Should scripture be taken literal....

[JMP]

or is it symbolic. Is it literal in some places and symbolic in others? Who determines this? In JOHN Jesus said we must "eat his flesh and drink his blood". This surely isn't to be taken literal.

[Paul R. Burkett]

You are correct in this, because many of the things that are taught by Jesus were parables that the people could relate to as well as some other authors. The problem we often have is knowing and understanding their ways of life and the customs that permeated the daily lives of those written of. But with an open mind and a lot of studying, you will be able to understand many things that scientists and archiologists are now proving to be true. Also we need to understand that much of the bible is history,some good and some of it quite suprising, but once you see how it is all pieced togather, you will also see the continuity between the old and new testements. Our understandings are based , often times, on our view of life, sometimes we need to understand things from their perspective and what was going on at the time. So study, study ,study.