Why is the literalness of the Bible so important?

[Samantha Rinne]

Not all of Christendom believes all of the Bible literally. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, and probably Anglican Churches view it as largely metaphorical and allegorical. Even when I was Christian I did not take it literally. My priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church used to say "what does it matter if Adam and Eve actually existed? The important thing is that we do exist to give glory to God". Yet there are large numbers in various Christian denominations that take the Bible literally. Why? Does taking it as largely allegorical somehow diminish any truths or lessons it holds?

So why is it so important that the Bible be interpreted literally?

The Bible in fact shouldn't be treated as literal. Nor as history. The Bible should be treated as myth. And lest you object, the word myth DOES NOT MEAN false. It's a story devised to contain a larger message. A synonym for allegory.

Looking for a historical Jesus probably misses the mark. He was probably an archetype of many sacrificial figures, and more importantly, a symbol that God is able to directly speak to us as another human. God is with us. To see Jesus as this, we may still believe Jesus was also a real figure. But now we understand that Jesus may exist before 3-6 BC in figures like Akhnaten, Gautama Buddha, and other sages. And Jesus has risen again and appeared to Christians.

That's just one example. Noah's story describes a time when humans were so evil that the world was about to be destroyed by them, and most people probably assume this to be Stone Age barbarism but I don't. I imagine ancient technology was at one time about like ours, but we started polluting and defiling the planet, and God saved it with massive amounts of rain. It's sorta history but more a story of God's redemption. As it shows why we need religion in the first place, this largely lost history was so destructive and evil, that to be without any kind of compass would mean descent back into darkness.

Then there's Adam and Eve. The Bible says rib, but humans have no extra ribs. However, as many Jews know the sides of the temples are tsela (ribs). That is Adam and Eve, was simply Adam, a two-sided person. Legends of Lilith also make a big deal about who was "on top" and that Lilith was "made from the earth like Adam, and equal to him." That is, Lilith and Adam were originally two male-female beings, but they couldn't get along because Adam was a macho pig, and Lilith was a first-wave feminist, so Adam didn't like being the woman and Lilith wanted to mix it up.
That's not even getting into the tree, which is probably a description of how human distort their perceptions, calling this an evil chair and that a good dog, when actually it's just a chair, and a dog.

 

[Katzpur]

Do I discern a note of sarcasm?

Oh dear. I was hoping no one would pick up on that.

Given that, Eastern Orthodox Christians aren't real Christians either. They hold that Adam was one of the first, if not the first, to be liberated from the clutches of death when Jesus descended to the underworld (hell?) to free the souls waiting for redemption.

No kidding? I never knew that!

 

[Jainarayan]

Oh dear. I was hoping no one would pick up on that.

No kidding? I never knew that!

That's what I was taught when I was EO. Here is the standard icon. The figures coming out of the graves are supposed to be Adam and Eve. The old man is supposed to be the bonds of sin and death that the cross defeated. The other figures are the righteous.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Everyone knows the seven churches are seven congregations and they were REAL communities that Paul converted circa 50 AD.
40 years is a generation all thru the Bible.. Life expectancy wasn't great, people married and had children early.
The Israelites wandered in the desert 40 years, a generation.
When and how long is "This Generation"?
79 Bible verses about Generations
Peter and Paul and Nero were all dead before the destruction of the Temple..
1 John 2:18 tells us exactly who the antiChrists are.
The Whore of Babylon is Israel.. Israel is called whore and harlot over and over again for chasing after false gods.
The Roman emperor is the beast.
So much of the symbolism is simple and straight forward.
Satan has been bound.. That's why there are no more demons.
Humanity has already been redeemed. Jesus died on the cross.
So WHERE in the Bible does it say "second tribulation" or "great tribulation"?

Thank you for your reply, and yes the 7 congregations were real, and they correspond to congregations today.
Each of the7 congregations had things to deal with as the congregations of today have to deal.
Anyone who is against Christ is anti-christ - 1 John 2:18; 1 John 2:22; 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7
Israel did Not commit fornication with earth's kings - Revelation 17:1-2 - as Babylon the Great does.
There is No Roman emperor today.
Jesus' coming 1,000-year governmental rule over Earth as Not yet begun.
That is why there is ' woe ' on Earth as mentioned at Revelation 12:12,9.
Great tribulation is mentioned at Revelation 7:14,9.
The first or minor fulfillment of Matthew 24:21 came in the year 70 when the Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem.
The second or MAJOR fullfillment comes at the soon coming ' time of separation ' on Earth - Matthew 25:31-33.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

That's an inference and assumption it was Adam and Eve.

Since Adam is mentioned at Genesis 2:20-21 then the ' man ' of verse 22-25 would be Adam.
To me that is Not assumption but taken in context of what is being said.
How is the Jewish ancestral record found at 1 Chronicles an inference or an assumption but names: Adam.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Given that, Eastern Orthodox Christians aren't real Christians either. They hold that Adam was one of the first, if not the first, to be liberated from the clutches of death when Jesus descended to the underworld (hell?) to free the souls waiting for redemption.

Since the dead know nothing as per Ecclesiastes 9:5, then dead Jesus knew nothing while in biblical hell / grave.
Jesus taught ' sleep ' Not redemption in the grave ( biblical hell ) as per John 11:11-14.
What Jesus taught about the conditions of the dead is in harmony with the old Hebrew Scriptures:
Such verses as found at Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Psalms 146:4 and Isaiah 38:18.
Resurrection Day (Revelation 1:18) does Not begin until Jesus' millennium-long day of governing over Earth begins.
That is why the ' future tense ' is used that there ' is going to be ' a resurrection..... - Acts of the Apostles 24:15.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Hard to say.. Apocalyptic literature was VERY popular from about 300 BC thru 100 AD... and it was all very symbolic and cryptic like the Revelation letter.
Either you go with what John wrote, that it would happen shortly, soon, within a generation or forget it.

John wrote that the setting or the time frame for Revelation to take place was future as per Revelation 1:10.
The 'Lord's Day' is our day when we will see Matthew 25:31-33 take place on Earth. That is future Not past.