How many Christians here take all things in the bible literally?

I'd call myself a christian to an extent in that I do believe in God, and I do believe that there is more to this life of ours than simply dying and dissappearing into a black void of nothingness. When it comes to the bible however, there are many many things that I do not agree with and that I do not believe in. I had an interesting discussion with a co-worker the other day about this idea of evolution, of the earth being created in 6 days, of the bibles views on slavery, and she told me that these things written in the bible are not to be taken literally. I was taken aback alittle as she was a devout Christian from my time spent working with her. I knew there were others who do not take the bible literally, Bill O'Reilly in one show in a debate with another political analyst insisted that the bible not be taken literally as well.

How do some ATSers who are Christians feel about this? This is a special case when it comes to creationism and evolution, or the origins of life as we know it, are there those of you who do not take the bible literally? I do believe in evolution, I just think it's just one of Gods great inventions, and I recognize that there are many christians who are not necessarily creationists. Do you as a Christian take the bible literally?

You can't be a Christian and not take everything in the Bible literally. I say this as an ex-Christian, now atheist.

Edit: I'm curious as to how or why someone can call themselves a Christian and not take the Bible literally, what defines you as Christian and how do you know/believe this. What exactly do you believe?

Originally posted by Josonic
You can't be a Christian and not take everything in the Bible literally. I say this as an ex-Christian, now atheist.

Well that's a very a good thing to point out there, although maybe my view of Christianity goes beyond that of jesus or the great flood. I guess it's just a personal view of mine that you can be a christian and yet not believe in these things written in the bible. I'm of the opinion that centuries of the bible being handled by various men has had it's word mostly changed, modified, to suit society and the times. I think to say you must believe in the bible to be a Christian is toaccept all the modifications and changes made by men following God or Jesus, which I don't think is right.

reply to post by Southern Guardian


"take the bible literally"

If u mean as a foundation from which too start yes i do,

for instance,

"The Lord thy God, has done this:
brought forth light from darkness,,,,,big bang
set the Earth upon nothing,,,,,,,,,,gravitational pull
. set the courses for the wind,,,northlies/westerlies
moved mountains,
etc,,,
ohh and" i will return. " there is always that one,,
i mean if he did the rest of that stuff, and declared it from Ancient of times , how he would take Cyrus, and make him a King,
and then give his kingdom too Alexander,
and from Alexander too Charlamaine,, "Under This Sign Conquer"
He Established the "Holy Roman Empire,"
and then,,well you get the picture,,,
all i ask him for is help finacially,,

no dont think its working,,but the other stuff
ya thats pretty much going according too plan.

"How many Christians here take all things in the bible literally?"

me.






Ohh ya and this one:

" And i beheld Satan,,like lightening fall, from the high place,, "

Im mean wow talk about declaring something from the old days,,
or was it new days?
new testiment,,??
probably,,
ya Barrak o Bamma,, so hows the campaing trail,, or is vacation,, i always forget which.?

I hope not very many or the man of peace who claims to be a world leader then enslaves the people and kills through war all across the middle east is Obama. The anti Christ.

Like he has the nuts for the job.....

You can easily be a christian and not take everything in the bible literally..


i have read it a lot of times and don't claim to always understand everything... some things even don't seem right at all, but that never stops my faith in God..

What it boils down to is this; You are for the Lord or you are against him...

The bible is a tool to educate and is also a testimonial to Christ in the new testiment..

it isn't like OMG! theres a few things in the bible that don't make any sense, the whole thing must be a lie!!!

parables and symbolic passages were obviously not to be taken literally..

The bible is flawless, and is exactly what God had intended.

reply to post by alienreality


Thanks for the reply alienreality, that's sort of how I feel about it. In defense of many Christians out there, there are some folks, athiests, who would jump at this idea that the minute something is out of place in the bible, this disproves all Christians, but of course not all Christians are alike, and the bible is not necessarly a corner stone, not every word atleast. Take into mind I say some folks, athiests, I've actually met alot of athiests who are respectful ad understanding of ones belief. I guess it just comes down to afew bad apples on both sides. I certainly don't take the bible in all it's sayings for me to be a Christian.

Originally posted by Southern Guardian
my view of Christianity goes beyond that of jesus or the great flood. I guess it's just a personal view of mine that you can be a christian and yet not believe in these things written in the bible.

Jesus? As in Jesus Christ? Christian literally means follower of Christ...Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ man how can you call yourself a Christian if you aren't a follower of Christ.

How can you be here now watching prophecy unfold before your very eyes and not believe?

reply to post by Josonic
Catholics call themselves Christians even though they are actually papists. I guess an eggplant could call itself an elephant; wouldn't make it true.....

reply to post by kellynap43


Well you are certainly correct however for the OP I would add this. Everything directly related to what you should do for salvation is very clearly laid out. The rest is history and examples and future revelations which have no direct impact on what God expects of you. It is not as relevant and will not affect your salvation whether you understand those things or not.

Also faith is a cornerstone in the faith and I believe God intentionally left things obscure to see who would follow. If everything was explained full so everyone could understand it than why would you need to have faith? You should trust in God that even though you don't understand some things as long as you do what he has clearly laid out for salvation that all will be known one day.

I've read revelations hundreds of times and i've seen passages explained every which way you can imagine and I will admit I have no idea if it's literal or not. I also know it doesn't matter as it's not relative to going to heaven.

Originally posted by sonofliberty1776
How can you be here now watching prophecy unfold before your very eyes and not believe?

Such as?

Originally posted by sonofliberty1776
How can you be here now watching prophecy unfold before your very eyes and not believe?

The day after Christ died people started believing the prophecy was unfolding before their eyes. We are still here.

2000 years from now people will still be claiming they are living in the end days.

reply to post by kro32


Some good points.
But I dont think the bible is mystery novel created to leave the reader haning and searching for new and more information. This isnt a game for God (Jesus). As you said, he lays it out pretty clearly on how to be saved. Jesus was a master story teller. Not because he like to entertain but because he tried to relate the information to the listener in a way they can understand. Much like how you talk to a child. Every story, old or new, every scripture, every book tells a story so the reader will learn to know Jesus and develope a closer relationship with him.

This is my gut instint.

The Pharisees were people who took the Bible literally. They saw a text telling Israel to keep God's law on their hands and between the eyes, so they wrote out portions of scripture and kept them on their hands and between the eyes. To me, this perfectly illustrates how "taking it literally" can be an excellent way of missing the point. It did not occur to them that what God actually meant was "I want my law to be at the forefront of your mind". That is the difference between the letter, which kills, and the Spirit, which gives life.

To anyone who claims to take everything in the Bible literally, I must ask you for your take on John ch3 vv35-38, when Jesus told the disciples that he was sending them out into the harvest. Do you claim to believe that this was meant literally, and if so, why are you not out in the fields with your scythes?

People do not go around expecting everything they say to be taken literally. That is not how language works. There are some things which are not meant to be taken literally ("...when our boy was injured, my wife lost her head and went to pieces"). The way to understand communication is to look for what people mean, because their expressions might be literal or they might be metaphorical.

I think it is just as valid to look for metaphor in Genesis ch1 as it is to look for metaphor in Revelation.

Do I take each and every point literally...no I don't.

For instance, was the Earth created in 6 days? Yes, but in 6 days according to God's time...not necessarily man's time.

Was there a global flood? Maybe... More likely it flooded the world known to Noah and family. Frankly, if using the dimensions for the ark given in the Bible... it would be really hard to fit all the animals of the world on there. Certainly more conceivable to get pairs and groups of the animals regionally located around Noah. Plus, the story matches stories from other cultures and faiths... maybe a world wide flood, but the story of Noah was a local rendition.

Where do dinosaurs fit in? Behemoth of job is a good example of a description of "thunder lizards" or dinosaurs...

Evolution and timelines? I think the world is billions of years old and that evolution, as Darwin explained it...survival of the fittest, exists.... natural selection. Do I think monkeys turned to man...no I don't and science that promotes those ideas is literally based on a few fragments and theories that are as impressive to me as the Bible is to some athiests...both can be argued with equal validity. A missing link is yet to be determined and found.

Jesus...did He live? I say He did...there is too much circumstancial eveidence that Jesus lived. There are too many historically substantiated events and personalities and historical figures and even validating evidence from other cultures and faiths outside Christianity that support that he did....( Just an anecdote.... My great grandmother never exited on paper... no census, no written proof..no signitures or pictures of any sort... only references to her after the fact and about 16 children that claim her as descendants. People wrote of her...people say she lived...but nothing written to her or from her...not even a validated Mark...yet she lived.)

Resurrections... miracle healings... miracle events by an individual? yep, I believe those literally. In fact there are such events today that are equally impressive by peoples of faith. The news recently of a drowned boy...by all rights should be dead...has since left the hospital... A gentleman awoke in a morgue after being declared dead...

Angels and demons... a co-workers brother in law was saved after making deliveries to New Orleans of vital supplies. He met a little boy that was feared dead...missing...but was found in a devestated part of the area along the coast...in a refridgerator... the little boy would surely have died, but "the man with wings" told him to get in during the storm. I believe them literally... I have encountered a demon...actually met one and was tempted.

The return of Jesus Christ and the Apocolypse... well, if you read the Bible and ALL of the corresponding scriptures and then look at the world of today...I think you could make a good argument for a literal interpretation.

Anyone of the above is enough for a thread unto itself... and there have been many on each of the above topics...

Do I believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible... for the most part ...YES...especially as the writings get closer in a historical timeline to other verified historical accounts...

Within the bible there are stories that are obviously not literal. Those are called parables. But, most of the bible may be read and understood literally. The problem is: unless you are enlightened by the Holy Spirit (God), you will not understand much of it. It's kind of like having all the pieces to a very large jigsaw puzzle lying in a pile in front of you. But, you have no idea what the picture looks like. That's why non-Christians often say that the bible contradicts itself, and that it cannot be understood literally.

reply to post by kro32


Originally posted by Southern Guardian
my view of Christianity goes beyond that of jesus or the great flood. I guess it's just a personal view of mine that you can be a christian and yet not believe in these things written in the bible.

"beyond that of jesus or the great flood. "

the great flood was his dads idea,, wanted too destroy it all,,because it grieved god ,,so god,,
he sent Jesus,,his only,,begotten,, Son,, pure from sin and wickedness,,
,,too this Earth too show,,his Son how ,,
wicked his work of creation had become,
And even when his Son ,,nailed to a cross of wood,,
bleeding, die ing,,
Jesus, ask's,, have you also abandoned me, father,,
to which his father replies,,
no,, but know you see what kind of creation
,and evil thing, this world is,,
to which Jesus replied,,
forgive them father,, for they no not what they do.

and with a loud voice Jesus, yelled,,,

reply to post by Southern Guardian


The Word (Son of God) writes the story for us in three ways. The Bible is the Word to men in written form. It is also the blueprint for creation along with the law that governs it. It is written in both allegory and literal verse so that we can understand as we learn. The literal story matches the allegory since the characters of the story are us. We are not so much walking on this earth as we are walked.

This is an important concept. Do you do anything to make yourself live? Think about this:

Quotes from my Blog. LINK

"What do we actually do apart form animated observation of the story from our consciousness? If you look closely, you see that we are on autopilot. Do you make your hair grow? Do you activate the cones and rods in your eyes for sight? Do you digest your food? Do you make the sun shine or the earth warm? Look close. All functions of the human and his reality are produced by God. Nothing is our choice apart from moving our vehicle (Body). This allows us to create and to express our free will with words and actions. All actions and words affect us and others. All other actions to support this process are done by God, apart form our conscious effort.

Think of it a different way. God composes the symphony from beginning to end. We are the performers, able to produce our unique performance of the score that God provides. Like musicians, we can play out of tune at times, rush and play two loudly or softly. We can even choose disbelief, arrogantly refusing to play. The only way to achieve purpose, however, is to follow the notes God provides to our perspectives, with our own unique musicianship.

We also have the ability to create things that God could not anticipate. Mozart, Bach, the Movie Avatar and so on. It's all a reflection of the story God tells. Have you ever wondered why every movie seems to tell the same story of the good guy winning in the end by trials and struggles? Isn't it obvious? We are God's mirror. The question is, what do we reflect back to Him about who we are becoming? We know what God's story tells us. What does our story tell God? We are in His image. We can create, just like Him. "