Catholic church says not to take Bible as truth

[Vampyr]

Originally Posted by Neo

I grew up with people who did take it as the literal truth. They were very frightening.

What this really does is undercut the validity of the quotes the church does choose to regurgitate. They selectively pick which passages they think are true or that have some merit while ignoring all the rest. Admitting that your source material has problems doesn't serve to inspire the credibility of your teachings.

Same. I live in (and grew up in) a rural, conservative, religous sect of the nation. Around here it seems that the Bible is law. People consider every word and scripture of the Bible to be absolute truth, there are no metaphors or symbolism for them.

I do understand, however, that when read correctly the Bible is, especially the old Testament, a lot of metaphors. I still just choose not to believe it. I guess Faith and Spirituality just isn't my thing. I just can't accept the fact that there is some other realm (for lack of a better word) with an all knowing, all seeing, all powerful spirit guy that created everything from nothing. The mere notion is just laughable to me, personally.

Not just that, but I'm not so sure I want to go to the Heaven described in the Bible. Spending eternity worshipping God isn't appealing. And from what I get out of reading it, it's like you lose your identity in Heaven. I mean, if my mind or soul or whatever is altered to make me think an eternal state of worship is the shiz, I don't want that either. You aren't even you anymore. At least in Hell you know who you are.

And it may be very ironic, but the Bible is one of my favorite things to read. The stories are just interesting as Hell.