Why is the literalness of the Bible so important?

[URAVIP2ME]

Not all of Christendom believes all of the Bible literally. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, and probably Anglican Churches view it as largely metaphorical and allegorical. Even when I was Christian I did not take it literally. My priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church used to say "what does it matter if Adam and Eve actually existed? The important thing is that we do exist to give glory to God". Yet there are large numbers in various Christian denominations that take the Bible literally. Why? Does taking it as largely allegorical somehow diminish any truths or lessons it holds? Does that make it false?.................................
So why is it so important that the Bible be interpreted literally?

Of course, Jesus' parables or illustrative stories are Not literal happenings but lessons to remember and learn.
However, I do wonder why the E.O. church would think or doubt about a literal Adam and Eve.
If Adam and Eve were Not real, then how could Jesus be related to them as per Luke 3:38 _________
Plus, the Jewish ancestral record list starting at 1 Chronicles 1:1 lists Adam as a real live person.
Ezra considered what Moses wrote, as Moses being a man of God - Ezra 3:2 B.
Moses considered the first man as a real man as per Deuteronomy 4:32 besides what he wrote in Genesis.

 

[Audie]

I would say that every single Christian who has ever read the Bible would draw exactly the same line with knowing that Jesus is not a literal lamb or a door with hinges because those passages are clearly symbolic.

You are just repeating what I said!!!

Did you have a response to my topic, that
everyone chooses where to draw the lines?

 

[Audie]

Of course, Jesus' parables or illustrative stories are Not literal happenings but lessons to remember and learn.
However, I do wonder why the E.O. church would think or doubt about a literal Adam and Eve.
If Adam and Eve were Not real, then how could Jesus be related to them as per Luke 3:38 _________
Plus, the Jewish ancestral record list starting at 1 Chronicles 1:1 lists Adam as a real live person.
Ezra considered what Moses wrote, as Moses being a man of God - Ezra 3:2 B.
Moses considered the first man as a real man as per Deuteronomy 4:32 besides what he wrote in Genesis.

So do YOU think there was a real adam and eve, created as adults some
6000 yrs ago, more or less?

Surely not.

What someone claims Jesus said is not the same as
a 2+2=4 type of fact.

 

[Sky Rivers]

It most certainly is the case, many many
times over. But you do not care (wont
spoil your faith?) so you might be open to
a new understanding, which those who tie
their faith to such cannot possibly be.

It is not hard to explain, easier still
to see how "flood" is 100% incompatible
with any actual data!

No, it wouldn’t spoil my faith if the flood turned out to be local. However, I believe it was world-wide.

 

[Sky Rivers]

Which really seems to me the only reasonable
intrrpretation of what the writers meant.

(I choose literal / reasonable, in this case)

It’s simply written, isn’t it?

 

[URAVIP2ME]

A day in the account of creation was (dusk until dawn), to my knowledge.

In Genesis 2:4 we read that ' all of the creative days ' are summed up by the word ' day '.
So, even as we speak today, the word ' day ' has shades of meaning.
When we speak of grandfather's day we know that is more than a 24-hr. day, so was Noah's day.
There is nothing in Genesis to let us know how long each creative day was, or even if each creative day was of the same or varying lengths of time.
A thousand years is as a ' day ' in God's eyes or viewpoint.
Thus, Jesus' coming ' millennium-long day ' is a thousand-year day or time period.

 

[Sky Rivers]

So do YOU think there was a real adam and eve, created as adults some
6000 yrs ago, more or less?

Surely not.

What someone claims Jesus said is not the same as
a 2+2=4 type of fact.

I do, not that you asked me.

 

[Sky Rivers]

In Genesis 2:4 we read that ' all of the creative days ' are summed up by the word ' day '.
So, even as we speak today, the word ' day ' has shades of meaning.
When we speak of grandfather's day we know that is more than a 24-hr. day, so was Noah's day.
There is nothing in Genesis to let us know how long each creative day was, or even if each creative day was of the same or varying lengths of time.
A thousand years is as a ' day ' in God's eyes or viewpoint.
Thus, Jesus' coming ' millennium-long day ' is a thousand-year day or time period.

“And the evening and the morning were the first day. “

 

[URAVIP2ME]

So do YOU think there was a real adam and eve, created as adults some 6000 yrs ago, more or less?
What someone claims Jesus said is not the same as
a 2+2=4 type of fact.

The Bible is a book (fact).
What we can learn from the Bible book is: Adam and Eve were real people.
False clergy teach that they aren't or might Not be real. The Bible book does Not teach a might or a maybe.
Whether a person chooses to disagree with the Bible is another matter.
I am merely posting what the Bible really teaches.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

“And the evening and the morning were the first day. “

And your point is ___________________

 

[Sky Rivers]

And your point is ___________________

Evening = dusk
Morning = dawn

Dusk = last light
Dawn = first light

—-
Opposed to an indefinite period of time or sunset to sunrise.

Sunset- When the sun optically (by eye) is below the horizon

Sunrise - When the disk of the sun (not the entire circle) is first visible.

 

[Audie]

Evening = dusk
Morning = dawn

Dusk = last light
Dawn = first light

—-
Opposed to an indefinite period of time or sunset to sunrise.

Sunset- When the sun optically (by eye) is below the horizon

Sunrise - When the disk of the sun (not the entire circle) is first visible.

Simple!

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Evening = dusk
Morning = dawn
Dusk = last light
Dawn = first light
Opposed to an indefinite period of time or sunset to sunrise.
Sunset- When the sun optically (by eye) is below the horizon
Sunrise - When the disk of the sun (not the entire circle) is first visible.

Thank you for your reply, but I wonder what does the above have to do with the creative days.
ALL of the creative days are summed up by the single word ' DAY ' at Genesis 2:4.
In the ' day ' God made the Earth.....
So, the word ' day ' in Scripture has shades of meaning, and Not always a literal Dusk/Dawn or Sunset/Sunrise day.
Any thoughts about Psalms 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8 ______

 

[Audie]

And your point is ___________________

Obvious!

 

[Audie]

The Bible is a book (fact).
What we can learn from the Bible book is: Adam and Eve were real people.
False clergy teach that they aren't or might Not be real. The Bible book does Not teach a might or a maybe.
Whether a person chooses to disagree with the Bible is another matter.
I am merely posting what the Bible really teaches.

Only disagreement is that it is not really about
choosing. For me. Maybe someone can choose
to believe up is down but I cant. If a rock falls,
that way is down regardless of how I try to choose.

Its kinda like that with flood, and, A n' E.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Dis you mean @Jainarayan?

Yes - sorry.

 

[Audie]

No, it wouldn’t spoil my faith if the flood turned out to be local. However, I believe it was world-wide.

What a sad, weak faith if that would spoil it!

I could show you in simple words that there was no world wide flood,
if you have any interest. It is interesting to me.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Only disagreement is that it is not really about
choosing. For me. Maybe someone can choose
to believe up is down but I cant. If a rock falls,
that way is down regardless of how I try to choose.
Its kinda like that with flood, and, A n' E.

I don't think the ' up is down ' or ' down is up ' has to do with what we can learn from the Bible.
True, we choose about the Flood, and Adam and Eve, etc., but that does Not change what the Bible says.
Yes, when a rock falls it is always down.
The coming ' falling rock ' is what is recorded at 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3.
When the 'powers that be ' are saying, "Peace and Security..." that will prove to be the precursor to the coming great tribulation of Revelation 7:14,9.

 

[Jainarayan]

I am interested in understanding, which "same concepts" do you think are preserved if the accounts are metaphorical?

The same ones I and other non-Christians adhere to.

 

[Jainarayan]

A day in the account of creation was (dusk until dawn), to my knowledge.

Yom - Wikipedia

Although yom is commonly rendered as day in English translations, the word yom has several literal definitions:[1]

• Period of light (as contrasted with the period of darkness),
• General term for time
• Point of time
• Sunrise to sunset
• Sunset to next sunset
• A year (in the plural; I Sam 27:7; Ex 13:10, etc.)
• Time period of unspecified length.
• A long, but finite span of time - age - epoch- season.

Biblical Hebrew has a limited vocabulary, with fewer words compared to other languages, like English (which has the largest).[2][a]This means words often have multiple meanings determined by context.[10]...