Dear Theists....Why?

[HeyItsZeus]

@Zeus- The ressurection of Jesus, whether literal or not, is an example in story form of how God could and does work in this world. Essentially, I don't know if it really happened, but with God it could have. I do believe that Jesus really did exist and really did ressurect from the dead, but I don't know for certain. No one can.

God is literal. He is the literal being that the allegory is pointing towards.

As for not believing in Christianity to be Christian...no. You have it wrong. I believe in Christianity; its principles, its teachings, its messages. I do not believe that the stories within have to be literal to be believed in. I believe the message those stories are trying to teach, I don't believe the events actually occured.

If that could be done with God, why couldn't the story of Genesis be possibly true? I know why. We have proven that that is not the way the Earth was made. The same way we have proven that people can not rise from the dead. It's all stories, as you said.

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Haha, Nice way to be humble, Zeus.

He's the type of person that's making the world stupid imho. He must be banned.

I meant Doodlebag not You by the way.

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@Zeus- The ressurection of Jesus, whether literal or not, is an example in story form of how God could and does work in this world. Essentially, I don't know if it really happened, but with God it could have. I do believe that Jesus really did exist and really did ressurect from the dead, but I don't know for certain. No one can.

God is literal. He is the literal being that the allegory is pointing towards.

As for not believing in Christianity to be Christian...no. You have it wrong. I believe in Christianity; its principles, its teachings, its messages. I do not believe that the stories within have to be literal to be believed in. I believe the message those stories are trying to teach, I don't believe the events actually occured.

How do you know he's literal?

[Watson]

LOL I know. Let him learn, he doesn't have to be banned yet. In time, hopefully, he will change his views and be more open to the ideas presented on this site. But that wont happen if we ban 'em immediately.

As I said, the story of Jesus may or may not be true, but there is no denying that it is written quite differently from Genesis. Jesus was actively and inspiredly going out and taking action, whereas the story of Genesis is written without much detail, and with more emphasis on prose and poetic form. This hints that Genesis is meant to be taken allegorically.

Not only that, the point of the entire story of Jesus is faith. Regardless of whether or not it happened, it is perfectly within God's power to return someone from the dead. That is part of the message of the ressurection, among other things.

[HeyItsZeus]

LOL I know. Let him learn, he doesn't have to be banned yet. In time, hopefully, he will change his views and be more open to the ideas presented on this site. But that wont happen if we ban 'em immediately.

As I said, the story of Jesus may or may not be true, but there is no denying that it is written quite differently from Genesis. Jesus was actively and inspiredly going out and taking action, whereas the story of Genesis is written without much detail, and with more emphasis on prose and poetic form. This hints that Genesis is meant to be taken allegorically.

Not only that, the point of the entire story of Jesus is faith. Regardless of whether or not it happened, it is perfectly within God's power to return someone from the dead. That is part of the message of the ressurection, among other things.

But how do you know that God is real!? Please answer me.

[Watson]

I don't, Zeus. I believe that He is real based on experience and understanding that I have had with Him.

I was expalining to you that the Bible is an allegorical book refering to the teachings of God, as revealed tothe authors of the Bible through real life experience and understanding...just as my belief in God is based on real life experience and understanding, as stated above.

[Skipper]

God is literal. He is the literal being that the allegory is pointing towards.

As for not believing in Christianity to be Christian...no. You have it wrong. I believe in Christianity; its principles, its teachings, its messages. I do not believe that the stories within have to be literal to be believed in. I believe the message those stories are trying to teach, I don't believe the events actually occured.

Then why not believe in any another religion and just pick and choose which parts of them you want to take literally? Why Christianity? I'm sure you can find some moral teachings among the hate and violence in another story book. Join Islam maybe? or become a Jew? Is it because you come from a Christian background or are in a predominately Christian country? If you were born on the other side of the world maybe you would have had different views? Or if you were born thousands of years ago you would have believed in fire gods and such? Could it be that you just have a need to believe in something bigger?

Surely taking God literally and then ruling out anything else in the bible as not happening is a bit of a contradiction in what you are willing to believe? God existing is surely the hardest part to believe of all what the bible says happened. If I believed there is a concious, all knowing, all powerful, eternal creator behind the universe who we join in in some sort of after life, I'd be more than happy to also believe some bloke got a shit load of animals on his boat because the sky daddy said it was going to piss it down.

[solja247]

I really can't see how. You couldn't possibly go around the world collecting 2 of every animal. Some animals would rip you to shreds. Also take into consideration the amount of food you'd need to keep them alive. Oh and where the hell would you keep all the termites?

Also the other problem with having only 2 of everything, they would have to inbreed which causes serious genetic problems which would prove fatal to their offspring and makes it impossible for the species to survive.

So no, it's not possible. The size the ship would have to be and the distance you'd need to travel to capture animals including some very large and dangerous ones and the inbreeding problem with the serious risk of infection due to lack of room and hygene.

With God everything is possible, so I wouldnt say its not. However, there is no evidence for this world wide flood...

[Minimalist]

With God everything is possible

How convenient.

[solja247]

But I still have one question. You guys say not to take it literally right? So what if God was not meant to be taken literally? Why do a lot of you pick and choose what is real and what isn't? For example: You will say the story of Moses is not meant to be taken literally. What if I told you Genesis was not to be taken laterally. God, Jesus, religion in general...what if I told you those are not meant to be taken literally. How do you guys know what is true and what isn't when it comes to your beliefs?

We are looking at scripture from a 21st century point of view.

http://biologos.org/resources/john-walto...n-context/
http://biologos.org/blog/understanding-genesis
http://biologos.org/blog/what-do-you-mean-by-literal/

Just browse Biologos, they have a lot of good stuff.

@Zeus- The ressurection of Jesus, whether literal or not, is an example in story form of how God could and does work in this world. Essentially, I don't know if it really happened, but with God it could have. I do believe that Jesus really did exist and really did ressurect from the dead, but I don't know for certain. No one can.

Im sorry. For one to be a Christian, they have to believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus.

[Watson]

@Skipper- (I've used this example before, but...)

If you were reading a science fiction novel about lizard people who took over the earth and formed a totalitarian government, you would know that it was a work of fiction and not fact. However, if the book was actually a metaphor for the Communist scare of the 1950s, you could reasonably assert that the book was a metaphorical interpretation of an literal event... right?

You could also reasonably asume that the author had some real life experience with the Communist scare of the 1950s, regardless of in what way they decided to write about it. Perhaps the metaphor was a simpler and more effective way of conveying the author's message. You take the message literally, but the story metaphorically.

That's pretty much the point of reading. :/

As for taking God literally, but not the rest of the Bible, like I said the literal part of the story is God. It isn't hard to believe if you have had real life experience with God, which I have and which the authors of the Bible had. It is just like the Communism in my example isn't hard to believe in if you have had real life experience with it. You cannot understand something without having had experience with it, and even then your understanding may be faulty or incomplete.

You also ask why I am not a member of some other religion, and this infuriates me, because I've answered this question a hundred million times here on this site. I consider myself Christian because I find Christianity to be the most comprehensive and all-encompassing religion of them all when it comes to God. I had experiences with God in real life that lead me into an understanding of His nature, and upon looking into Christian teaching I found that it most accurately conveyed the same lessons I had learned of God during my life time.

However, I do not discount the validity of any other religionas it stands. Each is an attempt at understanding the being we refer to as God, and each has its own contribution to make to further our understanding of Him. I just find that Christianity cmes closest and does best in describing and explaining what I have experienced myself.

If I was born in any other place and in any other time, I wouldn't be me, so your point is moot.

@Sol- I do believe in the literal ressurection, sorry for any misconception.

[HeyItsZeus]

God is literal. He is the literal being that the allegory is pointing towards.

As for not believing in Christianity to be Christian...no. You have it wrong. I believe in Christianity; its principles, its teachings, its messages. I do not believe that the stories within have to be literal to be believed in. I believe the message those stories are trying to teach, I don't believe the events actually occured.

Then why not believe in any another religion and just pick and choose which parts of them you want to take literally? Why Christianity? I'm sure you can find some moral teachings among the hate and violence in another story book. Join Islam maybe? or become a Jew? Is it because you come from a Christian background or are in a predominately Christian country? If you were born on the other side of the world maybe you would have had different views? Or if you were born thousands of years ago you would have believed in fire gods and such? Could it be that you just have a need to believe in something bigger?

Surely taking God literally and then ruling out anything else in the bible as not happening is a bit of a contradiction in what you are willing to believe? God existing is surely the hardest part to believe of all what the bible says happened. If I believed there is a concious, all knowing, all powerful, eternal creator behind the universe who we join in in some sort of after life, I'd be more than happy to also believe some bloke got a shit load of animals on his boat because the sky daddy said it was going to piss it down.

Exactly! Watson, I'm starting to think you are bullshitting me!

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With God everything is possible

How convenient.

Yeah a good excuse if you ask me.