The Bible...

Seems to me that most on here take the Bible as a literal history of the world. Words actually spoken by God...am I correct?

FWIW...I've always looked at it as a collection of stories. Simple man trying to explain the world they live in...and where they came from. A lot of good can be found in those words. But history? No. Words from God? No.

That said, I always have a hard time having religious discussions with fundamentalists. They quote scripture to back up their beliefs. I don't think scripture is something that can be used in the arguement.

Pretty frustrating.

 

Some of it is direct quotes from God, other parts are history, other parts are prophesy (insights and predictions) inspired by God.

The quotes are up for debate, but the vast majority of Biblical history is backed up with archeological science and other secular documents.

 

Quoting the Bible

I had a professor in college (Gardner-Webb, class of 1985) who always brought up Exodus 19:4, where God tells Moses to remind the Israelites of what happened to the Egyptian soldiers who pursued them in the desert, and that He brought them out "...on eagles' wings..." No, that did not literally happen, and it wasn't meant to be taken literally. The purpose of the Bible is to tell us of God's abundant mercy and grace, and His strong desire to forgive us of all our mistakes and failures, and redeem us. God is holy, and just, and righteous, and will not forgive those who do not ask Him for forgiveness. In other words, God has put the proverbial ball in our court.