One of the arguments which comes up time after time when you talk religion is - do you believe the bible is literally true?
That is an important question, since it touches on the theory of evolution, and such matters as gay marriage.
I am not inclined to the belief that every word in the bible, as published today, is from God and the absolute truth - but I do believe that it could be.
In other words, I do not discount the idea that archaeological discoveries are tests placed for us by God. It is remarkable to a non scientist such as myself that the number of finds appears to have ballooned in recent years, but in my heart of hearts, no I do not believe that God created the world in six days an rested on the seventh.
So how do we reconcile belief with disbelief in parts of the Good Book? It comes down to a couple of points, namely:
1. Once again man has had a hand in it, and that makes it susceptible to interference from the dark powers. The bible as written today was put together by holy men who decided,by committee, what went in and what did not. Did God have input? Of course. Did the devil deceive? Of course.
2. Translation of original text is not always spot on. For example, everyone has heard of the commandment thou shall jot kill, but should it not be thou shall not murder? There is a difference.
Of course these problems do not address every issue.
It is remarkable, returning to Genesis, that the order of creation follows what is generally accepted by science today. Could primitives really have understood the concept of a time frame measured in billions of years? I think not. Possibly we should consider the time scale in terms of the lifespan of a human when compared to God. Maybe we should be talking about God's days, a bit like the life of a dog - a dog year is supposed to be a seventh of a human year. Time is after all relative. Who has not felt time fly when spent in a lover's arms, or, conversely, drag during a particularly tedious lecture or sermon.
I will doubtless revert to this in future blogs. Meantime, I would suggest that the bible was originally written to provide primitive man with a set of rules to help him explain the world round him an to help him live safely in accordance with God's will. Is the bible literally true? I think not. Could it be? Certainly. Does it matter? Not so long as we use it as a guide to help us understand the will of God and to live our, very short, lives as He would want us to.
Homosexuality, what we should or should not eat and slavery will be blogged on next. You have been warned gentle reader. Thank you for reading.
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