The literal Bible

[XDAndMe]

Many Christians read the Bible literally. I just want to know why and what the general opinion is about understanding the Bible as a teaching and not a historic account of natural events.

I believe the one message that ALL Christians should get from Genesis is that God did it. God made the world and within Christianity, that is not to be questioned.... like the second amendment.

Many Christians go beyond that and believe that literally, on this day God made this and on this day God made that and on the seventh day He took a siesta.

Why is it wrong to say, for example, that God made a big ball of matter and ordered it to go "bang" one day and form the planets and solar system? Why is it wrong to then say that God created some simple forms of life from which others ones stemmed?

According to the Bible stories, God made man out of dust... Adam... and from him made woman. Some Christians take that to mean that God made people. Other Christians take that to mean that God literally made humanity one specific day from a small pile of ash and it couldn't have been any other way.

Ready? Set? Discuss.

[Krackels]

Originally Posted by XDAndMe

Many Christians read the Bible literally. I just want to know why and what the general opinion is about understanding the Bible as a teaching and not a historic account of natural events.

I believe the one message that ALL Christians should get from Genesis is that God did it. God made the world and within Christianity, that is not to be questioned.... like the second amendment.

Many Christians go beyond that and believe that literally, on this day God made this and on this day God made that and on the seventh day He took a siesta.

The problem is the bible doesn't say anything other than God created the earth, animals, plants, and all that we know in 6 days and rested on the seventh.

If God didn't create everything in six 24 hour days, why would the bible say that He had. If the creation account from the bible differs from what actually happens then the bible is wrong and even decptive. That's a problem.

If the bible is lying about creation, then one could reasonably assume that it's lying about any number of other things.

So Korah and his rebelious compatriots and their family must not've been literally swallow up by the earth.

God must not've given the stone tablets of the ten commandments to Moses. Moses must've been hallucinating when he saw the burning bush. and on an on and on.

Either take the bible as a whole or throw it all out. I'll have no Jefferson bibles here.

[Krackels]

Originally Posted by XDAndMe

Many Christians go beyond that and believe that literally, on this day God made this and on this day God made that and on the seventh day He took a siesta.

5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.





The word day is used several times. The word day is this word in hebrew.
The possible translations to the english equivalent are:

• 1.) day, time, year
  .a) day (as opposed to night)
  .b) day (24 hour period)
  ...1 as defined by evening and morning in Genesis 1
  ...2 as a division of time
  ....a) a working day, a day's journey
  .c) days, lifetime (pl.)
  .d) time, period (general)
  .e) year
  .f) temporal references
  ..1 today
  ..2 yesterday
  ..3 tomorrow
  

So we can see that the only possibilities according to the wording in the bible is a 24 hour day.

[cjive134]

Why in the old testiment is God so insecure with himself? I'm not a Christian so I won't name exact names, but There is a guy in the old testiment who was such a loyal jew, and satan or someone said to god that he is only that way because you have blessed his life with all these great bounties. So to prove that satan or whoever is wrong he smites this poor guy by killing off his family and ruining his farm, and on and on. If this is to be taken literally than god is a juvenile prick who plays games with the lives of people the way a 12 year old would smash insects or burn them with a lens.

[Kimura]

Originally Posted by cjive134

Why in the old testiment is God so insecure with himself? I'm not a Christian so I won't name exact names, but There is a guy in the old testiment who was such a loyal jew, and satan or someone said to god that he is only that way because you have blessed his life with all these great bounties. So to prove that satan or whoever is wrong he smites this poor guy by killing off his family and ruining his farm, and on and on. If this is to be taken literally than god is a juvenile prick who plays games with the lives of people the way a 12 year old would smash insects or burn them with a lens.

Job is his name; and the possible truth of the account does not indicate that "God is a juvenile prick" necessarily. It is understood by many to mean that the lives of all humans are meant for the glorification of God, and that humans must glorify him in ill fortune as in good. It is also worthy of note that the translation is accurate in saying that God allowed the harm to Job, not caused it.

[cjive134]

Also, why does God need to be glorified? Wouldn't an all knowing all powerful creator of the universe be above the need to be glorified? A little vein don't you think?

[Krackels]

Originally Posted by XDAndMe

Why is it wrong to say, for example, that God made a big ball of matter and ordered it to go "bang" one day and form the planets and solar system?

The problem is that the act of creation ended at the end of day six. So if God were to order the 'big bang' he would've had to do it during one the six days and then the only way it would've been able to fit in that time period would be if he sped the process up a lot, which is completely possible in for God.

This however creates problems because if the universe came into being through the big bang God would have to reverse the rotation and orbit of celestial bodies. Otherwise the laws of physics would dictate that since every thing came from the same origin they were all propelled with a similar amount of force therefore the celestial bodies, asteroids; planets; stars; moons; and galaxies, should be rotating and revolving in the same direction.

In addition to that, "If the universe came from a big bang, then matter should be evenly distributed. However, the universe contains an extremely uneven distribution of mass."-AiG

Why is it wrong to then say that God created some simple forms of life from which others ones stemmed?

It would imply that God originally created a lesser lifeform needing refinement. God's creation no longer would be considered 'good' but just okay.

However if you mean could God create one of each 'type', I'd completely agree with you that that's probably what happened.

It's more plausible that several different types of dogs came about through natural selection and genetic variations from perhaps a wolf, which has more genetic diversity than say a poodle which has been selectively bred for generations to refine it's imperfections.

Perhaps you could clarify what you mean by 'simple forms from which others ones stemmed'.

[OrangeSkies]

2 Peter 3:8

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

So much for the 24 hour theory...

[Krackels]

Originally Posted by cjive134

Also, why does God need to be glorified? Wouldn't an all knowing all powerful creator of the universe be above the need to be glorified? A little vein don't you think?

I should say that Job is the one book of the bible that is uncertain as to whether it's a story or if it tells of an actual person.

But God doesn't need to be glorified. He deserves to be glorified. It's not vain at all. After all what do you have that you haven't been given?

[Krackels]

Originally Posted by OrangeSkies

So much for the 24 hour theory...

If you look at the passage out of context you can make all sorts of assumptions.

I'm willing to bet that I can twist any document to make it say what I want it to if I take a snippet of it and take it out of context. With a little work I could probably twist the constitution to give support for genocide.

3First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." 5But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 7By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

8But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

When you look at it in context you realize that the epistle is speaking about the second coming of Christ and how the "Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness."

This means that for God one day is like thousand years and 1000 years is like one day since God exists outside of time. But if you take the word day from Genesis 1 in context you realize that it cannot possibly mean anything other than a 24 hour time period.

Now take what I've said and read the verse again in context of the chapter.