Allegory versus literalism.

[hrmjustin]

Interfaith post.


As a believer there are things in the bible that I take literally such as the life, work, miricles, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. I find many of the early stories of the Old Testiment to be allegorical. Interesting few threads in the religion room on whether certain biblical stories actually happened or not got my curiousity going here.

My question for other believers here ie how do you determine what you think is literal or allegorical in your faith?

For me it Scripture, tradition, and human reason. For me it is what makes sense to me and what stories are more important to me.

[Union Scribe]

1. My views are similar

The Bible is such a rich combination of narratives and literature, and I've reached the same conclusions as you about a general difference between old and new testaments. I think the new testament is, besides Revelation, attempting to record a historical chain of events which I choose to accept as a more or less real account including miracles, whereas the purposes and voices of the old testament are much more varied and complicated. There's poetry and social instruction and lineages and history and theology. And of course in many places they're likely blended together. But since the messages that I find interesting are the more literary and philosophical books I primarily focus on those and the new testament.

[el_bryanto]

2. There are a few things that need to be true for Christianity to matter

But most miracles aren't in that category.

On the one hand - the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what that means for us is a core tenet of my Christianity, as is the idea that humans can literally commune with God - so dropping those would be impossible. But for the rest - what is important is more what you can learn from the stories not what literally happened.

Bryant

[hrmjustin]

3. Yes the sacrifice of Christ and his resurrection are a huge part of my faith. n/t.