Does God expect us to take everything in the Bible literally?

Question

Let's face it, some things in the Bible are pretty hard to accept. But if we look at them as allegory, symbolism, metaphor, themes, etc, then things get a lot easier to understand.

For example, I would say that most Christians these days believe in Evolution. They see truth in the creation story, they just do not take it literally. 50 billion years is just like a day for God.

What do you think?

Answer 1

Well you can't really determine if christians believe in evolution.......WAIT A SECOND! lol if they are "christians" then that means they believe in evolution not God which means they aren't christians......only people with a relationship with Jesus Christ our lord and savior are going to be with our heavenly father in heaven......OK now im confused lol. But if they were real christians then they would Believe In Jesus Christ not evolution. OK im really confused now.

Answer 2

I think christians are allowed to pick and choose what to believe so that it benefits them at that exact moment

Answer 3

Jesus taught by parable. By definition THIS is not literal.

Answer 4

I think the people you're actually trying to get through to, will probably wobble their head around, gibber a bit, and then throw holy water on their computer monitors when they read this.

Answer 5

No. I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that a lot of the stuff in the Bible and metaphors and story to teach others about virtues.

Answer 6

When the authors of the Bible intend that something be taken literally, God expects us to take those writings literally.  But, there are numerous times where God uses metaphor and hyperbole.  God did cause some of the authors of the Bible to be well learned in the art of writing.  

In brief, I would not take the whole Bible literally, but I would take the whole Bible very seriously.

Genesis is presented in an ancient near eastern treaty form.  It is a legal document with strong parallels in ancient literature.  It is clearly not intended to be taken figuratively or allegorically.  The form of the treaty includes the fact that the more powerful ruler lays out what He has done and then provides the obligations that both He and those in service to Him  will have.  

Your 50 billion years is ludicrous, I think it is more like 200,000 or less.  Read the actual text in Peter (2 Peter 3.8) that you allude to, read the whole text.

Answer 7

Of course not.

BTW, as a precaution, if you thumb me down, I'LL GIVE YOU AIDS!

Answer 8

  God never gave us the option to pick and choose what we believe or

don't in the Bible.

Answer 9

A Grammatical Historical perspective is the more correct way to say it.  Of course there is poetry and symbolism, but the rule of thumb is that we should take the text at it's plain meaning whenever possible.  

Genesis is clearly meant to be read plainly.  It is a description of how God created the world.

Answer 10

I believe in God !

I also believe God !

And I believe God's Word - the Holy King James Bible, literally !

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Answer 11

The Bible contains spiritual truth about Salvation, not science.

It tries to answer the "Why?" questions, not the "How?"

Answer 12

Well I don't believe in evolution and it's not just because I'm a Christian; to me it just makes more sense that God created the world. But I take stories like Adam and Eve and Noah's ark metaphorically. God doesn't expect us to believe everything in the Bible. We're allowed to believe everything we want, God loves us anyway; and I believe that everyone goes to heaven.

Answer 13

yes i take the bible literally

Answer 14

No. God doesn't expect us to do anything because he doesn't exist.

Answer 15

horendous sp3lling learn to sp3ll

-gram cracker policee

Answer 16

God expects us to be smart enough to not believe in him.

Answer 17

Yes, I think the majority of the bible is symbolism and metaphors. And very loosely based on fact.

This is an atheists perspective... The meaning at the end of the day is the same.

Answer 18

You know I struggled with this one for the longest time. Before I came to religion, I thought it was just something other folks thought was true and if it made them happy and gave them the answers in life they were looking for, that was fine with me but it did seem a bit far out.

Once I came to religion, I too was taught that it was something that I was really supposed to accept as literal and the ONLY way to find the answers in life that I was looking for. Although I gave it my very best attempt, in the end it still seemed a bit far out.

After I left religion and still had all the same questions I  always had, I decided that maybe the bible did have the answers and maybe it didn't, but one thing was for sure. Regardless whether people believed it to be taken literally or not, the words written down in that book DO NOT MAKE ANY SENSE!

You mention allegories, symbolism, methaphors, themes etc. as possible methods used so that we can understand what the bible is trying to say to us. What I came to understand, is that while these things at least make more sense perhaps, as to the way we should try to interpret the bible, we actually are incapable of reading and understanding what is says at all.

What I discovered was this. There is a very good reason why we can not and really should not even try, to understand the bible. It was written by God yes, and it was written for us to understand yes, but not in a language that we can understand in the current condition that we are in. So if we want to be able to know what the bible is telling us we must first learn the language in which it was written.

There is a way to learn this language by way of study. A science of spirituality so to speak. This science provides a method by which we are able to become like minded if you will, with God and as such then be able to read and understand this book we call the bible. Here is a link that will tell you more about this science and how one can begin this study. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. Best wishes.

Answer 19

The Devil was the first to quote scriptures in the Gospels. He was trying to tempt Christ.

So "literal" is a matter of interpretation... and those who say literal are usually the ones who are turning the whole thing upside-down. If you don't believe me, read this: http://gospelenigma.com

Answer 20

No, I would have probably been stoned to death for breathing the wrong colored air by the end of the first book or some other nonsense.

Answer 21

No. The example u gave has already been proven. Christians do NOT believe in evolution and evolution is a false theory. Everything about the Creation is LITERAL. The Bible says that 1000 days are like a day to the Lord. But it has already been shown and proven that the earth is extremely young, and history and science prove that. There is not an exact date, but the earth is around 10,000 years old.  

Answer 22

no!!! he the whole thing is metaphores like jesus's paraboles, genesis for example the seven days are just simplifications of the billions of years it took him to create us, he just knew people just out of the stone age "moses times" wouldnt undestand if he yot down all about galaxys and quarks and nuclear fusion

Answer 23

The bible is a book written thousands of years ago by people. One would hope that in 2 thousand years people would have realised that it is in fact just a book written as a great story and guidelines to live by. If people still take it literally they have to be kidding themselves.  

Answer 24

I believe that God created the world in six days. I take it literally. He could have done it in one.He did it that way to give us a schedule, six days of work and one day of rest. I don't believe the earth is billions of years old, or that man came from monkey's or that they crawled out of some ancient ooze.

I believe that as Christians God intended for us to take the Bible literally. Every word in it is God breathed. There is a lot of scientific proof that supports the Bible.

All I can say is don't just believe something just because everyone else does. We are saved by faith, so have some. With God all things are possible!