Is the bible literal or metaphorical?

Yes. It is both, depending on what you are reading.

Well, at the very least, it is partly literal. It could also be metaphorical, but it is only fair to say that since none of us existed in that time, that there is technically no way to assess its validity. However, the bible has proven the test of historical time so at least part of it is, in fact, literal. With that said, I do not personally think every single piece of the bible is literal. Here is another dilemma; were the stories that Jesus told stories of actual people or metaphors within themselves? Even if the stories he told did not literally happen, they could have been recorded literally from what he spoke so the bible would be literally, even if the words of its characters are not.

For the big questions like Creation, Noah's global flood, Moses speaking to God through a burning bush, the virgin birth, the rise of Jesus from mortal death, etc..., those are things that are likely to be taken as literal by Christians and probably not literal by others (the Creation story in the bible would obviously be the same for Jews, etc. too...).

Often people have the misconception that the bible and modern science disagree with each other. Don't forget, however, that this could very easily be the part where the Bible becomes a metaphor and God created the Earth, or set its creation in motion, over many billions of years. In my opinion, the God that science says we must now have to explain our complex world makes God all that much more powerful.

The other problem is this. Obviously we as humans see no means outside of God for these things to happen (except maybe a flood) so it's easy to ride them off as metaphors or untruths by those who don't believe. For those who do believe, they see a God who is not just fooling around with people, but a God who is literally injecting Himself into our lives whether we choose to acknowledge him or not. Some even believe in some being literal and others not. Many believe God created everything but he wouldn't endow a virgin with a child because it's "not possible". Well if God made everything, doesn't he make the rules? That's getting a little off subject so I'll cut it off there.

In the end, at least some is literal because it is a historical book. As for the "unbelievable" things, that’s a road you'll have to go down yourself and decide.

If the Bible were merely metaphorical, problems will arise with the reading.

Starting right up in Genesis, we need to ask what does the tree with the forbidden fruit represent? What does the serpent represent? If eating of the forbidden fruit is only a metaphorical statement, then the fall of man is also only metaphorical, and this puts "sin" into a totally different category, denigrating it to something more or less as a mistake. But if that is the case, why would Jesus have to die on the cross? The entire New Testament gets thrown out the window since it is based on the life of Jesus Christ as the Son of God - God incarnate in flesh - and His ultimate sacrifice for said "sins" (or should I say "mistakes"?).

No, the Bible MUST be taken literally, or NOTHING makes sense. Everything becomes conjecture and opinion, and nobody is right or wrong. There are no morals to stand on, and all we can say is that something happened, without commenting on the morality of it, from war to child molestation - no moral absolutes, and no such thing as a "crime", if "sin" is merely a "mistake", in which case NOTHING is wrong!

Depends on which parts of the Bible you are talking about. It contains many kinds of literature in the 66 books that make it up.

Some, like the book of Psalms, are poetry - lyrics for songs. So they speak of things in a poetic and allegorical way, and are intended to be taken as poetry.

Others like the book of Proverbs have a series of "wise sayings". Those make use of litery devices like hyperboles (overstating something to make a point), sarcasm, metaphors, compare and contracts, etc. The average person reading the book honestly can tell when the statement is "literal" and when it is a "figure of speech".

The Bible records various visions and dreams that different people had. The dreams are obviously methaphors, with cows eating each other and women in baskets flying throught the sky. But at the same time the Bible is literal that the prophet actually had the metaphorical dream.

When the Bible is telling something as a historical event, then it is to be taken as historically literal. Within the literal event, they people may speak using a metaphor or other figure of speech. But that is normally obvious in the context.

So there are parts of the Bible intended to be understood as literal history. And there are parts of the Bible which are poetry or other literary types, and intended to be understood as such.

Usually the average reader, if he is honest and thoughful about what he is reading, can tell which is which.

What the old saying, "if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck". In the Bible if it looks, sounds and acts like "history", then it is probably to be taken as literal history. If it looks sounds and acts like a metaphor, then it is probably intended to be a metaphor.

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I'm agnostic, but here's the deal: of course the Bible is metaphor. Garden of Eden, Noah's Ark, parting of Red Sea, Sodom & Gomorrah, Virgin Birth, Lazarus rasied from the Dead, etc. But we have to remember that those stories were all told by a group of semi-nomadic, largely illiterate people living 2000 years ago. They were simply using metaphor and allegor and symbolism to convey as best they could their understanding of God. So yes, they ARE a bunch of stories, if you want to over-simplify like that, but the big question is: what compelled them to go to such lengths to create such myths? And why would Jesus' disciples risk death--and incur death--if they thought he was a fake? After his death they could have simply disbanded, yet they continued on. To me--the reasons for the stories are more important than the literal accuracy. To read the Bible like a history book is to totallt miss the point!

The Bible is written as literal history. Each writer who mentions previous scripture (Matt. 19, Heb. 11) understands everything to be literal history.

There are some places that mention allegorical meaning (Gal. 4:24), but the historicity of the account is still maintained.

There are other places where the Bible speaks symbolically, but when it does this, it tells you that it's doing it, and then gives a basis interpretation - Rev. 17 for example.

The Bible is a supernatural Book, but for basic interpretation, it is to be understood as any other peice of literature. You take into account the historical and cultural context. You try to determine the meaning of the writer to the original audience. Then you derive modern applications from the original meanings.

The Bible isn't really as difficult as some make it out to be. It only becomes that way when you start trying to use it prove something that you already believe instead of trying to learn what it says in the entirety of its context.

I go to a Christian school, where we have one 40 minute lesson almost every school day. Somedays we may have extra chapels, etc.

But they've always taught us that it is literal, that the Bible isn't a story, but a journal of events that really did occur.

(ie: The sea really did part in front of them. Not metaphorically, but literally the sea parted and a dry pathway was made straight ahead of them.)

But I can't see how the sea, being as BIG and uncontrollable as it is, would seperate creating a pathway at the presence of one man (Jesus), so my belief is that the Bible is metaphorical. But who am I to say what happened millions of years before I was even considered, or what will happen in millions of years to come when I will have been forgotten, and who am I to say that God did not create us in steps, but we(as earth-lings, hahaha) just appeared from nothing. Nothing being no darkness, no existance, no thoughts etc. They are as equally as believable to me, so it's hard to decide if the Bible is real, or which religion is 'real'. It all depends on your faith and what you see as 'believable'.

So really, who knows? Nobody, nobody knows.

Just to be picky, I think allegorical is a better word. Metaphor is saying something like "her heart is a stone". There are metaphors in the Bible, like Jesus saying he is a vine and we are the branches, but the stories, like the flood, are allegories. Allegory is telling a story that makes a point. Pilgrim's Progress is a good example. Being married to a priggish Brit has made me overly picky. :-)

Archaeological evidence actually fits with the historical record of the Bible. One problem regarding this in mainstream archaeology is that the chronologies are based on some wrong old assumptions which are conventionally entrenched. There is also a strong bias in seeing the Bible as unreliable and mythical, at least in some places, although other ancient records are often taken as reliable.

When prophecies are given in the Bible they often are couched in poetic language where symbols are used to represent literal truths that will come to pass. So when you read them you are looking at "word pictures" and not reading a report like you might hear on the news.

Only the Holy Spirit is the true interpreter. So, we can't say either way. Let the Holy Spirit interprets for you to understand the truth and to see the light that is within the Holy Words of God.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Therefore, only those that were truly filled with the Holy Ghost can understand and see the things that God has written for us to know!

Deu 29:29 The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Job 15:8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?

Psa 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.

Pro 3:32 For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

Isa 48:16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

Amo 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.