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I heard this on the news yesterday and went and researched it. Here’s a link to the “State of the Bible” report: http://www.americanbible.org/features/state-of-the-bible-research-2014 ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.americanbible.org/features/state-of-the-bible-research-2014 I think it’s unfair to lump the Bible altogether. Can we really put injuctions about menstrual cycles in the same category as the psalms? Are Ezekiel’s visions literal? Not in the same way as other things. Are the parables literal? Even in Genesis, we find curious contrasts – creation stories, next to oral history, along with probable historical figures. The NT includes Herod (x2), Augustus, and Pilate, all of whom were real according to other sources – so it’s matter of how. Paul’s letters and Revelation are completely different fish again, and to each other. If we take the Ten Commandments literally, it is quite different from taking the Flood literally. And so on
I find value in the bible when I view it as mythology. I find value in the Lord of the Rings.
I find value in the Star Wars Saga.
etc etc
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Both of you make good points and I agree with both. Indeed, the Bible is partly a description of historical events and even much of the myth is based upon actual historical events. Interestingly, the Book of Mormon includes a statement that it was written for a time when people would begin to deny the Bible. I find quite a few “small” things in the BofM fascinating, no matter one’s view of its historicity.
The Bible is not a book, it’s a library. It has different authors, different genres, was written over a number of centuries, in at least three different languages. Not all of it even claims to be literal – Joseph’s dream was not, nor is the poetry, the parables, the visions etc. The parables of Jesus are true, but not literal.
I don’t think LOTR is comparable – that is the product of one mind, one culture, although Tolkien did write in other languages occasionally.
As for Star Wars, enjoyable, but verges on the twee… I mean Ewoks, camp robots and Jar Jar Binks?
“Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view” rings as true to me as any scripture, Cadence. For me, it is scripture. Scripture does not come from the canonized books or living prophets alone, it can come from anywhere.
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