Whilst in church today, it was a C of E, The sermon was all about Jonah and the Whale. It was told as though IT REALLY HAPPENED. So, I am supposed to take the story literally. Some one stuck inside the belly of a whale, and vomitted out onto dry land after the Lord heard his prayer?. Yet when I question other aspects of the bible....such as the bit about God going on about us having to eat the flesh of our offspring if we do not offer ourselve to to him without condition and accept without question that HE is the ONE TRUE GOD,(cannot remember exactly how it goes), I am told it is a metaphor. This seems to me a simple case of hand picking exactly what we want from the bible and interpreting it to suit our own satisfaction. Didnt think it was supposed to be like that.
biblical inerrancy?
by magisterfaust 3 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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yourmomma
im amazed at how much of the bible people insist you must take literal. alot of it is clearly allegory. and either side will drop the literal card on you. the creationists will insist you take it literal, and if you disagree you are "rejecting the inerrant word of God and God himself", and then an atheist will insist you take it literal, like the flood, and if you dont then you are being "intellectually dishonest". i guess when "they" made the rule that the bible must be taken literally my letter got lost in the mail. forget what they say, let the bible speak for itself. let the bible teach you, you dont need anyone to tell you what or how to believe it. thats the biggest thing i discovered. all these organized religions or people claiming to know for a certainty god exists or doesnt exist are all con men.
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2050
We can be sure that the story of Jonah and the whale should be taken literally. But is it scientifically possible? It does not matter. God is able to achieve anything he wants. God needed Jonah to survive and so he ensured that he did.
The flood should also be taken literally. As yourmomma says (not your actual mother) the Bible speaks for itself.
Each religion will interpret the Bible however it sees fit. My advice is to read everything in context and do independent research.
One thing we can be sure of is that the Bible did not originate from any God.
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Leolaia
Think of it this way. No "biblical literalist" will insist that the teaching value of the parables of Jesus hinges upon the historicity of these stories. Does the moral point about the parable of the good Samaritan depend utterly upon an actual historical Samaritan who was treated in the manner described in the parable? How about the prodigal son? Or the rich man who goes down into Hades? These stories are fictions but that doesn't interfere with their pedagogical merit as dramatizations of moral and ethical principles. So if Jesus could use fiction as a vehicle for teaching, why couldn't certain Bible writers do the same?