Should the Bible be taken literally?

[Noonzie]

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you yourself will be just like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:4-5

You can't properly understand and follow the Word unless the Holy Spirit guides you. The above proverb is a good example. How can you say to just take it literally? Many would say this is a contradiction, but God put it there for a reason. The Spirit must help you discern the Word rightly.

[dan]

I think the original question is the wrong question. I don't think anybody takes every single verse in the bible "literally", and sometimes the literal meaning is even arguable.

What we should be asking is, "can every verse be considered true for every single context it which it might be claimed?" The answer to that is obviously no. I've read through the thread and there are numerous examples of idioms within scripture (Abel's blood cried). You obviously should not take this literally in terms of blood actually crying like a person would, but you could take it literally that justice for Abel's death was demanded by the circumstances.

So, you claim that you have reference to the context of which God Perceives?

You are saying that you know how God perceives innocent blood spilled?

I think you do misconstrue your perceptions.

1COR 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

The bible is full of abstract ideas. This is important - the bible says nothing directly about a number of cultural issues we deal with today - drug addiction, internet porn, drunk driving, etc. However, we can take the abstract meaning of verses as the purpose and the concrete example as the cultural context that ties the idea in that time. For instance - look at Deuteronomy 21:10-14.

10 When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take captives, 11 if you notice among the captives a beautiful woman and are attracted to her, you may take her as your wife. 12 Bring her into your home and have her shave her head, trim her nails 13 and put aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has lived in your house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then you may go to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. 14 If you are not pleased with her, let her go wherever she wishes. You must not sell her or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.


Taken literally, this would lead to behavior that would be immoral today. Think if an American soldier took an Iraqi woman as his wife against her will, shaved her head and trimmed her nails, consummated the marriage, and then let her go. It would be culturally wrong. However, what is the verse saying in abstract, considering the culture? DO NOT RAPE FOREIGN WOMEN, for one. If you are attracted to one, you must marry her before you can sleep with her. In that culture, buy marrying her you would be legitimizing her and her children by you. You must also recognize that she is in mourning and respect that. In other words, the text is there to protect the helpless (women). Taken purely literally it oppresses women; taken abstractly, it protects and honors them. Which interpretation do you think is closest to God's intention?

Immoral by cultural standards, perhaps, but, God's Word Is Eternal, and as far as human instinct is concerned, as well as human conscience and motivation, I would bet that this statement is as applicable today as it was then.

[episkopos]

The bible can only be properly understood through revelation by the Holy Spirit. The bible actually interprets those who try to interpret it for themselves.

[Eyelog]

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you yourself will be just like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:4-5

The Spirit must help you discern the Word rightlly.

Darn tootin', or some bloke will come in and call one pole of the matter a semitism, and clearly not meant to be taken as true, which would be arbitrary as well as false.

[ronshua]

I'm the fifth "NO" vote . Scripture in my eye is one huge idiom , simile on top of similes . Not addressed to us , spoken in another culture .

9 And further, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, and gave ear, and sought out -- he made right many similes.

10 The preacher sought to find out pleasing words, and, written [by] the upright, words of truth.

11 Words of the wise [are] as goads, and as fences planted [by] the masters of collections, they have been given by one shepherd.

12 And further, from these, my son, be warned; the making of many books hath no end, and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the whole matter let us hear: -- `Fear God, and keep His commands, for this [is] the whole of man.

14 For every work doth God bring into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or bad.'

Look at the percentage of folks that can't see Acts 2:38 , and it's shouted by all twelve Apostles , with 3,000 proofs that day .

16 and the city lieth square, and the length of it is as great as the breadth; and he did measure the city with the reed -- furlongs twelve thousand; the length, and the breadth, and the height, of it are equal;

Furlong = An eighth of a mile, 220 yards X twelve thousand ( 12,000 / 8 = 1,500 miles X 1,500 miles X 1,500 miles X 1,500 miles , ONE BIG BOX or a symbol for perfection ?

Peace .

[Eyelog]

I'm the fifth "NO" vote . Scripture in my eye is one huge idiom , simile on top of similes . Not addressed to us , spoken in another culture .

9 And further, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge, and gave ear, and sought out -- he made right many similes.

10 The preacher sought to find out pleasing words, and, written [by] the upright, words of truth.

11 Words of the wise [are] as goads, and as fences planted [by] the masters of collections, they have been given by one shepherd.

12 And further, from these, my son, be warned; the making of many books hath no end, and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.

13 The end of the whole matter let us hear: -- `Fear God, and keep His commands, for this [is] the whole of man.

14 For every work doth God bring into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or bad.'

Look at the percentage of folks that can't see Acts 2:38 , and it's shouted by all twelve Apostles , with 3,000 proofs that day .

16 and the city lieth square, and the length of it is as great as the breadth; and he did measure the city with the reed -- furlongs twelve thousand; the length, and the breadth, and the height, of it are equal;

Furlong = An eighth of a mile, 220 yards X twelve thousand ( 12,000 / 8 = 1,500 miles X 1,500 miles X 1,500 miles X 1,500 miles , ONE BIG BOX or a symbol for perfection ?

Peace .

The Bible is addressed to all those who would believe the Apostles, as Jesus prays at John 17:20. So, there can be very little point in reading and discussing the Word with the likes of one who thinks the Word is directed at some other 'culture'.

Indeed, cultural studies may add insight into the Word, once in a while, but generally the Bible interprets itself very well, thank you very much. The danger is when people think cultural studies explain the Bible exhaustively in any given instance. I find that in nearly every instance of cultural interpretation the meaning is missed or minimized by most.

Additionally, how teachable is he who has nothing but a confused look after reading the Word?

Finally, the question for this post with its three options misses the point entirely.

[ronshua]

Greetings eyelog , Matthew 15:24 , and he answering said, `I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'

Luke
17:20 And having been questioned by the Pharisees, when the reign of God doth come, he answered them, and said, `The reign of God doth not come with observation;

John 18:36,37
36 Jesus answered, `My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my officers had struggled that I might not be delivered up to Jews; but now my kingdom is not from hence.'
37 Pilate, therefore, said to him, `Art thou then a king?' Jesus answered, `Thou dost say [it]; because a king I am, I for this have been born, and for this I have come to the world, that I may testify to the truth; every one who is of the truth, doth hear my voice.'
Mark 1:14-15 , John 12:49-50

Every time our Anointed said " YOU " in Matthew 23 , 24 , 25 , He didn't mean you , me or any-other DOG . He was talking to " the lost sheep of the house of Israel .
YLT

You Brother eyelog , may believe what ever your heart desires & thank you for the kind words , blessings . I'm trust the written word .

What do you think John 17:20 is expounding ? ²⁴ `Father, those whom Thou hast given to me, I will that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory that Thou didst give to me, because Thou didst love me before the foundation of the world.

Tell me Brother , " the lost sheep of the house of Israel " OR DOGS ?


Peace .

[ronshua]

What do you think John 17:20. is saying ?
9 `I ask in regard to them; not in regard to the world do I ask, but in regard to those whom Thou hast given to me, because Thine they are,
20 `And not in regard to these alone do I ask, but also in regard to those who shall be believing, through their word, in me;
Cherry picking is fine for some verse , lets cherry pick down to 24 Father, those whom Thou hast given to me, I will that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory that Thou didst give to me, because Thou didst love me before the foundation of the world.

Acts 10 is where the dogs get a break , Peter is shocked , Dogs are included . 34 And Peter having opened his mouth, said, `Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, 35 but in every nation he who is fearing Him, and is working righteousness, is acceptable to Him;
Well so much for not having to do "works " working righteousness .

" Indeed, cultural studies may add insight into the Word " , true statment brother , beings our Scripture is about 50 % , the oral Torah comprises the legal and interpretative traditions that we will never have access to . So YES " cultural studies " are imperative . In my humble opinion .

13 `Because of this, in similes do I speak to them, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor understand
15 for made gross was the heart of this people, and with the ears they heard heavily, and their eyes they did close, lest they might see with the eyes, and with the ears might hear, and with the heart understand, and turn back, and I might heal them.
11 and he said to them, `To you it hath been given to know the secret of the reign of God, but to those who are without, in similes are all the things done;
12 that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they may turn, and the sins may be forgiven them.'
17 And when he entered into a house from the multitude, his disciples were questioning him about the simile,
18 and he saith to them, `So also ye are without understanding! Do ye not perceive that nothing from without entering into the man is able to defile him?
9 And his disciples were questioning him, saying, `What may this simile be?'
10 And he said, `To you it hath been given to know the secrets of the reign of God, and to the rest in similes; that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

How much of the New Testaments Good News do you think was Hebrew oral tradition ?

6:1 Wherefore, having left the word of the beginning of the Christ, unto the perfection we may advance, not again a foundation laying of reformation from dead works, and of faith on God,
2 of the teaching of baptisms, of laying on also of hands, of rising again also of the dead, and of judgment age-during,
3 and this we will do, if God may permit,
YLT

Here is what John was told , 19 `Write the things that thou hast seen, and the things that are, and the things that are about to come after these things;
Look close at the instructions ,

Write the things that thou HAST SEEN,........ and the things THAT ARE .......... and the things that are about to come AFTER THESE THINGS ( that are )
Sound like thousands of years to you ?

Peace .

[crawfish]

Of course not every passage in scripture is to be taken literally. For example the parables are true but it is obvious that they are illustrations. In fact the writer of the gospels even directly states in most cases that they are parables leaving us without doubt. The general rule of thumb is to interpret the scripture literally unless the sense of the scripture makes it very clear and obvious that it is a parable.
Using this principle I have determined that the book of Revelation is not imagery or parables but describes real occurrences and real entities in the spiritual domain which may be manifested in more conventional ways in the physical domain.

You are describing a very subjective process. You might find it obvious that Revelation is not imagery, but someone else might find it obvious that it is. We are all products of our culture, and the reason things are obvious to us that were not obvious in the past is because our knowledge level and culture makes it so.

Another important principle is that if we look through history and notice that Christians for hundreds of years have interpreted a particular scripture as being very literal in nature, then it is inadmissable for us in these latter days to take on a figurative sense of that same scripture. The reason for this is that the truth does not change. God does not change. He preserves his truth from the first generation through to the last generation so that not one letter jot or tittle will pass away. Where we see an innovation coming in where the scripture is suddenly being interpreted in a different way than it had always been interpreted in the past, then we can be certain that the innovation is an error and is to be shunned.

Christians for the first 1500 years felt, based on bible verses, that the earth was immovable and the heavens moved around it. Are we wrong to have a changed view today?

[crawfish]

So, you claim that you have reference to the context of which God Perceives?

You are saying that you know how God perceives innocent blood spilled?

I think you do misconstrue your perceptions.

1COR 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Are you suggesting that God avoids figures of speech?

Immoral by cultural standards, perhaps, but, God's Word Is Eternal, and as far as human instinct is concerned, as well as human conscience and motivation, I would bet that this statement is as applicable today as it was then.

If God ignored cultural standards, then He would not have given into such things when establishing Israel.

Mark 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

[crawfish]

4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you yourself will be just like him.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
Proverbs 26:4-5

You can't properly understand and follow the Word unless the Holy Spirit guides you. The above proverb is a good example. How can you say to just take it literally? Many would say this is a contradiction, but God put it there for a reason. The Spirit must help you discern the Word rightly.

Good post! If you understand the idea of "wisdom literature", you'll know that wisdom is often situational. What is right in one circumstance is wrong in another. Proverbs imparts a lot of such wisdom, and thus it cannot be interpreted as law.

[dan]

Are you suggesting that God avoids figures of speech?

I think God has been honest with us. He "hears" innocent blood being spilled. It "pollutes" the earth, perhaps to His discomfort, in those places where the act occurs.

If God ignored cultural standards, then He would not have given into such things when establishing Israel.

Mark 10:5 And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

Pehaps you could show me some examples?

[crawfish]

I think God has been honest with us. He "hears" innocent blood being spilled. It "pollutes" the earth, perhaps to His discomfort, in those places where the act occurs.

You don't answer the question. If I tell you that you're pulling my leg, I'm not lying if you've never even touched my leg. Samson wasn't accusing the Philistines of plowing a field with one of his cows.

Pehaps you could show me some examples?

Divorce is one. God did not intend or approve of divorce, but he still allowed it because they refused to change. I would think it's obvious that divorce wasn't the only place where God bent to existing cultural forces.This is a big reason the new covenant is so much different than the old one.

[webbguy4]

literally true
metaphorically true
absolute truth

hmm, guess what! all words are metaphors, the word rock is not literally a rock. when i say the word rock there is in my mind a picture of a rock. when you hear or read me using the word rock a picture is called to your mind, but it is highly unlikely that our pictures are identical. Imagine how much more our images vary when separated by 2,000 years of history and translated from different languages.

example: as a child a read the book Jonah, it said Jonah was swallowed by a fish. hmm, ok so far. But in the new testement Jesus said that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Whales are fish are very different things, Jesus is God , how can he make that kind of mistake? This conflict is resolved when we realize that Jonah was written in hebrew and hebrew does not have separate words for fish and whales.

from this I get that all of these problems of literal or metaphorical, or contradictions are maybe fun to play with and maybe you might learn something from getting into resolving them, but in the end they are always like this, not really that relevant to getting the truth