Over at Patriactionary, I have hosted some YouTube videos by Jerry Johnson from AgainstTheWorld.tv / NiceneCouncil.com (see here, here, and here); I find them frequently interesting, thought-provoking, and well put-together. Here is another: an answer to some Christians who may accuse other Christians of not taking the Bible literally.
The bible isn’t really to be taken literally,. It is written in an art form that uses cryptic language, how can people not know this?
The Bible is to be taken as truth, but it employs a variety of styles in conveying that truth. Taking it all literally can be problematic, esp. in passages where metaphor is clearly being invoked. For instance, when, at the Last Supper, Christ said of the bread, “This is my body”, He obviously did NOT mean that the piece of bread He was holding in His hand was His body, because His body was holding that bread in His hand, so the two were clearly, distinctly, two different things, at that moment, and therefore could not be the same thing.
There are places where Christians are to take the Bible literally, and there are others where we are to understand it as truthful, but recognize symbolism, for instance – as in the Last Supper.
i missed the reply, heck., didnt see it in the notifications.
yes the bible is to be taken as the truth; if you ask me the bible is scientific: how the hell did they know that eating pork was more harmful to you and can host several cancer viruses? how did they know about the bilion years of darkness after the big bang which was obviously represented in the genesis? but there are things there like the mystery of Ezzekiel`s wheel which hides the true relationship of God and the universe; hence the masseh mercavah as was explained by the great Rabiis who admited that deeper knowledge on the mysteries of the scriptures was limmited to selected individuals because one must be “ready“ to takein such knowledge. and that is just one example.
thanks for the spot will
Those of us who are orthodox Christians hold that God’s dietary rules for the Jews were for their own good, in the days before proper refrigeration and modern cooking methods rendered concerns about unclean meats as obsolete – plus to mark them apart.
We don’t tend to concern ourselves with certain mysteries, like Ezekiel’s ‘wheel in the sky’, which some have speculated was a UFO, etc. The Bible is God’s word written to God’s people for their salvation, and such ‘special knowledge’ isn’t necessary for salvation; a simple, childlike faith and trust in God, is.
That is the point will (regarding your latest reply).
don’t get me wrong I am not some UFO fanatic or whatever,. The truth is that Ezekiel’s wheel refers to the relationship of God to the heavens and to all creations. the gist is pretty much is that without God the heavens will not move but each spheres are independent upon themselves. Furthermore God moves via angels, which means indirectly but that doesn’t mean that all those angels refereed in the bible are really celestial man of wings etc like the one Abraham saw, it is just an artistic way but that simply means is anyone who affects the current events and put God’s will to action, for instance I might refer to you as an angel who unspammed all my comments; it is God’s will that my comments are heard in HMiscellany- just an example.
What I am saying is that the bible’s messages are more logical than one might think., but there are things that all must understand:
-God is incorporeal
-God is ONE
Exerps From Maimonides:
” the Torah speaks the language of man,” as
we have explained, for it is the object of the Torah to serve as a guide for the
instruction of the young, of women, and of the common people ; and as all
of them are incapable to comprehend the true sense of the words, tradition
was considered sufficient to convey all truths which were to be established
;
and as regards ideals, only such remarks were made as would lead towards a
knowledge of their existence, though not to a comprehension of their true
essence.
ME: But yes, Trust in God is of utmost importance, but with regards to the nature of the Torah (bible) and it’s writing, no , it is not THAT literal in nature, take the word of why God is a “rock” for example: it is because it refers to the word “quarry’ in Hebrew, because the quarry is where all the rocks originate, therefore the only english word that can suffice quarry in hebrew is “rock” ,
another reason is that the language of man is imperfect and it cannot fully describe the God’s glory and the spiritual realm which is beyond our comprehension much like dog’s cannot see colors.
good day
Interesting. Some food for thought there, perhaps.
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