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Old 04-19-2005, 02:55 AM   #30 (permalink)
WillyPete
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No problem Fishin, just felt out of depth.

Whilst not a confirmed philosopher or great thinker, here's the way I see it.

Because of the nature of the bible, one can take certain verses both literally and figuratively.
Obviously the historical data in it are meant to be literal, as so-and-so either begat someone or they didn't.

Question: Would a supreme being, realising the trouble these humans cause and the way they argue, dictate verbatim exaclty what he meant? How would this translate into the different languages anyway?

How about rather using stories, parallels and ambiguos quotes that you know will appeal to present and future readers?


For instance, not necessarily scripture, but wise words that I've heard accredited to Sun-Tzu:
"Meet the enemy with the tip of your sword in his face."

Although it seems very simple, there's so many meanings you can draw from this line depending on your outlook.

1: Never meet an enemy when unprepared.
2: Always be ready to fight anyone you call an enemy.
3: Never call someone an enemy unless you are prepared to kill.
4: Don't talk, do.
5: Use the most effective art of your tools or skills when approaching a challenge.

As we see from this, all of the above is good and commonsense advice, but that one line says them all.
Why not give such advice to humans and let them draw from it as they need and as their understanding develops.

With this in mind, I think someone who claims to believe in the bible as the word of God need to be neither a literalist (is that a word?) or liberal in their understanding of its contents, but with enough understanding to allow both and to draw from both literal and figurative meanings as needed to face life's challenges in a christian manner.

The same would apply to any specifically religious text.
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