The Bible shouldn't be taken literally.

“The first half of the Bible (the Old Testament) is composed of ancientstories that were written by approximately 40 different completely unrelatedauthors. In addition, the stories were passed down mostly orally for hundredsof years. How could anyone possibly expect such stories to be even close totheir original states? Taking Old Testament stories literally would be justlike believing in Greek Mythology.” A false assumption that is far from the truth, TheSmithsonian Institution’s Department of Anthropology has an official statementon “THE BIBLE AS HISTORY.” In it they say: “... much of the Bible, in particular the historical booksof the old testament, are as accurate historical documents as any that we havefrom antiquity and are in fact more accurate than many of the Egyptian,Mesopotamian, or Greek histories. These Biblical records can be and are used asare other ancient documents in archaeological work. For the most part,historical events described took place and the peoples cited really existed.” “The second half of the Bible(the New Testament) is composed of stories that were written after Jesus'sdeath by 4 authors (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) who were trying to promoteChristianity and spread it to the general public. Obviously they would stretchthe truth in order to appeal to a wider audience. Taking New Testament storiesliterally would be just like believing every word of every commercial you hearon TV.” Another false assumption that Con asserts, this is far fromthe truth as well. Now it is true that the New Testament was written afterJesus existence. But it was written by the first and second hand eyewitnesseswhen they were still alive. In fact the New Testament documents have astaggering quantity of manuscript attestation. Approximately 5,000 Greekmanuscripts, containing all or part of the New Testament, exist. There are8,000 manuscript copies of the Vulgate (a Latin translation of the Bible doneby Jerome from 382-405) and more than 350 copies of Syriac (Christian Aramaic)versions of the New Testament (these originated from 150-250; most of thecopies are from the 400x). The dates of the manuscript copies range from early in the2ndcentury to the time of the Reformation. This is very remarkable because thatmeans that the eyewitness were alive to write their gospel accounts of Jesus,and that also means that their manuscripts were already going around within the1st century. Also almost every single apostle was martyred forproclaiming that they saw Jesus risen. If they knew it was a lie, then why diefor it? Note that I don't mean to saythat the Bible is completely false. The Bible's stories are great metaphors,allegories, and parables for portraying Christianity's teachings. The bible claims to be God-breathed, and God’s word, Proneeds to realize that it stands or falls as a whole. These were not some“stories” told to pass on, these were actual events that all point to thecoming of Christ. Also note that when I say"taking the Bible literally", I mean truly believing that... -God created everything in 7days The bible could be referring to 24 hour days it never saysthe earth is 6,000 years old. In fact in never even gives the age of the earth.The Genesis account has been shown to be reliable, especially in the field ofmolecular anthropology. “ -Humans are sinful because a snake talkedEve into eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge” Is there not sin in the world? God gave Adam and eve thechoice to choose good and evil. -Noah built a ship to save abunch of animals from a global flood Early church fathers have talked about the location of theark, including Josephus. There has been satellite imaging done near Turkey.Many people in the past have seen pitch from wood around that area and havetalked about. Much of the evidence so far is circumstantial although that doesnot mean it did not happen, since Jesus proved to be God, then everything hesaid and did was true in the OT and NT. -Language barriers were createdby God to stop humans from building a really tall tower In the southern Mesopotamia, Excavation at Babylon cannotinform us of its history prior to the second millennium, because the shiftingwater table of the Euphrates has obliterated the strata (Saggs 1967: 41-42).Historical records do not mention Babylon prior to meager references in the UrIII period, and a year date formula of Sarkalisarri during the dynasty of Akkad(Gelb 1955). If it was the site of the event recorded in Genesis 11, it seemsto have been abandoned for over a millennium before it was again occupied. “ -Hell is a pit of fire in the middle of theEarth where sinners burn for eternity.” Nowhere in the bible does it say Hell is located on earth.Can Pro provide scriptural evidence for this please? -Heaven is a realm beyond theborders of the Ptolemaic Universe where God and all his angels live” Heaven is where God dwells, but God can dwell anywhere,since he is triune. Not three Gods, but one God in three persons. (Father, Son,Holy Spirit). “ -Jesus resurrected 3 days after he died” FACT #1: After his crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tombby Joseph of Arimathea. This fact is highly significant because it means that thelocation of Jesus’ burial site was known to Jew and Christian alike. In thatcase, the disciples could never have proclaimed his resurrection in Jerusalemif the tomb had not been empty. New Testament researchers have established thisfirst fact on the basis of evidence such as the following: Jesus’ burial isattested in the very old tradition quoted by Paul in I Cor. 15.3-5: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I alsoreceived: . . . that Christ died for our sins in accordance with theScriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance withthe Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.” FACT #2: On the Sunday following the crucifixion, Jesus’tomb was found empty by a group of his women followers. The empty tomb story isalso part of the old passion source used by Mark. The story is simple and lackssigns of legendary embellishment. Compare the wild legendary stories found inthe second-century apocryphal gospels, in which Jesus is seen coming out of thetomb with his head reaching up above the clouds and followed by a talkingcross! FACT #3: On multiple occasions and under variouscircumstances, different individuals and groups of people experiencedappearances of Jesus alive from the dead. The appearance traditions in thegospels provide multiple, independent attestation of these appearances. This isone of the most important marks of historicity. The appearance to Peter isindependently attested by Luke, and the appearance to the Twelve by Luke andJohn. FACT #4: The original disciples believed that Jesus wasrisen from the dead despite their having every predisposition to the contrary.Their leader was dead. And Jews had no belief in a dying, much less rising,Messiah. “ -Jesus claimed to be the only one who couldlead people to God.” “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30 We need only to look at the Jews’ reaction to His statementto know He was claiming to be God. They tried to stone Him for this veryreason: “You, a mere man, claim to be God.” John 10:33. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,and the Word was God.” –John 1:1 Sources: http://www.gotquestions.org... http://www.reasonablefaith.org... http://www.biblearchaeology.org... http://www.bethinking.org... http://www.bethinking.org...