Are You Religious?

[geodave]

Well, understand what is meant by "literally". The Bible, for example, refers to a locust chewing its cud. Locusts don't do this. The Bible is not a reliable scientific document.

However, it was never INTENDED to be a scientific document. The idea of science (at least in our known history) is newer than the Bible, so of course that was not the intent. The Bible is a compilation of tradition, eyewitness accounts, preaching and poetry. It is supposed to encompass the faith, not define science.

I know that there are plenty of people out there who insist that you have to take everything in the Bible literally or you have to throw the whole thing out. That's INSANE. Okay, not insane, but also not logically valid. If there's a little mold on your cheese you don't have to throw it all out. [That's a terrible analogy, but you get what I mean.]

In case you aren't aware of this, the Roman Catholic bible has more books in it than the protestant bible. Protestants don't consider those books to be inspired, so they just pulled them out. The bible is not one big, monolithic work. If you don't understand this, you don't understand the history of the faith (and most people don't.)