AtheistBuddah
Senior Member
This questions pertains to an interpretation of the Bible that most moderate Christians have. The interpretation that some parts of the book are literal (ie. the parts that talk about Jesus and pretty much all of the New Testament) and the parts that are metaphorical and meant to be a guideline for how to live your life as opposed to the literal and historical truth of the world. This view confuses me. Where do you draw the line between historical fact and poetic allegory? Many Old Earth Christians that embrace the general principal of evolution (which is the vast majority of Christians) say that stories like the one's in Genesis about Noah's flood and even Adam and Eve and the Creation story are metaphors. Handed down by Moses and through the generations the way people back then could understand them. But now I get to crux of my question. Which is this. Jesus certainly didn't think the story of Adam and original sin was allegory. He allowed himself to be beaten and nailed to a cross in order to forgive mankind of that original sin. Your supposed savior sure didn't think he was up there on that cross for a metaphor. So why then do you look at Old Testament stories like the creation story as metaphor? How can you justify having an interpretation of the Bible that so clearly contradicts what your savior Jesus believed and said?