Is the bible meant to be taken literally? (gospel, tradition)

[kal-el]

In my experiences, once the bible is shown to contain numerous errors, theists assert, "That's not to be taken literally". I usually take things literally unless told otherwise. Something that's meant to be fiction usually begins with "once upon a time". The very name Gospel means truth. It seems to me that the bible goes to great lenghts to show that the bible is the infallible word of god. And an "omniscient" entity wouldn't be so incongrous as to leave his word up to interpretations.

[dawny0826]

I "take" the bible pretty literally and don't have issues accepting it as truth.

[Buttons*]

I can't take it literally....

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by kal-el

In my experiences, once the bible is shown to contain numerous errors, theists assert, "That's not to be taken literally". I usually take things literally unless told otherwise. Something that's meant to be fiction usually begins with "once upon a time". The very name Gospel means truth. It seems to me that the bible goes to great lenghts to show that the bible is the infallible word of god. And an "omniscient" entity wouldn't be so incongrous as to leave his word up to interpretations.

Gospel means "good news."

It is helpful to remember that the documents of the Bible are the product of and was preserved by a culture that held that truth does not need to be literal fact. More specifically, a literal fact to our culture is that which can be proven scientifically and appeals to a rational framework that considers interpretation of scientific knowledge. For us, truth is scientific fact. For them, myth is truth. It was perfectly acceptable to exaggerate and add to traditions to make them more appealing and to give hope, and still retain faithfulness and credibility to an actual event.

It is better to think of the Bible as we think of the incarnation of Christ. Christ is perfectly God and perfectly human. The Bible is perfectly God's action and completely recorded and preserved by humanity. As such, it is riddled with the imperfection of our feeble hands and hearts. God entrusted His Message to humanity, and we are stewards of the message.

[James the Persian]

Originally Posted by kal-el

In my experiences, once the bible is shown to contain numerous errors, theists assert, "That's not to be taken literally". I usually take things literally unless told otherwise. Something that's meant to be fiction usually begins with "once upon a time". The very name Gospel means truth. It seems to me that the bible goes to great lenghts to show that the bible is the infallible word of god. And an "omniscient" entity wouldn't be so incongrous as to leave his word up to interpretations.

Some is literal, some isn't, and this has been the interpretation of the Church since the beginning. I'd like to see the 'great lengths' the Bible goes to to show that it is the infallible word of God, because I don't see it at all. That sounds like a post-Reformation sola scripturalist idea. The Bible describes the Church as the pillar and ground of the Truth and it is the Church as a whole, guided by Godwhose Spirit is present within Her, that interprets the Bible correctly (not to mention that it is the Church that wrote and collected the Bible in the first place). You see, we don't believe that God leaves His word up to individual interpretations either. You don't have to be a strict Biblical literalist to have a consistent and unchanging interpretation of Scripture (in fact, I think it's easier if you aren't a Biblical literalist).

James

[James the Persian]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

Gospel means "good news."

It is helpful to remember that the documents of the Bible are the product of and was preserved by a culture that held that truth does not need to be literal fact. More specifically, a literal fact to our culture is that which can be proven scientifically and appeals to a rational framework that considers interpretation of scientific knowledge. For us, truth is scientific fact. For them, myth is truth. It was perfectly acceptable to exaggerate and add to traditions to make them more appealing and to give hope, and still retain faithfulness and credibility to an actual event.

It is better to think of the Bible as we think of the incarnation of Christ. Christ is perfectly God and perfectly human. The Bible is perfectly God's action and completely recorded and preserved by humanity. As such, it is riddled with the imperfection of our feeble hands and hearts. God entrusted His Message to humanity, and we are stewards of the message.

I almost agree with you except that I would say the message was entrusted to the Church rather than all humanity.

James

[Jayhawker Soule]

Originally Posted by kal-el

Something that's meant to be fiction usually begins with "once upon a time". The very name Gospel means truth. It seems to me that the bible goes to great lenghts to show that the bible is the infallible word of god. And an "omniscient" entity wouldn't be so incongrous as to leave his word up to interpretations.

Four sentences and not one of them defensible as far as I can tell.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by JamesThePersian

I almost agree with you except that I would say the message was entrusted to the Church rather than all humanity.

James

I was thinking of the church as a human community, but the Bible includes some of the Hebrew Scriptures, which are preserved by the Jewish community who are not in the Church.