Was the Bible meant to be interpreted as 100 percent literal?
Over the last six weeks or so, I have enjoyed the privilege of expressing the various religion discussions in the paper that I have had with family, friends and strangers. I wanted to open up these conversations because I think many of us have questions, but are afraid to ask.
Whatever the reason may be, I am happy about the discussions that have been sparked because of the articles over the past few weeks. For this week, I went back and forth about several topics, but one kept coming back to me. I was not sure if I wanted to address it because it can be a touchy subject for a lot of people.
After some thought, I decided to just go ahead with my original idea and began to obtain thoughts from others about how they felt. The topic I went with this week was how some individuals take the Bible 100 percent literal, while others take certain passages figuratively.
When I began to ask people about their thoughts on this subject, I did not get the responses I thought I would until I informed people that they would remain anonymous. The first conversation was probably the most unexpected I received out of them all.
When I asked this question of the first person I spoke with, I went in expecting a certain response. What I learned was to not judge a book by its cover. Just because the individual was a conservative, older African American gentleman from the South, I thought he would answer one way and he did not.
It was amazing to hear what he had to say about the subject, especially when you are totally expecting to hear something else.
“I could understand why some people don’t look at the Bible and believe everything that is in it,” he said. “The way I look at it, I believe everything that comes directly from the Lord himself, because I am a believer.”
I agree for the most part with what he said. For me, I believe all the direct statements coming from my Lord and Savior. I also believe that the Bible was written from divine intervention from my Lord. I also think that man has their own agenda and believe that it is possible that those who wrote books of the Bible could have embellished somewhat.
Another possibility I believe is maybe some of the stories in the Bible were meant to be lessons from God and were meant to be interpreted by us in a way that fits our beliefs or what we may be going through at that moment.
On the other hand, I spoke with another individual that said they believe every word in the Bible verbatim. They said their belief would not allow them to think outside of what they have read in the “Good Book.”
“Throughout my life I have had the opportunity to read and embrace the word of the Lord,” she said. “For me to think that my Lord is not capable of anything would not be possible. What I have been taught and seen is that my God is willing and able to do any and everything.
“Of course, I think my God can do anything; for me to believe anything else is not what I know.”
It was an eyeopener to hear some of the responses from both sides of the discussion. Since I am not a Biblical scholar, it was great for me to be exposed to other people’s thought processes.
If you have any thoughts on this subject, please email us at news@wschronicle.com. We would love to hear your responses.
