[graemep]

Evidence for that statement? Can you give some examples?

Mostly when people say "the Bible is not true" its usually a result of misunderstanding it (e.g. adopting Biblical literalism, not understanding the culture and context, not understanding nuance).

[falcor84]

If you don't adopt biblical literalism, then isn't the Bible just true in the same way that Star Wars is true?

[graemep]

No. You interpret each document in context and in culture.

For example, you interpret Genesis as a story that makes a point and tell you something - it is like Jesus's parables (no one same says they are literal!). For example, that all human beings are made in the image of God - as we all look different that is clearly not literal. That we are all related and of one ancestry.

On the other hand you interpret the gospels as deliberately written biographies of Jesus. You interpret the epistles as letter written by their author to a particular person or group of people. You interpret the psalms as lyrics.

It is the traditional way of interpreting the Bible and few people had a problem with it until modern times.

[seanw444]

I think their point was that Star Wars also has metaphorical lessons to be learned if you're not interpreting it as a literal history lesson.

[graemep]

Yes, that is the point of fiction. its not unfair to compare Genesis to Star Wars to an extent, but, to a Christian, what you learn from Genesis is a lot more important (the "word of God" rather than the "word of George Lucas").

However, much of the rest of the Bible should be read differently - the letters, biographies etc. Each document ("book") needs to be read appropriately and in context. Again, each can be compared to others in its genre, but its inclusion in "the Bible" (but there are lots of Biblical canons) gives it that extreme importance.

[falcor84]

> It is the traditional way of interpreting the Bible and few people had a problem with it until modern times.

Sorry to nitpick, but there were quite a lot of "heathens" and "witches" who had faced some problems with the traditional interpretations of the Bible before modern times.

[9864247888754]

What a cheap cop-out to move the goalposts so that only the claims that haven't been disproved yet or are unfalsifiable are meant to be taken literally.

[mjmas]

What is wrong with taking the Bible as literal statement of fact?

[graemep]

Its a departure from Christian tradition (including early Christians), and it leads to demonstrably false conclusions, and its silly to treat many works of many different genres (myth, chronicles, personal accounts, poetry and lyrics, biographies, and letters) as all being interpreted the same way.

[9864247888754]

What's your god a metaphor for?