I’ve been in Bible study at my too-conservative church for 3 weeks now, and for the first time, I’m hearing people feel out contradictions in the Bible.

For people who believe the Bible is verbotim, that is, that each and every story in actually happened, this is somewhere between devastating & scary to terribly confusing.

I do not, however, take it that way. Even if the Bible is the inerrant word of God, why does it have to be literal?

Let’s take the story of Noah. Forget that it’s kind of technically impossible, or that there’s no scientific evidence, or even that it could have happened on a small scale (a riverbed overflowing a coastal town, all the animals owned by Noah’s family on the ark, etc.). What about the idea of the much older, Sumerian tale about a man named Noah, a shipbuilder, who packed all his animals on an ark to flee a town? Or that every culture has it’s own “world destroyed by flood story”?

So when inconsistencies are seen by literal believers, it’s a big deal.

I’m not a literal believer, and yet, I’m more of a true believer day by day. There is a reason for this. I’m a fiction writer and a fan of intelligent literature. (Example: I am thoroughly loving “Middlemarch” by George Eliot right now, and “To Kill A Mockingbird” is one of my favorite books.) As such, I do think that great literature can teach us many important truths. I work better with intelligent answers and responses, so it’s true for me.

For me, the use of metaphor is more beautiful and can better illustrate abstract concepts. I realize that the Bible was written in times when people were illiterate and learned with stories. I’m not saying I’m dumb, what I am saying is that the ability of our 3-dimensional minds can better grasp the deeper truth of the Divine with an illustration.

It’s like fine art. Some people will only see the surface painting, others will grasp an emotion, and still others can eloquently speak on what the painter was trying to convey…all while like at the same painting. I feel it’s the same with literature, and equally, the same with spiritual truths. What you get from the Bible depends on where you are at in your walk with God.

What’s your take?