aspen said:
SL,
i believe the Bible is inspired by God and true - everything in the Bible is supposed to be there. I believe truth is good. The difference between 'truth' and 'literal' is critical - i believe choosing to focus on the concrete details of the Creation story (for example) begs us to try to fit it into a modern understanding - making the story literal forces us to stop thinking about anything more than 'Did it really happen?' and invites us to make sure everyone else believes the same way we do - and if they do not or struggle to believe it literally happened, as if it were a video recording of the event. then they must think the story is a lie or that is isnt omnipotent. In my experience, most people who are obsessed with whether or not the creation story REALLY happenned, word for word - like a video recording, never consider the greater truth because they are so focused on defending the literal interpretation. It is like being a marathon runner who is obsessed with his shoes instead of running the race. Make sense?
It makes more sense now. I understand your thinking better now from one direction. I am
really not trying to be a "smarty pants" or "nit pick". I want to understand this point of view because I have never considered it.
I am guilty. I equate literal with truth and would be hard pressed to stop (I admit it). I am not saying that everyone taking something literally
makes it truth, but to
that person it is truth. For example, some may take the qur'an literally, and to
that person it is absolute truth. I do not take the qur'an literally, and do not accept it as truth.
I said I understand the argument you are making from one direction. I understand and agree that there is no requirement for taking the bible literally to accept it as truth. But to be truth, don't you have to take it literally? Literalness is intricately tied to truth because literalness is based in fact, the only fact we can know. Now, I understand that one mans fact is another mans opinion and when everything is boiled down to the brass tacks,
anything can be questioned...we have much less fact than we think on almost any subject.
In my opinion, you can accept the bible as truth without ever considering whether it is tied to being literal. (child like faith) However, again, in my opinion, if a person stops to think about it they should come to the conclusion that it can (maybe should?) be taken literally.
Please tell me where you think I am wrong. I do not get offended and I find this to be an interesting thought. I "literally" froze in front of my screen when I read those words. It was funny.
SL