Why read the Bible literally?

Brian, what you said is what I was trying to say in my message Logos, Mythos, and Society (http://EvC Forum: Logos, Mythos, and Society -->EvC Forum: Logos, Mythos, and Society) but you said it much better than I did. You expressed yourself clearly and made a lot of points I was trying to do but didn't.Good job.Chris

But what if the *metaphor* is the Word of God? What if He intended for us falliable human beings to study and understand Him allegorically? Jesus certainly did quite a bit of that during His time on Earth. Why would God not do the same in the document He left us?Chris

Faith, I'm not certain if you will ever read this. But I post anyway.How is any different than (From Message 140)In 140 you were criticizing people who interpret certain parts of the Bible in a non-literal way, saying that they were putting their own judgement "above" Gods. And yet in this message you admit that indeed human judgement is absolutely essential to understanding the Bible even within your own tradition.You are saying that your judgement on what is to be interpreted literally and what is to be interpreted figuratively in the Bible is somehow superior to other's judgement on what is to be interpreted literally and what is to be interpreted figuratively, because people who disagree with you are putting themselves "above" God while your judgements are not.How do you know that He did not intend for the Bible to be interpreted in the manner that I do? How does your intepretation make you so certain of things that you disagree with the clear evidence that He left behind of how His creation works?Have a nice day,Chris