Was the Bible intended to be metaphorical?
- Thread starter Norsefire
- Start date
I don't know, but my guess is tht it is a mix of real life events, pure story telling and philosophical insight.
peace.
peace.
Intended by who?
The bible is full of cruelty & foolishness with some few scatterings of wisdom.
The bible is full of cruelty & foolishness with some few scatterings of wisdom.
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M*W: The bible is a compilation of drama, poetry, philosophy, songs, wisdom, biographies, and codes of behavior. None of it was meant to be taken literally. The bible was copied from earlier texts of the region. What many people don't know about the bible is it's Egyptian influence. The patriarchs and kings were all Egyptian, not Hebrew. After the bible was written, they became part of the Hebrew culture. Abraham, Joseph, David, Solomon and Moses were all Egyptian pharaohs or viziers.
References:
All books by Ahmed Osman (I don't have them with me to list since I'm still a refugee).
M*W: The bible is a compilation of drama, poetry, philosophy, songs, wisdom, biographies, and codes of behavior. None of it was meant to be taken literally. The bible was copied from earlier texts of the region. What many people don't know about the bible is it's Egyptian influence. The patriarchs and kings were all Egyptian, not Hebrew. After the bible was written, they became part of the Hebrew culture. Abraham, Joseph, David, Solomon and Moses were all Egyptian pharaohs or viziers.
References:
All books by Ahmed Osman (I don't have them with me to list since I'm still a refugee).
No bible was ever intended to be metaphorical. Bibles become metaphorical as science progresses and things are explained or found out to be false. IOW, no bible is literal if the real true meaning detracts from the perceived goodness contained within the pages.
If you believe in something so wholeheartedly that it becomes sacred to you and your beliefs, then you will do what it takes to protect the written word especially if those words come off as being half-cocked.
If you believe in something so wholeheartedly that it becomes sacred to you and your beliefs, then you will do what it takes to protect the written word especially if those words come off as being half-cocked.
I don't typically agree with those that espouse the bible as being some great piece of writing - whether taken literally or not. To me at least, it doesn't have any of the grace, beauty, elegance of Beowulf, the Epic of Gilgamesh or even Aesop's for that matter.
Frankly, on my list of 'good reads', the bible comes somewhere down the bottom - right next to Of Pandas and People but below Postman Pat and the Windy Day.
Frankly, on my list of 'good reads', the bible comes somewhere down the bottom - right next to Of Pandas and People but below Postman Pat and the Windy Day.
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M*W: That depends on the area you are calling Mesopotamia. Abraham (assuming for the moment he existed), and Sarah were half-brother and sister and the children of an Egyptian pharaoh (right now who shall remain nameless, since I don't have my references with me). Anyhoo, it is recorded in the bible that Abraham settled in the Ur (city) of the Chaldees (region) which, I think is in modern Iraq. Abraham was a polytheist as were his ancestors and descendants of that day. Although the bible portrays Abraham as a monotheist, this is the Judeo-Christian interpretation, but it is not correct. The bible also refers to Abraham and Sarah going back to Egypt, their homeland, to visit the pharaoh who took his daughter, Sarah, as his wife. This was quite the culture of the day, and it was not frowned on to have incestuous relationships. So then later, Sarah ends up pregnant with Isaac some 13 years after Sarah had Abraham run off Hagar and Ishmael.
Point being that Abraham was Egyptian by birth during a time when polytheism was the religion of the day in Egypt.
You haven't read the bible.
Are you serious? Have you any idea just how many there are? Entire websites are devoted in pointing out each and every quote, word for word, showing several biblical versions. One need simply pick up the book itself and begin reading, that is, if you can slog your way through it.
Of course, I also wouldn't expect you to find any of it immoral anyways, considering you call for peoples heads on lances because their ideals conflict with your Islamic indoctrination.
"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. " Deuteronomy 13:6-10 (King James Version)
"Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock, or sheep, [1] wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God. 2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you." Deuteronomy 17 (King James Version)
