[Serious] Literal and Not Literal

[EgoDeath]

If you mean by "divine" that it really comes from God, then no, people can't make it divine. It actually comes from God or it doesn't. 

I thought it was useful to have a separate term -- "holy" -- to mean that people hold something to be spiritually important, whether it comes from God or not. 

So for example, I can refer to a Hindu holy site as holy, even though I don't think the Hindu gods really exist. It's a holy site because people say it's holy. 

So all you're saying is, if we use the world holy in a certain way, then people find it holy.

You don't think vast numbers of people think that these books are the divine word of god, to be taken literally? What makes them wrong?

It was certainly serious to the people doing the commentary. It was serious business to them. I can understand that you don't find it worth listening to, but that's your judgment call. 

Um, okay? What value has the Bible provided to the world...? Wars? Discrimination? Hatred for non-believers?

And tradition doesn't mean shit. Period. Things are either good for us or they're not. Saying we're continuing something "because it's tradition" is about as good as saying nothing.