One of my favorite topics Jatfla and you put a smile on my face for clipping it  I see the conflict of two very different ways of reading the Bible as almost a "culture war" of sorts and the single most divisive issue among Christians in North America today. In my opinion, there are two very different ways of reading the Bible; the conflict between a "literal-factual" way and a "historical-metaphorical" way. The former is central to Christian fundamentalists and many conservative-evangelical Christians. The latter has been taught in seminaries of mainline denominations for the better part of the century. My thinking is this Jatfla; reading and seeing go together. How one sees the Bible ... I think you are right....about the cultural divide within the Christian community concerning the literal interpretation of Scripture. But sometimes being a literal-interpreter can be misleading. For example (and not for the purpose of argument :~), I would consider myself to be a literalist even though I do not believe that the 7 days of creation refers to 7 literal days. So, how's that for confusion? I can understand the inspirational aspects, but anyone who believes the bible is literally true must be worshipping a retarded deity. skepticsannotatedbible.com I note that the poll was statistically among Christian denominations. Anyone bother to ask the non-Christians? wiccantexan I'm curious, why do you think they would ask non-Christians, after all, aren't they talking about Bible? I think the results are very sad either way one looks at it. And I'm confused by jatfla's statement, would you mind clarifying a bit with few more examples? arifsali....why would I try to clarify my beliefs to you? :~) You seem to think that believing the Scriptures (or perhaps, even in God) is "sad". And I think this could lead to another put-down of Christian beliefs. But what the heck! Since no one was there at Creation except the Creator and the angelic creation, no one knows how it all came about. There are Christians who believe that the 6 days represent epochs. There are Christians who believe that between Gen.1:1 and 1:2 there was a destruction with a re-creation of the earth, and then there are variations of these. Personally, I find these *theories* as bona fide possibilities. But when I see the pictures of our universe and be... arifsali, they're supposed to have asked Americans. In order to get a balanced poll, it makes sense that they ask more than just Christian Americans, otherwise the stats are flawed. As a non-Christian, I still read the Bible as religious literature. However, my view of whether it's from God is obviously from my own perspective. For me, the poll is set up to be biased, which makes it functionally useless. why would I try to clarify my beliefs to you? :~) jatflaNope, sorry, I obviously don't mean to get your personal beliefs out in open, was just looking for more examples to understand where you were coming from. But when I see the pictures of our universe and beyond, I realize that our Creator is way beyond my comprehension and I don't know squat! jatflaYes, this makes sense to me. One can also understand this with an example of sun and its reflection in the pond, the reflection of the sun in the pond is obviously so poor and meager to the sun. So, the creator is the sun and this gigantic universe is its reflection. I personally do not believe ... Why is this important? wiccantexan even without including others in the poll, one can easily deduce that most among the two major religions of the world (Christianity and Islam) consider their scriptures to be literal words of God. Why is what important, skwirlinator? Why is it so important to quantify other people's religion? Aside from idle interest, what makes the difference how people believe? I know what I believe and I don't really care what anyone else believes. Some could argue "What if Your beliefs are wrong?" I just say- The are not- They are mine. arifsali...I love your example of the sun and it's reflection. Just those kinds of thoughts/mediations reveal to us that there is a God. Now....the goal is to search Him out and have Him tell us (His Created beings) what He has created us *for*. This has been a pursuit from time immemorial and must have been placed within us for a reason. Christianity believes that it has a way of having that relationship...Christ through atonement. Other religions have other means. This belief-system makes sense to me, though I do have difficulty with some Scripture passages. It's called "faith" for a reason. :~) Some could argue "What if Your beliefs are wrong?"Agreed. No one can definitively prove that one set of beliefs trumps anyone else's. It doesn't harm me that you believe differently than me, or vice versus. It's when harm is threatened because of said beliefs that things cross the line. even without including others in the poll, one can easily deduce that most among the two major religions of the world (Christianity and Islam) consider their scriptures to be literal words of God.Even among Christian denominations, there is dissention about what is the "literal word of God" and which scriptures are important or not. A multitude of Bible translations abound. I don't enough about Islam to comment there. So, no, I cannot "easily deduce" that. By observation, I see otherwise. And I don't see a good percentage of the Christian denominations represented here; just the top few mainstream-approved ones. So it's still biased. I don't enough about Islam to comment there. --wiccantexanIt doesn't hurt to learn a little basics, I would start from here, covers all the major interpretation in a nutshell. Thank you for the reference, arifsali. I only know the very basics. |
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