Interpretation of scripture

[robvalue]

I totally agree. Since there is absolutely no way to test which is the "correct" interpretation, they are all arbitrary. There are no original copies in existence either, so we're dealing with unknown levels of inaccuracy. Simply stating that "this part isn't meant to be taken literally" is bogus since there is no guide at the start of the bible telling you when to do this, or notes by the author. This is not a fact based book. It's not even written in anything like the style of a fact based book. It's a series of anecdotes, mostly not told by anyone actually present in the story, even when the characters may represent someone real.

I said this before in another thread:

If I need anyone to help me interpret what the bible says, god has failed to communicate with me effectively.