The comments keep on coming, so… reposted to the top AGAIN
28 Percent Believe the Bible Is Literally True
A little more than one quarter of Americans believe the Bible is the literal word of God, down 10 percentage points since 1976.
According to a recent survey by the Gallup Poll, 28 percent of Americans believe the Bible is literally true, compared to 38 percent 30 years ago. The survey was conducted among 1,002 adults, aged 18 or older. Nearly half, 49 percent, said the Bible was the “inspired word of God,” while 19 percent called it an “ancient book of fables.” Only 3 percent had no opinion.
Literal belief in the Bible was highest among older Americans (36 percent), those with lowest levels of education (39 percent), Southerners (39 percent), Republicans (33 percent), and Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians (37 percent).
Should career Christians (clergy, church administrators, etc.) be concerned about this downward trend? Probably not if they are close to retirement. :-)
Cripes!
Another anti-christian post by our buddy…
Cripes!
I’m surprised this hasn’t been moved to the Cage Match… [grin]
This just goes to show that STUPIDITY, not hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe!
I find it very intriguing that the same people that take the strongest stands against the bible have never read it.
It’s like saying, “That movie sucks!” and you have never seen it for yourself.
Believe me, you can not read that book for very long without having your concious changed.
And if you have read a descent amount word for word, you probably did so with a closed heart and rendered change impossible.
The Bible is true, nothing God does is unfair. For those who are confused about some people posting God constitutes genocide, there is a clear explanation in the bible, and whoever says such things about God should be very careful!
Deuteronomy 9:4
4 After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you.
I’ve read some of it…
On the permanence of the earth:
“… the earth abideth for ever.” — Ecclesiastes 1:4
“… the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” — 2Peter 3:10
On seeing God:
“… I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” — Genesis 32:30
“No man hath seen God at any time…”– John 1:18
On dealing with someone that has hurt you:
“…thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ” — Exodus 21:23-25
“…ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” — Matthew 5:39
I could go on. The point is that you don’t have to read every word of a book to know it isn’t true. And you certainly don’t have to watch Bio-Dome to know it’s a steaming pile.
66 Believe me, you can not read that book for very long without having your concious changed.
And which version of “that book” should I read?
http://www.bible-researcher.com/links02.html
Should I just pick one at random?
Jim (45) you prove my point (yay – lets have fundies and librals gang up on the wishy-washy center …) for the Bible to have value, it must be taken literally, or it is of no more import than Aesop’s fables … If you say parts of it are metaphorical, how do you decide which points? what happens if the Ressurection, or Salvation, or God, or Heaven are myths? metaphorical? why follow Christianity’s moral code (oh wait, I forget, the liberalized Christians dump the moral code first …) Without a literal interpretation of the Bible, the Church degenerates into little more than a glorified social club. Sure, I accept the fact that one can argue that the Bible isn’t true, and thus Christianity is false – that’s their belief, and it can’t be disproved, but please spare me the idea that the Bible is just a huge metaphor, and that Christianity should just believe the metaphor – there’s nothing there to believe. – and Mike (61) sure, Scripture is meant to be sole authority, and clergy the professionals who interpret it (some of these people have PhD’s and make it their lives works to study Scripture – just in case anyone wants to ding me for saying “professionals”) – the problem is in following clergy (fallible men) to the exclusion of the Scriptures (infallible)
Does it really matter? I mean churches are going to interpret the Bible in a manner that benefits them. Is it really surprising that our self-centered self absorbed society(including the church) will do just about anything to justify their actions by quoting the Bible. So between Catholics and the numerous protestant churches….I doubt it will ever be decided( and accepted by all) whether the Bible is fiction or not or a little of both.
The confusion of Fundies and Christians is intentional by the Fundies. It is not helped by people ID-ing themselves as “Christians”, as tho that clears up any confusion.
American Fundamentalist Literalist Dominionism. That’s the proper string of adjectives to describe what we rightly mock. They dismiss science, dearly wish for the world to end and the unbelievers to burn in hell — especially the Jews in Israel who are scheduled for the Lake of Fire after the battle on the plain — and they are intolerant and determined to establish their rather weird sect of Christianity as the Christian Dominion over America. They also loathe gays and have a big problem with sex and foreigners. Let’s not start up on the fact that it sprung out of the post-Civil War south and all that racist baggage they carry as well.
Their words, not mine: Dominion. Americans really have no idea how deeply they have penetrated the executive branch of the government. They are effectively in power. They badly need the cleansing sunlight to shine on their activities without fear or let. I’ve no wish to live in the United States of Jesus, watching my military prep for Armageddon.
Also, people who believe the world will end Real Soon do not, really, do NOT care about pollution or global warming. The Bible doesn’t mention either happening in Revelations, so they don’t believe the world can end that way. Having them in power is a roadblock to Saving the World, no joke.
We still have over 100,000 nuclear weapons, and now have contracted for more for the first time in 20 years. Do you want people who want the end of the world to have 100K+ nukes?
WOW! at people that do not understand the Bible taking everything out of context. at 67
On the permanence of the earth:
“… the earth abideth for ever.” — Ecclesiastes 1:4
This is true, the earth will abide forever.
“… the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” — 2Peter 3:10
This is referring to when Jesus returns and everything natural as we know it will be gone. We will no longer be flesh bodies but spiritual bodies. The names that are written in the book of life will live with God on earth after this occurs.
Believe what you want but its the truth. If you ever are confused or think God is going against himself you have to ask Him for a better meaning and he will give it to you.
#66 Jamel, the passage you quoted from Deuteronomy is really quite a good example. In order to characterize the Hebrew god as fair, you have to accept at face value the concept of an enemy nation that is ENTIRELY wicked. Otherwise, innocent people were being killed or banished, and that’s offensive to many people in a modern society.
Faith requires you to believe assertions that, if examined outside the realm of religion, would seem quite ludicrous, and this is one of those cases. The Bible is filled with similar incidents of mass punishment (often death, as in the great flood) for guilt that couldn’t possible extend to every member of the target population. The irony is that an omnipotent god would be able to kill with precision, only targeting the truly guilty.
And just so we’re clear about the punishment Deuteronomy envisions, the verse right before your quotation says, “so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee.” So you believe that either killing or driving every man, woman, child and infant out of their homeland was somehow fair and justified? I disagree.
Now, maybe people can understand more clearly why it’s important to keep religion out of government. I hope you are never in a position to impose your bizarre, twisted sense of Biblical justice within America’s legal system.
69 the problem is in following clergy (fallible men) to the exclusion of the Scriptures (infallible)
Which is directly related to the point I was trying to make in 68…
Most Christians I’ve listened to speak of “scripture” as if there was only one, universally-accepted version.
My point in 61 was that they also speak of “Christianity” as a single religion, vice an aggeregate of numerous denominationy.
I just thought of something – purely pragmatically, those arguing against Christianity have the most to lose. Either I am right, and the Bible is literally true, or you are right, and it isn’t. Well, if I’m the one in the wrong, then the only real negative effect to me is that I will be riduculed (as in this comment stream) and then die, and it will be over. If I am right, the rest of you end up burning in Hell for eternity … I mean, not the greatest argument for the faith, but I really don’t have anything to lose by sticking up for it, while your eternal destiny depends on the answer to this question. Just a thought.
Bruce IV,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_wager
KB
That whole idea is absurd.So let us all be “fake” or better yet scared believers so that just in case…we wont burn forever. God would really approve of that. Hopefully people arent this weak minded.
Hamgri, you have misinterpreted my post. I was just giving Bruce IV (#76) an FYI. Got it? I wasn’t defending Pascal’s Wager.
I didnt assume you agreed Pascal…sorry should have used your link instead of name. Just commenting on the theory. All’s good 🙂
Hamgri, understood. Thanks!
#60: “I hadn’t realized the world of superstition was so concerned with dignity. Especially watching some of your “leaders” prancing around in action.”
We Christians know of no other leader but Jesus Christ. Nobody ELSE is qualified to lead us. One guy thought he could be until he turned out to be a demon. Sooner or later, those who reject God will become demons in one way or another.
LOL — I’ve always said, “The family that reaffirms Pascal’s Wager together, stays together.”
I wasn’t saying you have to be fake (78) – I was just attempting to analyse the alternate motivations in this comment stream … I should have stayed out of it, I’m no shrink … and thank you for the link KB, quite interesting …
Bruce…I was only commenting on Pascals theory..thats all….nothing meant towards you or what you posted 🙂
Bruce IV, you’re welcome. Thought you might find it interesting.
Gary Marks, you are evil. 😉
I think this is so good news that it deserves another REPOSTED TO TOP BY DEMAND. It’s good. Maybe we’re evolving to the better after all?
Since it is thanks to me according to KB (#57) that this post was reposted and I have not made a comment since then. I felt I should make at least one more comment.
The article this post references says that “Older Americans grew up in a time where the Bible was more culturally relevant”. There was a time that the Bible was used as a primer in schools and its tenets were considered to be important for living an abundant and fulfilled life. Since then the Bible has been completely taken out of the schools. Teen pregnancies, drug use, abortions, suicides and a host of other horrible tendencies have increased dramatically. Since then the Ten Commandment displays in courthouses and other displays of Christian heritage in public places have been challenged by groups like the ACLU, and society continues on its downward spiral. Can we really say that the Bible is not culturally relevant today? I say it’s more relevant than ever.
What I don’t understand is, “What is so threatening about the Bible when it holds with things like loving your neighbor and treating everyone with compassion”?
We can argue semantics until the day we die and we probably will. That’s ok but only after the core issues have been addressed.
Those core issues are these:
Have you given your life to Jesus Christ?
Have you accepted the offer of salvation that Jesus Christ offers to EVERYONE?
If you haven’t then you have to ask yourself a few more questions.
Do I really understand the implications of not making that decision?
Do I realize that if I choose not to decide I still have made a choice?
If you don’t understand, please, let me direct you to a scripture that is one of the most important in the entire Bible.
Romans, Chapter 10, verse 9
If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, then you will be saved.
If you still have questions about these things you can find everywhere someone that can help you. After these important issues are addressed, then worry about the meaning of the rest of the Bible. Then maybe we can get back to the percentages we had in the 70’s, or even higher.
#88 PcMonster, arguing for the continuing cultural relevance of the Bible, says “What is so threatening about the Bible when it holds with things like loving your neighbor and treating everyone with compassion?”
The problem is, those aren’t the lessons being drawn from the Bible in today’s “Christian” culture. Only TRUE Christians find those lessons of love and compassion, but true Christians are in the minority. Unfortunately, most advocates of the Bible are far more fond of using it to support harsh judgement of those who don’t live according to cherry-picked scriptures. Meanwhile, they easily ignore their own transgressions of other Biblical principles that they don’t honor. Today’s Bible-thumpers tend to preach condemnation and, dare I say, sometimes even hatred. Historically, this has often been the case, so I’m not at all surprised, but it would be a shame to see that climate fostered in the schools.
Your attempt to link the removal of the Bible from schools with America’s cultural decline doesn’t hold up well, and statistics don’t always tell the tale you want them to. Since you mentioned teen pregnancy, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, between 1991 and 2000 the pregnancy rate for young teenagers 15-17 years dropped 29 percent, and the rates for ages 15-19 years and 15-17 years in 2000 were at all-time lows.
Hmmm, what happened in the 90’s that caused such an improvement in our young teen pregnancy rates? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t studying the Bible in school. And even with our reduced rates, we’re still highest (chant we’re #1, we’re #1) among the 30 industrialized countries in the OECD (UK is 2nd). The 5 lowest rates were in Korea, Japan, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Sweden. I’m pretty sure most of those countries don’t teach Bible study in their schools, either. It’s always fun to watch people try to make these connections when I don’t have a good movie to watch instead. Peace and love be with you.
You are correct in your quoted statistics about teen pregnancy in the1990’s.
I made a mistake and meant to state that “unwed” teen pregnancies increased sharply. Again my mistake for not clarifying that the rise of the aforementioned problems increased starting in 1962 when the bible, or more specific prayer, was taken out of the schools, not in the 90’s.
I am glad that you agree at least with my quoting of the scriptures about the core issues that should be addressed before debating all of these things. I assume you agree with them because you didn’t make a point to disagree with them.
If those fundamental issues are not dealt with and agreed upon then there is no point in debating anything else because it wouldn’t make any difference to you anyway.
Remember,
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of WISDOM: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endures for ever.
Psalms 111, v10
Without unnaltered, literal, reference as support for your arguments you have no credibility.
PcMonster, you said “Since then the Bible has been completely taken out of the schools. Teen pregnancies, drug use, abortions, suicides and a host of other horrible tendencies have increased dramatically.”
You have offered no support whatsoever for your claims, so naturally Gary Marks check it out the first example “teen pregnancies”, and behold, it’s not true. PcMonster’s excuse? He meant to say ““unwed” teen pregnancies”. Still nothing to back it up.
Where is the source your official statistics for all your claims, and where is your evidencce that removal of the bible had anything at all to do with them. Your assertion implies that nothing else significant happened to American teens, directly or indirectly, since 1962.
I guess if you can believe that then you can believe anything.