Ad hom, Sugarfree. A mild one, but that's what it is.

You could look at it as a figurative description of the world, a description of an unproven rhetorical place, or more simply as an attempt to describe the world--this world that we are all uncontroversially aware of--that has been supplanted by actual evidence. Before germ theory, people believed diseases were caused by spirits, or bad odors -- I recall “swamp gasses“ being of particular concern. There was a theory of combustion in the seventeenth century which stated all flammable materials contain a substance called phlogiston which is liberated by burning. Now we know fire is oxygenation, and not an element unto itself, or a release of the superfluous theoretical phlogiston. Before neuroscience, people believed character could be revealed through examining the head against a phrenology chart. You talk about faith being sufficient, but you try to talk about it in naïve scientific terms, which suggests it's really not enough to satisfy your curiosity. Bearing in mind there's no way to prove a negative, there is a point when enough aspects of something simply lose credibility in a mutually exclusive argument. When enough of the bible becomes “metaphorical” and “figurative” I can't imagine the cognitive dissonance at work to preserve belief.

So do theists. The only difference is that theists use their subjective interpretations of a text where others use observation and analysis to make decisions.

Listen if you're going to build strawmen then at least make them sturdier. Otherwise, it allows us to throw them right back.

Sure have. Every friggin' day. I'm just curious as to why you seem to deny that your own subjective assessment is just that... subjective.

The quest doesn't have to be for this thing called 'objective morality'

Besides that, the sensationalism of the storyteller in Matthew should probably label the work as fiction rather than allow picking and choosing what is metaphor and what is commandment.

What 'message' are we allegedly missing concerning the dead rising and hanging out after the messiah dies?

In all seriousness, maybe this site needs to have a questionaire for theists before they post so we know EXACTLY where each one is coming from. Seriously, there are so many denominations/sects, etc out there.

Shug, i grew up fundy; most fundies take EVERYTHING literally.  

Liberal interpretation obviously does not and i would agree more with that theology. Even consevative jewish scholars acknowlege the creation story, Jonah, Job, Lot etc as symbolic.

However, on this issue, sorry, i stand my ground. "Bodies were raised," not "spirits appeared." 

It's there, plain as day, b&w... 

Yes, sugarfree, I have my degree in Literature. Of course there is much symbolism in the bible, unfortunately most well written texts have a consistency in their symbolism that simply cannot be found in the bible. Attribute this to the multiple writers if you must, but that doesn't excuse the fact that the church and its followers continue to pick and choose which parts of the bible they want to be real and which they want to be symbolic. When reading Beowulf I don't say "Grendel wasn't real, he was symbolic of the struggle that Hrothgar's court was going through at the time. The dragon, however, was 100% real." That's simply not the way to properly analyze a text. And if you want to get that far into it, as a literary work, the bible isn't very good at all. It certainly has its moments, but as a whole, without the billions of adherents, it would not be considered classic literature in the same vein as The Decameron or Crime and Punishment. And those only had one author, as opposed to the however many the bible had (Too many cooks, spoil the broth, so to speak.) So, I don't think that appealing to the literary merits of the "good book" is the best route for your argument. It simply isn't that good.

The bible really doesn't match up to most literary works. Almost every book I've ever read was written better. I could write a better book than the bible. I think a 6 year old could, for that matter. Especially when writing a work that is supposed to support an entire belief system. There are far too many flaws and contradictions.

hahahaha thats funny as hell. I really do wonder what would happen to Christianity if Christians really read their bibles.

AND what would happen if they let their kids choose their own religion. Between those two things, within a generation the entire christian population will be in Westboro.