What is to be taken literally?

Ain`t the arrogance of religious newbies a joy to behold? Bursting in with all the answers to educate the ignorant, unwashed Evos. Not like these rigid ideas haven`t been demolished a zillion times. Go easy on the teasing,guys, they might twig you. Oh well, back to the coal-face.

Here`s one which has been covered elsewhere. Was the cursing of the fig tree literal or should we interpret it? If so, how? Bearing in mind the pesher, of course.

Hi,Prob, you realise the figtree was the emblem of the Zealots?

Just struck me. First, humans saw God face to face. Gen 18:1,2--Gen 32:24--Gen 32:30 (Thanks, Arach)Then, He tells them not to look, keep away. You don`t think He picked up one of those contagious diseases He created, do you?

Hi, Arach, why would an all-knowing God inspire a book with such obscure interpretations for the use of far-flung societies across the world, unfamiliar with Jewish metaphors, symbollism, etc(etc borrowed from Whatever )

A futile exercise whichever way you cut it. Since there is no 'one'Bible, there can be no one reading. Whether you go KJV or the Westcott-Hort Revisionism stable, KJV versus Jerome`s Vulgate, Masoretic or Septuagint, Origin`s Hexapla, Josephus and the Qumran Scrolls, there never was a clear-cut version of the Bible passed down to us.If you believe the Pesharim technique found with the Scrolls, the waters are muddied even further. Anyone saying they alone have the correct text is echoed by a thousand different sects with the same message.