Register User Options	Site: Vanderbilt -------- Alabama Arkansas Auburn BB Recruiting Florida FB Recruiting Kentucky LSU Mississippi State Missouri Northwestern Ole Miss SEBaseball South Carolina Texas A&M Tennessee TnVarsity.com Georgia Forum: Coffee Shop -------- Commodore War Room Premium Recruiting Board General Sports Forum Tailgate and ticket forum

Views: 786, Replies: 64

Thread Tools     Rate Thread     Display Options

No worries. It's a super complex answer which is why I thought maybe you might have a link to a lecture or a website whose explanation you agree with. We've already spent so much time on this valuable thread.



Posted on 4/18 10:31 AM | IP: Logged

thx,

I do not see it as complex. It is all the "opinion" that complicates things when it comes to the bible.

Sometimes and often really...I hear...that is to easy to be right.

Like the term "earth"

At Genesis 11:1 it says something like.... Now all the "earth" continued to be one language and one set of words. Some say that everything in the bible is to be taken literal. If that is the case then the planet earth spoke and is now multilingual....that is.... when you read on as it shows that the earth,s languages were confused....

The logical explanation is, that it is obvious that at times the bibles vernacular uses the term "earth" to define the society of mankind living at a particular time. That is the only logical explanation I have ever seen or heard. I would be glad to entertain another idea.... Well, since that is the case that the word earth can at times be human society and at times it is talking about the planet earth like at Genesis 1:1-31 ( now the "earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep...." obvious since there could be no humans at that time.....
Using the bible its self and a little logic can dispel many false beliefs. One example is by understanding this one little logical example of the earth. Some teach that the earth will be destroyed by fire referencing 2 peter chapter 3. It does say that the earth of Noah's day was destroyed...but the planet earth is still here and was not destroyed in the flood....but the human society of that time was...the earth. Then comparing that event to the one foretold (in 2 peter 3:7 the bible says the earth will be destroyed with fire this time. Same word earth....this time using another metaphor...fire...people conclude that this is literal....cant be if Ecclesiastes 1:4 is accurate. ( one part cant be right and the other wrong if it is inspired....right?) That verse says that the earth is standing forever. So, fire is a fitting metaphor for a type of destruction in which there is no comming back. If I burn a piece of paper up....it is done as opposed to just tearing it into pieces. All tht verse is saying is that the earth( human society ) and the heavens( there are 7 different ones described in the bible...this one being the governments of man too will be destroyed. obviously yet to happen.

the woman at revelation 12:1 anyone who says that is literal has a different idea of what that a woman is besides the book opens and says it was given in "signs" or what we today call metaphor. Read Rev 1:1.
So sometimes it tells you the reader it is not literal.

it took longer for the light from the outskirts of the milky way to get here and see those stars than a day...duh. It took 13 billion light years for the light from the most distant galaxy to get here. the point of that is that even the word day is not always literal and instead of making the bible a science text book a simple expression like "day" to represent a period of time...for people of all generations to understand than to try to explain....how long exactly it took....a day... There are still people that hang onto that. Kinda sad and makes others who believe in the bible but not that the earth was made in a 24 hour period.... look foolish.... much less the universe being created in a day.... just silly to me.....

The whole bible is like the above examples, the key is knowing where the subjects connect like...."earth" and heaven, fire, even the term heaven....7 of them....one being a government or kingdom. Even the word star is used to represent men or lofty things. It would help to know if there were some particular thing that is being questioned as there are many.

This post was edited on 4/19 10:56 PM by InGold



Posted on 4/19 1:19 PM | IP: Logged

Thanks ING. Yeah, I think one thing that probably should be discussed more is that (if the bible is true and the "word of god" was delivered via divine inspiration) the actual language used by the authors would be limited by their own vocabulary and their ability to grasp concepts.

Still not entirely sure quite how the actual determination is generally formed re metaphor and literal is made.Your answer helps, though it gives an example as to how you (and intelligent person with a voluminous knowledge of scripture) make the determination, rather than Christian communities at large. But ultimately those calls are made individually rather than uniformly, so I guess that is the answer.



Posted on 4/22 12:19 PM | IP: Logged

No big. Just the fact that people oppose something they know little about is interesting. Maybe even more is that without knowing what is even says outside a few sentences many have strong opinion about it and are convinced that it is nothing... I agree that the question is valid but even more so when the person seeking an answer really wants an answer, in other words if you ask enough times, one has a better chance of getting the answer they want or one that is easy to disagree with, or agree for that matter. The problem with looking at the subject from a social point is that it's view is driven by popularity or at least by the ones who are in the stream of society who can persuade the mainstream and often that view is outside the reality of what it really says. The real answer is usually not mainstream or even close to it, so trying to answer simple questions often leads to more questions due to people looking at subjects from popular opinion or "what they have been told or believe". My favorite is "but my preacher told me"....reminds me of the leaders of Jesus day as he often started with "you heard that it was said"...he said that because main stream religious leaders quote men as the authority. As far as what is meant to be taken literally and what is meant to be metaphor, that is challenging at times. There are several factors and I would like to address that soon, but time escapes me tonight. Posted on 4/17 10:04 PM | IP: Logged

Previous in Thread | Next in Thread | Back to Topics

Page 1