When the Bible talks about the pillars of the earth that is a metaphor.
When it talks about stars being fixed in the sky in the firmament that is obviously a metaphor too. People use colorful language all the time in literature.
Aren't you holding the Bible to a different standard than other books when you claim that EVERY SINGLE line was meant to be literally true?
Pick up any random book from a bookstore (other than a science book) and I promise you that you will find at least ONE metaphor in the book if it is long enough.
MOST Christians do NOT believe everything in the Bible was meant to be literal so isn't it a straw man argument to do this?
I mean NO offense.
I am honestly trying to see your thoughts on this. Thank you for your answers.|||No people she did NOT call it fictonal. She is saying some things are metaphors. Take Revolation for example. It talks about a beast coming out of the water. Its not really a beast. Its a person who is claming to be Jesus. The Bible was inspired by God. The fact of the matter is the stories did take place. Its just some people take everything it seriously. This girl IS right. Every story has metaphors and allegories. You most not know liteture very much then. Its sad someone my age can figure it out, and you can't. Naomi, keep doing what your doing. They know you your right. Thats why there answers are simply imature.|||I don't think the entire Bible is literally true.
Actually I think the whole thing isn't true. But I understand that parts of it appear to be analogies. But even then... it doesn't make much logical sense.
And what about the talking snake, and later the talking donkey? are those analogical too? People coming back from the dead? all of that other nonsense?
Are you admitting that the Bible is nothing more then just another piece of literature?|||"MOST Christians do NOT believe everything in the Bible was meant to be literal so isn't it a straw man argument to do this?"
That's funny. For the longest time... If you thought the Bible was not to be taken literally... You were to be executed, imprisoned or be put under house arrest. Fail.|||Jesus disagrees with you. Are you calling him a liar?
There is a literal lineage from Adam to Jesus in the bible. And Jesus himself spoke of Adam and Noah in a literal sense in the book of Matthew. We know for a fact that both of these characters are fictional. You would think Jesus would have known that.
Edit - Ah, it was fictional? So which real person was a descendant of the fictional Noah?|||So, some bits are literal, some bits aren't, no one knows which bits, so every one picks and chooses. Chaos ensues. I understand that much...
Books in the bookstore are books written by men and are not supposed to be divine reference books sent by god to instruct mankind.|||yeah
same as i know talkin snakes cant talk, parting seas cant be parted, and all the rest of the stuff in it that cant be pissible
yet, christians still belive they are?
so what doe sit matter whether i know or dont know what is and isnt a paralbe
im nto the one whos confused that some of its real soem isnt , nor does it matter as its not my religion|||In other words, if a passage in the Bible does not reflect reality as we know it to be, then it is a metaphor.
The problem is that back when the Bible was written, those passages were not considered metaphors; they were considered to reflect reality.|||how do you know that so sure why do you need to get so complicated figuring out what doesn't make sense and therefore is a metaphor instead of just realizing that in the time they wrote the bible that stuff made more sense and that they made it all up and that therefore there is no (christian)god|||What makes the cut?
The Bible is the 'literal' word of god when convenient and metaphor when not.
Get together and make a list as to which parts are which, and quit trying to inject it into schools.|||Atheists aren't Bible literalists, fundies are, they are the ones claiming every word in the Bible is true.
You are asking the wrong people.|||Yes, and the evidence the "other" parts of the Bible are factual, especially regarding Jesus are pathetic at best, and non-existent at worst.|||Sure. The ones that can be twisted here and there to fit modern science vaguely are ''miracles'' and the ones that severely contradict modern science are ''metaphors''.|||and it's also a metaphor lot had sex with his daughters?
my point is that there are a lot of pointless stuff in it.
that's why there is such thing as apologetics: making sense out of nonsense.|||I don't think the atheists are the correct audience for this question.
It seems like fundamentalist Christians have more to say on this subject, at least to an outside observer.|||A real God would never use metaphors or allegories - it would know to communicate more clearly.|||Actually the Christians that I have come across DO believe in the Bible literally. So maybe you should direct that question to them.|||Well I really don't care what is in the bible. The idea of a god, any god, is silly to me.|||So how do you know which bits are factual and which bits are metaphorical?|||So it is fiction then, thanks for clearing that up.|||Yep. They don't care to see Obama's birth certificate.|||i think god is silly also|||oh Noami, please don't even try ... you are making more a mess of it already|||you learned a new word today, didn't you?|||Why dont you make a list for us. I'll bet you 100 Rupies, that YOUR list and another Christians list will differ greatly.|||Of course we realize it.
I wonder if you do.|||OK, holding the Bible to the same standard I hold other books would mean that I assume none of it is true before I even crack the cover. You're talking about grabbing a book from the fiction section of the library and not criticizing it because you know it's fiction. So we're supposed to do the same with the Bible? Or is *some* of it true?
I'm going to need a definitive list that shows "this is allegory, this is literal." The problem with what you're proposing is that, if you take all of the "silly" parts out of the Bible, you've trimmed it down to only a few pages. Who decides what's important and what's not? And if that person has already gone through and trimmed the Bible, what's left over must be considered literal truth. Why else would you leave all that talking snake and donkey garbage in there?
Most of the Bible contradicts science and history, so by your standards it's mostly metaphor. That only supports my view that it's nearly all fiction.|||According to you. But what about the other denominations that don't think so?
"Aren't you holding the Bible to a different standard than other books when you claim that EVERY SINGLE line was meant to be literally true"
If it is the inspired word of god, as so many claim, then why not? I think you're downgrading your own holy text.
"If something "contradicts" science or history you will find that part is usually just a metaphor or an allegory."
Absolutely not: the moon gives off it's own light, the world is flat, the earth is the center of the universe and that the sun revolves around it, pi equals 3, etc,...?
I don't think so.|||why science is separate from God compels me to say that jesus was a living metaphor for what a person believes and how to make a change in the world. but having said that He is also the Word of God manifested in human flesh.
salvation came at a price too and that was real 30 pieces of silver which was the cost of our salvation.
sure your a big unbeliever but God puts this in your heart and he hands you over to the darkness in which you live.
enlightenment Ha death to atheism i think.
i think therefore i am. am what?? a living corpse i'd say. your dead with out him and with him your dead. you invented the light bulb and you presume your greater than God what a load of BS.
i remember being a science lover but never did i believe i was no longer a child yet i suspect that your the Pharisees of the modern day at least the rotten stink of humanity. Oh please do you think i will or would deny my God his life to a bunch of stick welding flee ridden monkeys.
love greets faithful
omoora|||Just about any other book is either fictional or it isn't. Christians claim that the bible is bits of both, but seem to be content to say it's fact unless it's silly and therefore it must be an allegory or metaphor. Are you seriously saying that that's how you tell what parts are and are not literally true? Because to me, that means almost all of it is metaphorical as there is no evidence of the existence of god but the bible talks about him all the time. So who's defining "silly"?
And yet there are Christians who insist it IS all literally true. So who am I supposed to believe?|||Some Atheists hold the Bible to such a literalistic standards simply because fundamentalists do. Most atheists don't even think in terms of imposing "standards"on the Bible. It's just literature to them. And many atheists consider many of the serious parts to be as allegorical as the "silly" parts.
In the case of "stars being fixed" in the "firmament", I think you are not correctly applying the term "metaphor". A metaphor substitutes one image for another. The ancients had no alternative cosmology to geocentrism and the idea that stars were tiny lamps attached to some solid surface. (That's why Galileo and Copernicus had such a hard time.) You can look at the night sky today and understand why they thought that way. So it's not metaphor. There was nothing for the ancients to compare to. They simply misunderstood the evidence of their eyes. The story can't be scientifically defended because science is not the purpose of the Bible (nor is proving the Bible a proper use of science).
The Bible does better as a moral guide for what to do (or in many cases, what NOT to do). But then, the historical reality of its characters would be not all that important. They and their acts could all be fictional. (In fact, better stories can be told with fictional characters and events, unencumbered by inconvenient and irrelevant details.)
Many of the Bible's stories are reflections of the sensibilities and concerns of their cultures, far different from those of our day. Even on an allegorical level, it is a challenge to make them relevant to us. (And in many cases, the "fundamentalist" interpretation does more harm than good.)
The God of Genesis is far different from the God of Daniel, or even 1 Samuel. The God of Genesis pops up unexpectedly, looking very human, dropping his angelic disguise only after he has been engaged in conversation by the likes of Abraham or Jacob. The God of the late Jewish scriptures does not make direct contact, but speaks only through angels who have personal names, distinct features and specific duties. Yet God does not change, so apologists must scramble to explain the discrepancies.
Many stories in the Bible are unrelated to each other, stitched into the great narrative be redactors who are not interested in preserving "history" but in keeping the stories together. But our modern sensibilities require something that looks like history to be a history, whether it is literally true or not. That is the curse of the modern biblical literalist and the "stumbling block" of the disbeliever. Trying to parse exactly which parts are "real" and which are figurative is a losing game.|||Bible is practically useless in modern societies
One day you might come to that conclusion too
2000 - 6000 years old concepts don't apply even if you try
Try to dash a baby against the rock..for example
http://www.notmytribe.com/2009/happy-sha…
ahh, one must love the bible
Also, you either follow it or not
Why do you Christians cherry pick what soothes you?..
You are twisting and turning it, as you see fit and then you whine, no one from normal people won't take you seriously anymore
Get a grip people
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