Why Don't You Read the Bible Literally?

First, as Christians, we have to understand how the Bible was written. The Bible has many different literary forms. It contains poetry, parables, metaphors, and lots of different stories.

Does any of this mean that there are parts of the Bible that aren't "true." NO! The whole Bible is true. It's just that God chose to express His Word in various ways.

The difference between Catholics and Fundamentalists is that we believe that God used all kinds of literal expression - not just the bald-faced, plain-as-day, literal kind - to get His point across.


So what you say is....

• Catholics believe that the bible is God's word, trustworthy and true, God's revelation of Himself.
• Because God worked through human authors, the Bible conveys truth in a variety of literary styles, many of which are intended to be understood literally, others not.
• There's not a single verse in the Bible that demands that the whole Bible be understood literally, without interpretation.
• No matter what literary form is used, God's truth is still present.
• There are many passages throughout the Bible that fundamentalists don't take literally. This shows pretty clearly that (a) literal interpretation is inconsistently applied and (b) is used to defend already-held beliefs, rather than objectively uncover the truth of Scripture.