of entities described in the bible have decided to create a being that is in their image. Assuming the event occured within the past 100.,000 years, and that the gods were technologically advanced to the extrent that DNA manipulation was not an insurmountable obstacle then we have a source of super DNA and the means to manipulate the DNA and can assume some intrplanetary capability, extending to being perceived as superantural?
The ones who insist on interpreting the bible for you should be politely ignored. Duistinguish between those who preach and those who teach or share or are intersed in the matter as a topic of conversational interest.
That is, why aren’t stories such as the Garden of Eden and the Flood of Noah considered as metaphorical, but as the actual truth?
You must determine the level of passion you have to delve ito the matter. Not I nor another ould is your best interpreter.
Of course there are both limiting points. However, maintaining a reasonable interpretation requires a threading of the story that is internally consistent. Genesis says god brought Adam and Eve to work and tend the garden. Okay so now we have the gods producing workers for working in the garden. Adam and Eve aren’t there to hang with the big guy, they are their to work. Getting stoned got them, “fired”, why? Because, as the serpent said (serpent a metaphor as unreasonlby literal) god told you you would die the day you ate from the tree of knowlesge of good and bad is an error (or assumed lie, if god knew better). God, the serpent cointinued, knows you will not die for on the day you eat that fruit your eyes will open and you will be as god. knowing good and evil. Knowing that good is freedom and slavery is bad, this couple weren’t psychologixcally motivated to slave for some alien ccousins. God fed them clothed them and sent them back to the ground from which they came. I assume god and his folks just got another pair.
Is there documentation in the Bible that says these stories are to be considered truth, as opposed to metaphors? Or is it just tradition?
The best bet is to assume the former. But whatwever the bible commands you to do remember it seems to be designed as a religious text to extract common limits to mans’s freedom.
Of course, from the way I phrased my questions, you can guess I view these stories as metaphorical. But I want to know why they would be considered truth. Actual arguments to the fact, not just that’s the way they’ve always been told. I mean, that’s the way they’ve always been told to me, and I admit freely I may be missing out on a large portion.
Trust no one to speak for yourself. Read Matthew chapter 6 verses 5 and 6 for some wisdom. Now ask yourself,who are hypocrits in the eyes of Jesus, the person quoted in the reference?
The story in genesis is not confined to the words in genesis. The Sumerian texts insclrbed on clay tablets circa 4000BC parallel the same story. Whatever the truth of the Sumeriabn tablets, thousands of them dealing with many subects, one must recognize the genesis story is hevily edited. One problem I sense you have is recognizing the fact of human editing. Hell, humans wrote it all. When you reflect on who is interpreting the bible and you buy into any side, either acceptance or rejection without your personal effort to determine and verify your own curiosity, setting your own standards of belief just hang a robot tag for all to see.
Do I sense you are waitingh for someone to tell you which way to turn?
I don’t mean such things as the literal truth of Jesus’ existence, I mean the more fantastic don’t-happen-in-regular-life stories such as Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego or the Book of Revelations.
I don’t know much about the examples you cite, but for a more significant tale study the crucufiction in the tail ends of Matthew, Mark. Luke and John as if investigating a homicide. Hint: Pilate says, basically in all four books, two or three times that this man has committed no crime, then abruptly orders the execution. A guy named Simion comes out of the crowd and carries the cross. The women, Mary the Mother, Mary the Sister of lazarus and others were “viewing from afar.” (Witness problem?) Why would Pilate reverse himself? What if he were bribed? and so on.
I would like to stress that though I may be an unbeliever, I would like to understand another point of view. **
I’m assuming I fall somewhere between 0 and 1 seeds, because I do believe [sub](help my unbelief)[/sub], but the mountains are still on dry land…