According to one source, "
Biblical literalism is the belief that the
Bible, or at least large portions of it, should be read literally, not allegorically. This means the language should be interpreted as used in everyday writing and speaking."
Can someone explain what that means? I don't even understand that definition, reminds me of what evolutionists say in a way -- say something without explaining it. So what's really "Bible literalism" according to the above definition?
Biblical literalism - Religions Wiki
TAKE THE STORY OF JONAH AND THE WHALE:
God provides when you pray or when there is a need.
(Moral to the story). An
allegory is a story, picture, or poem that generally teaches a moral.
Jonah lived inside a whale. But there are no whale fossils that big. He would have drowned in there.
(Literal meaning).
Background story. Jonah was stranded in the desert, starving, when he prayed to God for relief.
God provide a huge amount of meat (a whale). And Jonah "ate of" the whale meat. Not just any part of the whale, but he
"ate of" the belly meat. Thus, Jonah ate of the belly of the whale (because of God's miracle, providing delicious and bountiful food when he really needed it).
So, how did
"ate whale meat" become "lived in the belly of a whale?" Mistranslation. Many kings and popes had agendas to rewrite the bible, and the bible was originally written in Latin, and early on, translated into Arabic, Greek, and Hebrew. Those translations and writings clearly are not accurate. For example, Genesis 1:25 and Genesis 2:18 contradict (regarding which came first, man or animals). Reverend Melissa Scott (wife of the late Reverend Gene Scott) translates ancient texts, and digs out the real translations of the bible.
For thousands of years, pastors have insisted that God and the bible are perfect. Thus, when a scientist claimed that meteors come from God's perfect heavens, he was tortured into recanting. Pastors thought that if the bible is flawed, and the only thing that we know about God is from the bible, then our knowledge of God is flawed, so they had to keep telling the lie that the bible was flawless.
Jesus taught by examples and allegories.