So are we to simply throw our hands up into the air and say that the Bible is just a collection of legends and fairy tales? Or are we to claim that scientists must have it all wrong, that the Bible must be literally true?
The answer to both questions is a resounding "No!"
Before I go further, I should mention that I've been Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, almost Presbyterian, and almost Catholic. After these, I became agnostic and almost atheist — I even read some of the works of Carlos Castaneda and Alastair Crowley in my search for the truth that seemed ever more out of reach. I felt then as now that I cannot be a member of any religion whose beliefs I can easily disprove; after all, is the discussion of the salvation of our eternal souls not the most serious of all possible subjects?
Then I was invited to a Church — the Iglesia ni Cristo (Tagalog for "Church of Christ") — where I was taught that much of the Bible is metaphor, but much is also factual; and most importantly, from my cynical standpoint, contains at least one prophecy that is measurably verifiable to anyone with access to an encyclopedia. Now I won't go into our beliefs here. If anyone's curious, I'll be happy to answer as best I can, but the Bible plainly states that only ministers, only those who are sent by God, may preach the word of God — and the words preached by these ministers cannot conflict with one another.
But let's go back to the subject at hand, the Bible. To those who are troubled by those parts of the Bible that are obviously impossible (like Noah's flood, for example), I submit to you that there are three possibilities: one, that they are metaphor for humanity's edification; two, that they are legends wrongly inserted at one point or another by scribes (see Jeremiah 8:8); or three, that they are simply misunderstood by those who read them.
Article comments
1 - Mark
Dunno, Glenn. Reads kinda like preaching to me; maybe you are sent.
2 - Glenn Contrarian
No, Mark, that's not preaching. I merely pointed out a few things that keep me strong in the Faith. Less than twenty years ago I would've found these beliefs ludicrous at best...but after having studied and learned so much since then, I cannot deny what I've been shown.
3 - Regis
It is not the translantional errors which make the Bible evil. As time progresses, there will be other finds that prove that what the early Israelites believed is the truth--for them.
However, they believed in a God who would lead them into Canaan to murder, rape, and kill the Philisitnes and make slave of them.
To me, this is not what a "chosen people" would do, but rather, the will of the Levite priests who prodded the Israelites to steal lands that did not belong to them, enslave or kill those Philistines, and set up a nation mistakenly believing Yahweh was their leige.
What kind of a God would do this? The OT is truthful but it is full of evil just as the NT. What God would send his son to earth to die for mankind's sins to make him--Happy? Make him pleased? Make him loved?