lol, Judi I thought you did that on purpose to tease me! hahaha
I was raised Christian. I was also raised to believe that most Christians, including ones like Judi, have no idea what the bible actually has to say about anything because very few Christian religions really push their bible reading to find out what the Bible has to say on a verse-by-verse basis.
I think it’s entirely possible to re-imagine the bible as a book of allegory but I have no reason to believe that it was written as such and I still have no clue why some Christians feel it is okay to assume that the Bible was written as anything other than 100% believable and accurate fact. “Facts,” as it would turn out, which happen not to be facts:
Evolution is a good example of an evidently historical fact that the bible has wrong. When you consider the Bible as just one piece (or group) of evidence about what is and isn’t true in the world and then you compare it to other pieces (or groups) of evidence in the same universe, like genetics, dna, etc., it all tends to make me realize that the Adam and Eve creation story was just plain false; Noah and the ark: False.
The evidence says very clearly to me: The Bible attempted to represent history and biology accurately. And the evidence is also very clear: The Bible fails to represent history and biology accurately. So, allegory is all you’re left with. Not because it was meant to be that way, but because nothing else fits anymore.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with the alleged fictions represented. Even intentionally fictional stories can have deep philosophical and beneficial messages that are worth considering. After all, the Bible is the oldest human book (or one of) that we have. It’s a remarkable piece of history depicting our social and moral growth, clearly. But a book written with miraculous, technology-busting, accuracy? The evidence suggests otherwise.