The Gospel Was Preached to Every Creature
April adorsey@netusa1.net
Sat, 25 Jul 1998 12:54:09 -0600 (00901410849, 199807251720.NAA18232@gatem02.netusa1.net)
> > >MIKE
> > >[1] Its also considered "physically impossible" to be born of a
> virgin, to be resurrected, and to turn water to wine. Perhaps these
> writers were being metaphorical when speaking of these things. After
> all, we can assume that since the early Christians preserved and
> passed on the writings (on miracles) that they didn't understand these
> words in a wooden, literalistic fashion.
>
> > SJANE
> > Mike has raised a very good point. Why should we be expected to
> take some parts of the Bible literally and others metaphorically? Who
> gets
> to pick and choose which is which?
> It just doesn't make sense to say that the virgin birth, the talking
> ass, the transformation of water into wine, the resurrection, the
> roaming in the desert for 40 years, the creation story, etc., should
> not all be "taken" the same way.
> (So many commas, so little time. <grin>)
>
> If the bible is a book of poetry, why do so many people base their
> entire lives upon it?
>
> >DJC
> > You decide which is literal and metaphorical by using reason and
> logic.
> Did the original hearers think that what was being said was a literal
> event or would they have understood it as hyperbole (such as Col
> 1:23), or a metaphor or symbolic (like seeing a beast rise up out of
> the sea.
> Ever ask yourself why a sea? The sea was a metaphor/symbol for
> mankind.).
> >
> The Bible isn't a book of poetry; altho' there are sections that are
> poetic.
>
> SJANE
> Exactly. I get to decide which verse is literal and which is
> metaphorical. Well, I have decided through reason and logic that the
> books of the Bible are all metaphorical AND mythological and flat out
> don't "believe" any of them.
> <snip>
>
> SJane Weisiger
>
> DJC
> One is supposed to decide on the basis of reason and logic in the
> application of a sound and thorough exegsis and not start with a
> presuppositional bias against the work. Back on the short list you go.
April
OK, reason, logic, AND experience tell me people don't rise from the dead.
They don't fly up into the sky (without benefit of an engine), males aren't
born without the presence of sperm, they don't walk on water, they don't
make blind people see by putting mud and spit on the blind person's eyes,
they don't turn water into wine without the addition of grapes and the
fermentation process, they don't bring someone who's been dead for three
days (who has already started to rot!) back to life, etc. etc. etc.
So why should I believe those things just becaue someone wrote them in a
book?
>
>
>
>
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