Why read the Bible literally?

Unless you sincerely apologize.

... if you take the stance that a document is literally true before you read it then you can make any document true.

The questions are: What is lost if the Flood story is not taken literally? Does this nullify the value of Christ's sacrifice?

It's an either/or here.

I'm defining what I will accept from you, and it does happen to be in keeping with the forum rules.

I will not accept your personal comments.

Or, don't. Last I checked you were an adult. Although when you carry on like this I'm not so sure. (That's literally a true statement. Your age is not known to me.)

....this is how you are living your life ....... you are unable to open your mind up to the possibility of accepting anything that contradicts your view of the Bible....you will never learn even the basics of any of these subjects because to learn the basics requires someone to be open minded and to look at the evidence before they come to a conclusion. You will never grasp ... because you will not study objectively, you will not read a wide range of materials....You should be ashamed of yourself .......what you are doing is basically the same as a ten year old kid ....
...require you to look objectively at the texts, and you are incapable of doing so .......Faith, you are over 200 years behind the times.......Faith worships her bible before she worships Jesus the Christ. .... I cannot imagine a weaker faith in God than you have.......Well, Faith, in the real world, not the fairytale land that you live in ....No doubt you will have some crazy excuse for that one,....Then you say that people fold up in the face of science, fold up from what, from living life inside a fairy story? ....you faith in the bible means to ignore the evidence, stick your fingers in your ears and shout la-la-la, ...despite the fact that you haven’t got a clue about the majority of the related subjects! It is breathtakingly, astoundingly ignorant.....But Faith, you spend your whole life LOOKING for empirical proof of the Bible events! .........Its not that you WON’T admit you are wrong, you are incapable of admitting it, you are so self deluded that your brain’s self protection system kicks in and rejects any negative information. ....
....you will accept any garbage that maintains this position, it doesn’t matter how puerile the information is, if it keeps this inerrant faade up, you will grasp it with both hands ....You have read and absorbed so much misinformation that you probably would require some serious psychiatric help to deprogram your self-delusion.....They aren’t betraying Christ, they are using the brain that Christ gave them. You may be surprised to know but you are the one betraying Christ, have you any idea how many people that you scare away from Christianity when they read some of the stuff you post? If anyone should be worried it should be the literalists.........It is putting up with constant humiliation that has psychologically altered you. The constant humiliation has made you unreceptive to anything that contradicts your belief. See how well it fits in with my post, these psychiatrists are clever people, we can see their findings unfolding before our eyes here.........It doesn’t take faith to believe in the Flood, it takes stupidity, because your lot never just say ...you have faith in nonsense like water canopies, or comets full of water, or some other mindless drivel!........Yes, back to the drawing board to see what embarrassing claptrap you can make up, any nonsense will do as long as it solves an immediate problem. Thank the Lord that all Christians are not literalists, you would drag us back to where you did before, the Dark Ages.....

That is another personal offense you should be suspended for.

jar writes:I would like to expand on the beliefs of C.S. Lewis. My signature is taken from Lewis, his Narnia series. In the final book he addresses a subject that seems to come up quite often here, "Who can be saved". In it he clearly says that profession of belief is NOT the determining factor and that even Non-Believers, even folk actively working for some other God, will be saved.

Faith writes:Reference please. Book title, page number etc. Thank you.

CS Lewis writes:So I went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable tree till lo! In a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. The speed of him was like an ostrich, and his size was an elephant’s; his hair was like pure gold that is liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the Flaming Mountain of Langour, and in beauty he surpassed he surpassed all that is in the world even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert.Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worthy of all honour) will know that i have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him.But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.Then by reason of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites., I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he says he says the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted.Dost thou understand , Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.