I believe ...
Whatever brings you happiness ...
Go for it.
Belief is a personal thing that doesn't have to be proven ...it's belief.

The Bible is a book with many authors, full of rich allegory and some good guidelines about how to conduct ones life. Adam and Eve is not fact. It doesn't diminish what the book has to teach to recognize that much of it didn't happen.

If the Bible isn't allegory, Joel Osteen would have been smited by now. Smote? Him and a number of folks.

The origin of all of the worlds religions, is mans early attempt to explain the world around us. Taking the bible literally or as fact, is entirely different than believing in what it has to teach about life.

The Bible claims it is the inspired Word of God. If the story of Adam and Eve is not correct, then the entire Bible is not to be trusted and Jesus was a liar. I believe the Bible is true.

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Originally posted by JohnV:
The Bible claims it is the inspired Word of God. If the story of Adam and Eve is not correct, then the entire Bible is not to be trusted and Jesus was a liar. I believe the Bible is true.

The words of Jesus are not invalid just because Adam and Eve is fiction. Nor do those words validate the creation story. The bible is a very old book, and many parts don't hold water. Like the Ark.

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Originally posted by JohnV:
The Bible claims it is the inspired Word of God. If the story of Adam and Eve is not correct, then the entire Bible is not to be trusted and Jesus was a liar. I believe the Bible is true.

Why so black and white? Where else in our lives do we dismiss a whole thing, because one piece may be at question?

Certainly even our favorite leaders, politicians, ware heroes, artists, teachers, parents, etc had flaws, or were wrong at some point. But we don't dismiss their book of work.

If we were consistent with the approach of "if one thing isn't correct the whole bible must not be correct" we'd have nothing to trust in our lives. It's a puzzling approach to me.

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The bible is a very old book, and many parts don't hold water. Like the Ark.

Pun intended?

As sigfreund said:

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I’m not asking for defense or even discussion of one’s beliefs either way, but if you have something to say, please be respectful of others’ opinions.

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Originally posted by arcwelder:

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Originally posted by JohnV:
The Bible claims it is the inspired Word of God. If the story of Adam and Eve is not correct, then the entire Bible is not to be trusted and Jesus was a liar. I believe the Bible is true.

The words of Jesus are not invalid just because Adam and Eve is fiction. Nor do those words validate the creation story. The bible is a very old book, and many parts don't hold water. Like the Ark.

It's not supposed to hold water, it's supposed to keep water out. It holds donkeys, and cats, and various primates, and unicorns.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnV:
The Bible claims it is the inspired Word of God. If the story of Adam and Eve is not correct, then the entire Bible is not to be trusted and Jesus was a liar. I believe the Bible is true.

I'm with John on this point. There are many stories told in the Bible and some allegory, parables and such, but the book itself from my point of view is wholly infallible.

Jesus himself is described in the Bible as using allegory and fables in his teachings at times.

So it's entirely logically/faithfully consistent for the Bible to still be God's word, while also being partially comprised of allegory/fables. Just like Jesus' teachings in person.

The Bible being viewed as such doesn't point to God being flawed or a liar, or the Bible being somehow fallible or full of lies. It points to humans being flawed, and God as a loving teacher breaking down and offering us a simplified explanation of otherwise inscrutable concepts (to our minds).


If your 3 year old child asks you the meaning of life, or where babies come from, or what makes the sky blue, are you going to break it down to a simple concept that your toddler can understand, or hit them with the PhD-level explanation with plenty of big words? Does that make your simplified, easier to understand answer a lie?

Now, imagine how an omniscient creator would approach an answer to higher level questions from beings far beneath his level of knowledge. They'd use allegory and fables to convey the underlying general concepts, because those are more important than the precise specifics.

Just an observation, nothing in the Bible says that the Garden of Eden or what happened there was on Earth.

If its allegory, what's it an allegory for?

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Originally posted by Micropterus:
If its allegory, what's it an allegory for?

Good v evil. Temptation.

No, it's completely fictional and only an allegory as others have said, to illustrate our flawed condition.

If the two options are evaluated at face value, which is more plausible?

Is it more believable that Adam was created from dust, Eve from his rib, the serpent came, etc.? Or that it didn't happen, and it's just a story.

I'd think any rational person would chose the latter.

My conclusion therefore is that people don't choose to believe this story. They are forced to believe it, as a means to support a larger view of the bible, god or whatever.

I just find it interesting that a belief could be informed not by reason and evidence, but as some type of requirement for something else.

Where did Cain's wife come from?

There are things that must have happened that the Bible does not explain.

There is no way that the story can be literally true and complete. Who are we to then say what must be the complete truth?

Besides, I'd rather not think that we must all be the product of incest.

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Originally posted by bobtheelf:
Where did Cain's wife come from?

There are things that must have happened that the Bible does not explain.

Cain's wife was his sister, there isn't a whole lot of room for a different explanation.

The gene pool was wide open at that point. Agree there are some things, even sophisticated or uncomfortable things that are not explained along the way.

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Besides, I'd rather not think that we must all be the product of incest.

Yeah, the monkey sex theory is better

I believe it 100% on faith. It is much easier to think we are made by design than evolving from slime.

Now compare evolution. It is a man made theory that has also never been proven. How many times have the greatest minds in their time, were proven wrong over and over again- ie, the world was thought to be flat, Earth is the center of the universe and everything revolves around it, the atom is the smallest thing,etc.?

You either believe in the bible events or you do not,there is no middle ground. I agree there are lessons to be learned but to pick and choose what you want or that you feel is real, is your decision and you will be accountable for it and no one else.If I am wrong,what have I lost? On the other hand, if I am right, what do you have to lose?

There are many "religious men" throughout history and many were not very Godly. Someone mentioned Olsteen but he is most definitely not a Godly/Christian man by any means.

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Originally posted by zipriderson:

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Besides, I'd rather not think that we must all be the product of incest.

Yeah, the monkey sex theory is better

That's not quite how evolution works.