Reply #39: Interesting post. [View All]

[Danger Mouse]

I've always liked the book of Job. It's very poetically written. 'Do not human beings have a hard service on Earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like the laborers who look for their wages, I am allotted months of emptinss, and nights of misery are appointed to me. When I lie down I say 'When shall I rise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn.'
I eventually realized that to take the Bible literally would be nearly impossible as it would require me to do the following.
If I have a rebellious son, I must stone him to death.
I must show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
It's okay to have more than one wife.
If a man lies with the wife of another man, both are to be killed.
If a virgin is to be married, but lies with another man, both are to be killed.
Honestly, it goes on and on. It's all in Dueteronomy. How can a literalist reconcile that to what is said in this book?
Anyway, there's a lot of great stuff in the Bible. You just can't take it all word for word.
If you did, which translation is the 'right' one? Keep that in mind too. It's enough to make your head spin.
-One Very Confused Christian.