Should the Bible be interpreted literally?

[captaincaustic]

One problem that poses itself time and again for Christians is the question of whether or not the Bible should be interpreted literally. This is important because how people view the Bible is maybe the most important foundation of their faith or lack there of.

[adlemi]

One problem that poses itself time and again for Christians is the question of whether or not the Bible should be interpreted literally. This is important because how people view the Bible is maybe the most important foundation of their faith or lack there of.

First and foremost of all, put God above all things, even to the bible itself because the bible is not the Lord God. Only the Lord God who is alive and real can give us the true explanation of the bible and no human beings can do this thing. See what the Lord God is saying about the scriptures. The Lord God Jesus Christ said:

"Keep in your mind that with Me, nothing is impossible, hence, whatever you will ask which to you is impossible, but same will be for your goodness sake, I will not be selfish to you. I will not be selfish to what you are asking for. And keep in your mind that in My Church, no one among mankind will stand up to explain the holy scriptures or to guide people that they will be explaining and they will be acting being a pastor because in My Church, I Am the only Pastor who will stand up in front of you. Keep in your mind that the two or three conversing about Myself without any debate, I Am in the midst of them."

[captaincaustic]

Personally, I think the Bible does indeed have factual information that should be taken literally. I do, however, think that every part of the Bible must be taken with certain things in mind, which include, but are not limited to:

1. The usage of language at the time of the writing (figures of speech, slang, symbolism, exaggeration, similes, etc.)
2. People at that time preferred usage of a good, engaging story with a message to exact historical accuracy.
3. People at that time explained events with knowledge that they possessed. They didn't have all of the scientific knowledge we do today.

Considering this, we must take things in the Bible into deep consideration before coming to a conclusion; thus, I would say one should not take everything they read in the Bible literally.

Besides- if we were to take everything in the Bible literally, we would have to chop off our hand if we sinned with it.

[captaincaustic]

One problem that poses itself time and again for Christians is the question of whether or not the Bible should be interpreted literally. This is important because how people view the Bible is maybe the most important foundation of their faith or lack there of.

First and foremost of all, put God above all things, even to the bible itself because the bible is not the Lord God. Only the Lord God who is alive and real can give us the true explanation of the bible and no human beings can do this thing. See what the Lord God is saying about the scriptures. The Lord God Jesus Christ said:

"Keep in your mind that with Me, nothing is impossible, hence, whatever you will ask which to you is impossible, but same will be for your goodness sake, I will not be selfish to you. I will not be selfish to what you are asking for. And keep in your mind that in My Church, no one among mankind will stand up to explain the holy scriptures or to guide people that they will be explaining and they will be acting being a pastor because in My Church, I Am the only Pastor who will stand up in front of you. Keep in your mind that the two or three conversing about Myself without any debate, I Am in the midst of them."

I am in direct agreeance with this, as humans are flawed and could never fully express God or His will in any conceivable language.

[adlemi]

One problem that poses itself time and again for Christians is the question of whether or not the Bible should be interpreted literally. This is important because how people view the Bible is maybe the most important foundation of their faith or lack there of.

First and foremost of all, put God above all things, even to the bible itself because the bible is not the Lord God. Only the Lord God who is alive and real can give us the true explanation of the bible and no human beings can do this thing. See what the Lord God is saying about the scriptures. The Lord God Jesus Christ said:

"Keep in your mind that with Me, nothing is impossible, hence, whatever you will ask which to you is impossible, but same will be for your goodness sake, I will not be selfish to you. I will not be selfish to what you are asking for. And keep in your mind that in My Church, no one among mankind will stand up to explain the holy scriptures or to guide people that they will be explaining and they will be acting being a pastor because in My Church, I Am the only Pastor who will stand up in front of you. Keep in your mind that the two or three conversing about Myself without any debate, I Am in the midst of them."

I am in direct agreeance with this, as humans are flawed and could never fully express God or His will in any conceivable language.

Then let us all call on directly to God and put all our trust and confidence in Him and have God in our life as our only Good Pastor and Teacher.

[The_Used]

One problem that poses itself time and again for Christians is the question of whether or not the Bible should be interpreted literally. This is important because how people view the Bible is maybe the most important foundation of their faith or lack there of.

It is my personal belief that the bible was man made, unfortunately i don't believe that the bible was created by men inspired by a god, but by men as a way of interpreting what they could not explain using scientific fact or finding. Now, in my opinion, nothing dealing with a deity, supernatural, or life after the one we know on earth can or will ever be explained by scientific fact. Therefore, if you follow the Christian belief, you should take your own view and interpretation of the bible. Now, i do not suggest doing this blindly, i believe before you make harsh judgements about the christian bible, that you should study what others have taken it for first. Others can be very insightful when it comes to such issues. So i guess the answer i have for the question is as follows: no, the bible shouldn't be taken literally, although many may have spent years studying what they believe "god" essentially is, no one really knows what is after this life, and people should find their own faith about god.

[adlemi]

One problem that poses itself time and again for Christians is the question of whether or not the Bible should be interpreted literally. This is important because how people view the Bible is maybe the most important foundation of their faith or lack there of.

It is my personal belief that the bible was man made, unfortunately i don't believe that the bible was created by men inspired by a god, but by men as a way of interpreting what they could not explain using scientific fact or finding. Now, in my opinion, nothing dealing with a deity, supernatural, or life after the one we know on earth can or will ever be explained by scientific fact. Therefore, if you follow the Christian belief, you should take your own view and interpretation of the bible. Now, i do not suggest doing this blindly, i believe before you make harsh judgements about the christian bible, that you should study what others have taken it for first. Others can be very insightful when it comes to such issues. So i guess the answer i have for the question is as follows: no, the bible shouldn't be taken literally, although many may have spent years studying what they believe "god" essentially is, no one really knows what is after this life, and people should find their own faith about god.

What about calling on directly to the Lord God and ask God's help about this matter? Would it do any better?

[melikio]

One problem that poses itself time and again for Christians is the question of whether or not the Bible should be interpreted literally.

I think MOST people know that the Bible should not be taken literally.

The mere existence of thousands of Christian sects, basically proves that there are few to no absolute literal interpretations to grasp. More realistically, the Bible is much more like a "guide", rather than a technical rulebook. And it seems that individuals/groups that use the Bible in that way, typically run smack-dab into massive problems (due to their overly-literal application of the things they extract from the Bible).

This is important because how people view the Bible is maybe the most important foundation of their faith or lack there of.

Well, I've never seen faith as being an exact science. Actually to me, it seems to be a very "fluid" or "nebulous" thing overall. It varies from person to person, and from mindset to mindset.

I don't oppose faith, but I'm virtually certain that people need grace to be "unique" inside of it (faith); we all believe and experience things differently in our hearts and minds.

Love (1Cor13), is the most universal thing I've found in the Bible; it's not the only thing in the Bible, but it is the most important thing to me.

-Mel-

[melikio]

What about calling on directly to the Lord God and ask God's help about this matter? Would it do any better?

I don't see anything wrong with that.

The problems come when people begin to believe that they have more answers, wisdom, grace and authority than others; and make it evident by their obvious displays of control and superiority. I WISH that I hadn't seen this from religious people over time, but there is no way I can deny the effects I've personally witnessed.

Calling upon God to help or grant wisdom is fine. But those who get the notion that they are somehow God's special enforcers of righteousness and conformity in this world, is another issue altogether.

-Mel-

[adlemi]

Calling upon God to help or grant wisdom is fine. But those who get the notion that they are somehow God's special enforcers of righteousness and conformity in this world, is another issue altogether.

-Mel-

With God, there is no such thing as "God's special enforcers of righteousness and conformity in this world", but just a witness of God or spreader of God's command to his fellow men. No one will act as leader of pastor because such post belongs only to the Lord. See this one from the Lord God Jesus Christ.

The Lord said:

"And keep in your mind that in My Church, no one among mankind will stand up to explain the holy scriptures or to guide people that they will be explaining and they will be acting being a pastor because in My Church, I Am the only Pastor who will stand up in front of you."