To say what the Bible was “meant” for is a bit hard, as the interpretations of this - and the interpretations of the book itself - have always been a matter of personal aesthetic, usually dictated by the times one lived in.
However, the completely literal translations of the Bible is a relatively new thing. As modernity comes along, it threatens people of faith, and their reaction has ALWAYS been to get more religion. This is not new. But only in modern times has fundamentalist movements taken on such literal translations.
This is not limited to Protestantism in America, however. The parallels between that, the fundamentalist Islamic movement in countries such as Egypt and Iraq, and the ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel who block off roads to keep everyone - including non-Jews - from being out after sundown, and even throwing things at ambulances that are out then.
I suggest you pick up a book called The Battle For God by Karen Armstrong. It speaks of this in great detail, and shows how, as far as fundamentalist movements go, the more things change, the more they want them to stay the same.
I noted this in another thread once, but it bears repeting: The irony of the fundamentalist movement in the US is that if everyone looked at the Bible this literally when Jesus was alive and the New Testament was being formed, nobody would have become a Christian at all! Jesus’s presence went against several things that were the “inerrant, unchanging words of God,” and He even did away with Levitical Law!
Imagine what your local fundie would do if the same thing happened today - Guy comes along, does some tricks, and a whole new book is added on, some of which is inconsistant with the other books, and some things are totally changed - how many Southern Baptists would convert?
Yer pal,
Satan
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