Literal Bible?

Many who formally held to the authoritative and literalistic view of the Bible are becoming increasingly perplexed and unsatisfied with such un-biblical claims.

A "straight forward" literalistic reading of Scripture inevitably leads people to do immoral things that are against one's conscience and reasoning because of the literal idealistic approach of..."the Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it" is accepted without regard for its contextual context or a love for people. In doing so the Bible is read and judgement, condemnation and damnation is justified and considered godly. Reading the Bible from that perspective makes christianized people immoral and sometimes barbaric in actions, and wave the banner of Christianity proudly.

This presents a magnanimous problem. The Bible is supposed to make us respectable, moral, loving people...not sear our conscience causing us to be unloving and to commit immoral acts or teach that God commits immoral acts.

Pascal said, "Men never commit evil quite so gleefully and without restraint as when they do it in the name of religion."

One of the greatest evils committed by Bible literalists and defamation of God's character is presenting our loving Father God as a demented monster who knowingly created people knowing that the vast majority would spend eternity suffering untold agony in the torture chamber of hell fire, while the chosen few enjoy heaven's bliss. The turning  off of their brains and consciences is a sign...to them...they believe the Bible.

So when people are told of a God that is said to be loving...yet...condemns the vast majority of His creation to eternal damnation and suffering, they rightly become mistrustful about the Bible and the God the literalist portray, because they are moral beings. It's understandable in this context that the reaction of some is to simply discard the Bible has being a fictions horror story and God as an hateful monster.

The outcome of those literal concept of the Bible has led to some weird man-made theology and is the reason for a myriad of different segregated christian denominations all claiming the Bible to be their source of their "correct" doctrine.

We are told that letters without the Spirit are dead words because it is the Spirit that gives them life. The Word is not a book nor is the Word confined to a book.  The Word that became  living breathing flesh...by His Spirit now lives in us...not just among us!

Only people who refuse to live by the Spirit need to rely totally on a book to show and tell them how to live and what they think they should know.