Current Events > Why do people have so much trouble taking the Bible literally?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Let's say God exists. And let's say that Jesus really was the Son of God. Clearly, then, things like walking on water, or raising the dead to life, would easily be possible for Jesus. And, all the other stuff that happened, like Moses parting the Red Sea, and so on.

Of course, a lot of people have trouble accepting the two premises I just mentioned.


---

Have you read the bible? That's why

---

Isn't the issue these days mostly about stuff that happened in Genesis?

---

Stories aren't really meant to be taken literally, and the Bible is definitely stories.

---

Will you ever stop trolling with Bible topics, Sun?
---

Sunhawk posted...

Let's say God exists. And let's say that Jesus really was the Son of God. Clearly, then, things like walking on water, or raising the dead to life, would easily be possible for Jesus. And, all the other stuff that happened, like Moses parting the Red Sea, and so on.

Of course, a lot of people have trouble accepting the two premises I just mentioned.

You could say this about any religion.

---

You know, The Phantom Tollbooth was one of my favourite books as a kid. Great little story about a kid going to a magical kingdom and going on a quest to save said kingdom, with talking dogs, markets where words and letters are sold, and an orchestra that makes the colours of the world. Just an absurd, clearly fictional book. That book is less fantastical and has just as much evidence to prove its a real story as does the bible.

---

This video shows just ONE example of why the bible can't be taken literally. It's about Noah's ark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_BzWUuZN5w

---

Jabodie posted...

Isn't the issue these days mostly about stuff that happened in Genesis?

There's not much going for the New Testament from a historical perspective either, as in the census described in Luke happened well after the death of Herod and would not have required travel to the hometown of an arbitrary ancestor. There is likewise no evidence that Herod ordered the death of all children under two.

---

People who have issues with the more grotesque aspects of religion are generally ignorant to the barbaric history of the world. Simple as that.

There have been countless examples of people who did things just as bad if not worse than what's mentioned in religious texts throughout history even up to current day.

Obviously it "condones" or "encourages" such behaviors, which is the main issue. However you can argue that actions are also equally the individuals fault for deducing that meaning from the text while millions of other people do not.

---

Not the Bible but the Quran says

It is He who revealed to you the Book. Some of its verses are definitive; they are the foundation of the Book, and others are unspecific. As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow the unspecific part, seeking dissent, and seeking to derive an interpretation. But none knows its interpretation except God and those firmly rooted in knowledge say, We believe in it; all is from our Lord. But none recollects except those with understanding.

3:7

---

DuranOfForcena posted...

curious how all this stuff was possible 2000 years ago according to people who wrote accounts of it hundreds of years after the fact, and yet in the modern era nothing even remotely like it at all has ever been on record as happening anywhere by anyone.

Absolutely makes sense - man over time has degraded and degraded unto weaker and weaker forms in the pursuit of knowledge instead of brawn and survival

Things like the parting of the water and Noah's ark are completely plausible if we had records of wind change, data on the chemical make up of water (AND the air), knowledge of the type of ancestry of animals at that point within the world, etc.

All we have are attempts to debunk the myths, we don't have nearly as much in the way of 'proof' or corroboration for these events because usually the conversation ends at 'well it doesn't exist because it didn't happen now did it'


---

DuranOfForcena posted...

curious how all this stuff was possible 2000 years ago according to people who wrote accounts of it hundreds of years after the fact, and yet in the modern era nothing even remotely like it at all has ever been on record as happening anywhere by anyone.

alternatively, perhaps god realized theres no reason to interact with the modern era of humans. Ive always thought the universe has had a sense of humor

DuranOfForcena posted...

and yet in the modern era nothing even remotely like it at all has ever been on record as happening anywhere by anyone.

From the end of the Old Testament to when Jesus was born God literally basically dissappeared on purpose by the biblical account.

Also, this mindset doesn't realize how rare miracles were. Considering the span of history the bible covers and the amount of people, God barely interacted with anyone.
Israel was just one nation.

Even when Jesus was around, only a tiny fraction of people got to witness him performing a miracle compared to the people alive in the world at the time.

But the argument is, we should see them today if they happened back then!

In any case, miracles also had a purpose. The apostles were given power to perform them to confirm that their words were of God.
That word was written down and declared to last until the end of time. It is finished.
No more reason for new miracles to exist any longer.