The Folly of Biblical Literalism

Of all of mankind's foibles, his tendency to supplant reason with superstition has been his greatest burden.

 
Anyone who claims to take the Scriptures at face value, aside from being blatantly dishonest, is making a monumental error in judgment as any honest reading the Bible makes one thing absolutely clear: it cannot be taken literally. To even attempt to do so is both intellectually and spiritually fraudulent. Not to mention that it actually prevents the person engaging in this spiritual and intellectual perfidy of what could be a very rewarding experience. Make no mistake, I simply do not read and study the Bible solely in order to pick out its inadequacies, although there are plenty to be found in that book. I read it also in order to find good advice and wisdom. I would never reject either no matter where it came from. The Qur'an itself, for example, also has quite a few kernels of wisdom.
 
In any event, all my life, I have read the Bible extensively, having been raised a Christian and having spent my formative years (grades 1-4) in a Christian school. I have also studied the Bible and its historical and cultural context as a teenager and as an adult as well and even wrote several essays for college courses -- namely English Literature, World History and Humanities -- on various aspects of the Bible. I once did a scathing review of the Book of Job for my English Lit class in my sophomore year that while earning me an 'A' for my efforts, also earned me scorn from many of my classmates. My critique of the Book of Job made me few friends among my mainly Southern Baptist classmates (I went to a college deep in the heart of the Bible Belt).
 
And to be quite honest here, I simply cannot fathom how anyone who has ever read the Bible, and read it honestly and with an open mind, could argue that it doesn't contradict itself. The contradictions and just plain errancy of the Bible, from a literal standpoint, are so obvious and impossible to ignore they are simply too voluminous to enumerate here. Having said that, however, it is indeed important to note that the contradictions and many factual errors found in the Bible should present no problem whatsoever of one of true faith and one truly seeking a personal spiritual relationship with God.
 
Remember, the Bible was not written by God (if it were, He would have done far better job). No, the Bible was not written by God, but rather by imperfect men who had, at best, an imprecise vision of what they thought God was. Also, many of these authors of the Bible also had a political and personal agenda. For instance, the early books of Hebrew Scripture -- specifically the Pentateuch -- are not only a religious text, but a clear case of the Hebrews attempting to forge a national identity in a world hostile to them.
 
Furthermore, the development of New Testament canon clearly exhibits a political agenda by the early Church fathers and was more about their attempts at achieving political power in the Empire than it was about providing spiritual enlightenment to mankind.
 
Thus, I do reject much of the Bible as being unsubstantiated and plain false. However, even in the Bible, yes, even in that mishmash of literary horror, the New Testament, kernels of wisdom can be found. Basically, I find Jefferson's approach very prudent.
 

"It is not to be understood that I am with him [Jesus Christ] in all his doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spiritualism; he preaches the efficacy of repentence toward forgiveness of sin; I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem it. Among the sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I find many passages of fine imagination, correct morality, and of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again, of so much ignorance, so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such contradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I separate, therefore, the gold from the dross; restore him to the former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, the roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and imposters, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and the first corruptor of the doctrines of Jesus."
--Thomas Jefferson, to W. Short, 1820

 
To separate the "gold from the dross." Yes, very wise approach and right in line with Proverbs 14:15, which cautions:
 

"The simple believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going."

 
Indeed, one must look very "well to his going" when reading the Bible lest one slide into the spiritual and intellectual indigence of biblical literalism. My wife, who is Jewish, simply cannot fathom why there are many Christians who take the Bible literally, especially their willfull mistranslation and misinterpretation of the Tanakh, which they call the "Old Testament."
 
The Bible was written not in order to provide a historical treatise on the life and times of "God's people," but rather, it was compiled over the centuries and even millennia in order to forge national identities, carve out political niches and yes, even to aid the seeker in his search for a path to God. And those paths are practically infinite. But to take the Bible, both Old and New Testaments literally is pure folly and simply cannot be done by any one of good conscience and true spiritual goals. Not to mention, that if anyone actually tried to live his life on the basis of a literally reading of the Bible he would in short order either find himself in jail or in a psychiatric hospital. The Great freethinker, Robert Ingersoll succinctly summed this up when he wrote:
 

"If a man would follow, today, the teachingsof the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would strictly follow the teachings of the New, he would be insane."
--Robert Ingersoll, 1833-1899

 
And he is right. Pope John Paul II, made a relevant observation himself regarding biblical literalism, when he declared:
 

"The Bible itself speaks to us of the origins of the universe and its makeup, not in order to provide us with a scientific treatise, but in order to state the correct relationship of man with God and the universe…Any other teaching about the origin and make-up of the universe is alien to the intentions of the Bible, which does not wish to teach how heaven was made, but how to go to heaven."
--Pope John Paul II

 
The bottom line and IMO, is that if people would stop trying to take the Bible literally, an impossible task to be sure, and read it for its lessons, teachings and the wisdom found throughout and apply that wisdom to his or her life, the world would be a far better and more congenial place in which people -- all people -- could live. In the meantime, while those who look to their religious texts as the absolute and final word on the truth -- their version of it -- and the true, only path to God, then nothing but strife, misery and hatred of one's fellow man can be the result.
 
In other words, when those who insist on employing a religious text as their support in order to lay claim on a monopoly of the true path to God or truth itself, evil invariably thrives. This is not an opinion on my part, but an observable and empirical fact.
 
A parting word of advice: If you are attempting to utilize the Bible as a history book, or a science book, or a geography book or even a math book, then you can expect nothing but frustration and disappointment. However, if you simply employ the Bible in order to establish a personal relationship with God, you can't go wrong. In short, the Bible can be inerrant if approached in a metaphorical sense. However, once literalism is applied then not only will the Bible become errant, it will be nothing else.
 

"Too many people use the Bible the way a drunk uses a lamp post -- for support rather than illumination."
--Reverend William Sloane Coffin