(August 24, 2022 at 12:34 pm)John 6IX Breezy Wrote: I may fall more under the literal category, though I think fundamentalism has more to do with behavior. I think the Bible should be read the way any other piece of writing should—to understand what the author is attempting to communicate. What's interesting about the Bible is that the thing many authors are attempting to communicate is often a vision or divine experience. These are events that linger at the boundary of what the author can understand or recognize. So, it's interesting to peel back the metaphors and similes and try to decipher or imagine what it is that they claim to have seen or experienced.
Why should I care what someone saw in a dream or a (possibly drug or fever-induced) vision? Likewise, why is something that an old author is trying to "communicate" with me more important than something any author is trying to say?
I put vererated or classic literature in an "interesting" category. Maybe I'll get something valuable from it, or maybe I won't.
