It’s literally in the Bible...

Originally posted by @rajk999
Did you buy this site from the owners?

Did you try to buy the Bible from God and God's people to hijack it for your atheistic Humanism?

Originally posted by @thinkofone
From what I've seen, unfortunately the vast majority use the Bible to "derive benefit" for themselves.

That's just stupid. If it weren't for the Bible I'd be dead.

That's what the Bible is for. To derive benefit from it.

What a clown you must be.

Originally posted by @sonship

Those who don't know the position of others shouldn't pretend that they do.

If you walk around with a mask all the time, it is no surprise that you won't be trusted. "Why are you hiding who you are?" eventually will be the question people will wonder about.



[quote]
From what I've seen, unfortunately the vast majority use the Bibl ...[text shortened]... crime in deriving benefit personally from the Bible, if it is not contrary to the nature of God.

If you walk around with a mask all the time, it is no surprise that you won't be trusted. "Why are you hiding who you are?" eventually will be the question people will wonder about.

Only those people who are unable to logically refute what others have to say and so resort to ad hominem attack.

There is no crime in deriving benefit personally from the Bible, if it is not contrary to the nature of God.

They "derive benefit" by using the Bible to create God in their own image and to support self-serving beliefs.

Originally posted by @thinkofone
The Bible is what it is. The Bible is steeped in metaphor, is widely open to interpretation and contains inconsistencies, discrepancies and outright contradictions. As such, there is no alternative to picking and choosing what parts to believe. Those who claim that they do not pick and choose are disingenuous at best.

From what I've seen, the vast maj ...[text shortened]... ustify" it via the Bible and convince themselves that they have "the word of God" on their side.

You're delusional, and a liar.

The only thing you know about the Bible is it exists.

Originally posted by @secondson
You're delusional, and a liar.

The only thing you know about the Bible is it exists.

If anyone is delusional it is you.

An example of your delusional thinking is your denial in another thread that in the following passage chattel slavery is clearly and unambiguously being condoned::
Leviticus 25
44‘As for your male and female slaves whom you may have—you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. 45‘Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession. 46‘You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves...

Just because it doesn't square with your conception of God doesn't mean that it doesn't say what it says.

Evidently you are unable to cope with this fact and accuse others of that which you yourself are guilty in an attempt to make yourself feel better.

Embrace the truth."The truth will make you free".

Originally posted by @secondson
God decides, then one agrees with God.

Or one doesn't, then that one fails to learn the truth.

I see.

In your opinion, what has god decided is literal and what is not literal in the bible?

Originally posted by @romans1009
Wrong. God’s Holy Spirit Who indwells people who believe in Christ and His Resurrection and who have accepted Christ into their hearts leads people to the truth.

You don’t believe in Christ’s deity or that God’s Holy Spirit indwells believers. You’ll never learn the truth or know the power of God until you do.

How do you personally decide what is literal and what isn’t literal in the bible?

Originally posted by @sonship
My experience is that the most important things in the Bible are repeated in more than one way. So one rarely needs to worry that major tenets of the faith hang on just one questionable passage (as to how it should be taken).
Things of critical importance are usually repeated in multiple places in varied ways.

So just to be clear, for you personally in your experience, you decide what is literal based on how often something is mentioned in the bible?

Originally posted by @thinkofone
The Bible is what it is. The Bible is steeped in metaphor, is widely open to interpretation and contains inconsistencies, discrepancies and outright contradictions. As such, there is no alternative to picking and choosing what parts to believe. Those who claim that they do not pick and choose are disingenuous at best.

I take it that this is true in your own application of biblical text?

In another thread SecondSon is refusing to answer the question that I have now reposted in the OP of this thread. He claims it is a fallacious question; does anyone here agree with him?

He also demanded that I answer the question myself before he did. Here is my answer:

I look at the bible through the filters of faith, contextual analysis and personal morality. In faith I accept Jesus Christ as my saviour and through context, common sense and my own personal moral compass I accept as literal or as symbolism what I see in the bible.

For examples:
The tree of life - symbolism
Hell and eternal suffering - symbolism
Statue with feet of chalk and clay - symbolism

Why does this question of literalism in the bible seem to make some Christians, such as SecondSon for example, so prickly and furtive? Is it because it reminds us that it isn’t all literal and therefore demands that we read the bible with an open mind and not blindly hang on to what we have been told in the past were literal truths.

Originally posted by @divegeester
How do you personally decide what is literal and what isn’t literal in the bible?

On a case-by-case basis based on guidance from God’s Holy Spirit. I have no set rules or formula.

Originally posted by @romans1009
On a case-by-case basis based on guidance from God’s Holy Spirit. I have no set rules or formula.

How do you know if your case-by-case interpretations are right?

Originally posted by @fmf
How do you know if your case-by-case interpretations are right?

I trust God’s Holy Spirit.

Originally posted by @divegeester
How do you personally decide what is literal and what isn’t literal in the bible?

Give me an example or something you think should be taken literally and tell me why you think that is. Or do you think none of it is literal?

FMF: How do you know if your case-by-case interpretations are right?

Originally posted by @romans1009
I trust God’s Holy Spirit.

Does this trust in "God’s Holy Spirit" mean you always think your interpretations are correct?