Posted on 05/20/2017 10:17:33 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A new Gallup poll shows that only 24% of Americans believe the Bible is the “literal word” of God, which is a decline from the 1970s, but the survey also shows that the number of Americans who think the Bible is the “inspired word” of God, 47%, has stayed pretty steady over the last 40 years.
In addition, an overwhelming majority of Americans, 71%, believe the Bible is a holy document, inspired by God or containing God’s own words.
“Fewer than one in four Americans (24%) now believe the Bible is ‘the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word,’ similar to the 26% who view it as ‘a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man,’” reported Gallup on May 15.
“This is the first time in Gallup’s four-decade trend that biblical literalism has not surpassed biblical skepticism,” said the survey firm. “Meanwhile, about half of Americans — a proportion largely unchanged over the years — fall in the middle, saying the Bible is the inspired word of God but that not all of it should be taken literally.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
The parables’ meaning was explained in the Gospel text too, don’t forget.
I believe that all of the Bible was given to men by inspiration of God. Exactly how it was given (dreams, visions, dictation), I don’t know. I accept that most of it is literal, but not all. Some of its books are history, some are laws, some are prophecies, some are wisdom, some are poetry, some appear to be symbolic rather than literal. Those collected writings of approximately 40 men over 1,500 years have a united theme that convinces me of a higher Authorship.
There are also encoded numbers that relate to the Sacred Geometry. The Bible is not only the only religious tract that has such encoded numbers.
“So let the Brahman hear the praise we utter. This has the four horned buffalo emitted. FOUR are his horns,. THREE are the feet that bear him. His heads are TWO. His hands are seven in number.” RG Veda
24% sounds very high to me. It only takes 10% to shake the foundations of society. 2.5 X that is a pretty big number. If each of these influence only 1 we are at 50%. Not bad. Not bad at all. MAGA.
God said it.
I believe it...even when I don’t really understand it and that’s the end of that.
:)
One was from Isaiah:
“For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”
This is quoted as a direct “word from the Lord” - and I believe that. However - I believe that even God can use poetry and symbolism (and music) and all sorts of other things to reach into our hearts - and into the truth of the matter. So while this is, I believe, the literal word of the Lord (okay - I guess there are TONS of them in the Bible!) - I don't take it literally that the trees will clap their hands.
Are ALL of the parables explained? I know Jesus said somewhere that they won't be understood by those who don't want to understand them. I'm always interested in hearing more of the story on the parables - they would have been readily understood by those listening at the time and the customs. IIRC many of the parables had images relating to the various Festival days that He gave them.
Was the telling of a parable common back in those days of passing on a moral or some other deeper truth? I'm guessing that it was.
Found it - some interesting comments on the use of parables by Jesus and the teachers back in the day (it was very common):
http://www.kencollins.com/jesus/jesus-14.htm
He talks about how Jesus told his disciples the Truths behind some of the parables, but to keep them hidden until later. I also liked the idea of parables being a "slow release" of information, and leading to "ah hah!" moments. Our preacher likes to point out the various roles of people in a parable, and the many layers the stories can sometimes have. The prodigal son is telling the story of God's love for even the lost son (or sheep). I always viewed myself as the prodigal son. But it can also be helpful to read it and at some stages of life we can be the prodigal son, sometimes we are the waiting father, and sometimes we are the son that has stayed behind.
This thinking is derived from literal illiterates. The message of the Bible is the use of actual events in human history. A great amount of these accounts have been verified by archeological discovery. Each of these events have embedded in them a symbolic message which is the literal truth it aims to portray. Throughout human history literature uses symbolism through allegory, metaphore, simile, hyperbole and personification. The Bible is no exception and those who fail to understand that are illiterates.
The question is idiotic. The bible is a collection of many books by many authors talking about many subjects in many literary styles. Some of it is literal history, some parts are songs, some parts are parables, some are symbolic prophieces, and some literal prophicies. Some words in it are atributed to God Himself. Some claim to be God inspired. Some make no such claim but were included in the bible because people later felt they were God inspired.
That would make each writer a prophet. There is no indication of that.
I do.
Every statement Jesus said that was recorded is also the literal Word of God.
The Beast created Akinsky, whose tactics involve number manipulation to make their opponents number smaller and their
number larger.
Rule 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.”
It makes no sense that an entity that can create Time itself and put Men in it would then inspire men to write words that then fail to be literal.
Eurotwit, it appears YOU are fluff....and you clearly live up to your screen name.
Now go play in satan’s (allah’s) hell....
Not all of it is. Some parts, yes.
As chairman of a K-8 Christian School 2005-2011, I never realized how many different interpretations of “literal” there are among practicing evangelicals.
I mean, does God really have feathers? Does He allow, or forbid, dancing? What does He say about blood transfusions? Should children be aware that adults drink alcohol? SHOULD adults drink alcohol? Does God forbid school bake-offs to raise money, or are the prizes gambling? And so on.
It seems almost every poll (except elections, but about half DO agree), are 33/66 or 66/33.
Every time someone uses a percentage to address something, it is almost always one of those two differentials with the occasional 50/50.
Just an observation.
I should have also added, the do not judge lest be judged part too of course.
My pardon.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.-JOHN 3:19
Actually while it is can be said that the Bible literally is the word of God, it is not all the literal word, since much of it (like our everyday speech) uses varied forms of non-literal language, euphemisms, hyperbole, idioms, forms of metaphors and similes, hypocatastasis, metonymy, synecdoche irony, dysphemism, personification, etc.
The number is lower than we might have thought, but the secular humanists dominate everything in the USA. The American people are bona fide humanists.
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