Quote Originally Posted by F L E S H
I really dislike debates like this one. I think people who refer to biblical events as if they really happened are in for a big surprise.

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the stories told in the Bible were NOT meant to be taken literally? That they are moral lessons, nothing more?

THE BIBLE IS NOT HISTORY. The people who believe it to be such were fooled by the establishment that is the Church (Catholic, Baptist, Anglican, whatever).
I think Christians more or less have to take the bible literally. Christians have taken the bible literally since it was first comprised, why else would thousands accept death at the hands of the Romans rather than denying their faith in Jesus. Literal interpretation of the bible is practiced by almost every denomination, metaphorical interpretation on large scale is relatively a new phenomenon started with the Unitarians in the 19th century and continued today with other liberal â??Christianâ?? groups but they are still in the minority. Sure there was the Gnostics and other small groups through history that didnâ??t take the bible literally but they never gained much ground.

While you may argue that the literal interpretation was invented by the established churches, I counter by saying the bible created the established churches. I mean in the bible itself it says how Jesus said to Peter you are the rock that I will build my church upon, Jesus also says that those who listen to you (talking to the apostles) listen and obey me and those that deny you deny me. And who put the bible together in the first place, the church did, they did at the council of Nicea, they put it together therefore I hold they have the right to interpret it in the manner they see fit. The arguments you give about how you shouldnâ??t take the bible literally, while legitimate, I wouldnâ??t call Christian, and I would call it more or less new age humanism.

Again I donâ??t believe the bible to be any more than a work of fiction, some of it has good morals, while lots of it doesnâ??t ( I mean read Leviticus death was the punishment for almost every crime in it).