Reply to Was Adam the First Person to get to Heaven?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Adam and Eve is a hypothetical story, not factual. There are 2 creation stories and they are not combined.
The story is meant to be hypothetical and it is. 
[/quote]

+1. Exactly[/quote]

The minister in me has to bite my tongue all the time about the Bible.  I’m an Interfaith Hospice Chaplain so I work with people from all faith paths.  And none.  I get quizzed about this shi7 several times a month by family members.  I stay professional and respectful, but the fear these poor people have grown up with causes so much pain.  Especially when they are facing their death or the death of a loved one.

An early poster asked which parts of the Bible should be taken literally.  My answer is almost none of it.  (I want to emphasize this is my belief.) Scripture was written thousands of years ago in languages that we don’t even fully understand.  And it’s been translated and retranslated over and over again, mostly by men with a vested interest in the outcome of the translation. We have no evidence that Jesus ever wrote anything at all.  Scripture is important.  I love it! By studying sacred texts, we learn a lot about the people, the politics, the religious beliefs, history, and most importantly, ourselves and our Creator.  But it was never meant to be a science or a history text.

Jesus spoke in parables all the time.  Do you think he was really suggesting we shove a camel through the eye of a needle?  Or, was he explaining how important it is for us to guard against greed?  Do you really believe Jesus fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish?  Or was he teaching compassion, sacrifice, service, empathy, and love?

The writers of biblical scripture (and we can’t even prove definitively who they were) were using simple stories to explain complex spiritual truths.  They are scared stories.  We should read them and try to understand them.  But they are stories.  A more modern example is “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”.  No one believes a child was gobbled by a wolf.  But the story illustrates the Importance of honesty. And it does so powerfully because it is so simple. [/quote]

Do I think he was really suggesting we shove a camel through the eye of a needle? 
No, it was presented as a metaphor to illustrate how unlikely something was to occur - for a rich man to enter Heaven.
Matthew 19:16-28
Mark 10:17-31
Luke 18:18-30

Do I really believe Jesus fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish?
Yes, because it is presented as something that actually happened.
Matthew 14:13-21
Mark 6:31-44
Luke 9:10-17
John 6:1-15

If you don't believe Jesus could feed the five thousand, do you believe that he rose from the dead?

If you don't believe the books were divinely inspired and you don't believe in what they say, why do you believe they're sacred?

If the bible is only a collection of stories to teach us lessons, do you consider other such stories to be equally sacred?  The Boy Who Cried Wolf?  You say we can learn about our Creator from sacred texts (which doesn't appear to be limited to the Bible), but if you don't believe in what they say about the Creator, how can you learn about him from them?  In fact, if they're your only basis for the existence of a Creator, why do you believe there is one at all?  Your views seem inconsistent.[/quote]

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