(October 18, 2018 at 9:00 am)robvalue Wrote: I find it somewhat ironic that the only people who can’t fully appreciate bible stories as actual works in their own right are the people who value the book the most.
Some of the stories, although highly flawed, are very powerful pieces told almost constantly through an unreliable narrator. It ruins this perspective if you have to assume that this stuff really happened, or that it somehow represents things that actually happened. It would be a bit like finding out your favourite film is actually about your best friend killing a load of children for no good reason, while rationalising and lying about it.
I guess Christians would say that it doesn’t ruin it, and that they can view them as stories as well. But they seem to spend more time trying to convince themselves and others that they aren’t simply fictional.
I agree. I can still appreciate the literary value of some parts of the Bible as an atheist. I would go as far as to say that you trample on the original author's intent by trying to find a way to harmonize different books of the Bible together that have been written centuries apart. Fundamentalists, and inerrantists, invite scrutiny to the Bible by saying all these legendary tales literally happened. I was taught that Adam and Eve, The Tower of Babel and Noah's flood were all true events at my Christian elementary school.
