by friendofbill » June 26th, 2009, 12:02 pm
On this question what you will get is each responder's personal opinion.
My personal opinion is that the stories in Genesis up to the story of Abraham cannot be taken literally, and should not, since to do so clouds and hides the meaning of the story.
Afetr all -- if Jesus Himself almost invariably encapsulated His moral and ethical teachings in parables, why should it be a surprise if the Holy Spirit did the same from the start?
And why would He choose to do so? Because He knew then and knows now that taking these stories literally diverts attention form the meaning of the story, and entangles us in endless (stupid) debates over where Cain got his wife, how Noah collected kangaroos, whether dinosaurts were on the ark, etc.
IMO, the details of the origin of the universe, of evolution and of relativity and/or quantum mechanics have been established as fact. To me, this is simply delightful: it tells us a whole lot about the methodology of the Creator. And it shows us that He is far bigger than the parochial -made-in-man's-image God Whom we have attempted to worship for so long.
On this matter I highly recommend the excellent book The Rock That Is Higher by Madeleine L'Engle, best known as the author of the five-volume "Murry family" series starting with A Wrinkle In Time.
Namaste
Art
Last edited by
friendofbill on June 26th, 2009, 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.