When did mainstream Christians start to admit the bible's not 100% accurate scientifically or historically?

Question

Once, every single word was the word of God and people would be killed for saying otherwise.

Now, a lot of Christians say that humans made errors in writing it down, and it's the deeper meaning that's important- not the minute details that have no spiritual importance.

When did Christians start taking the bible not to literally?

Answer 1

I'd say the real turning point was in the mid 1800's, when another book came along (Darwin's "Origin of Species") that finally had more explaining power than the bible and its wild-eyed ramblings of a bunch of Bronze Age goatherders...

Answer 2

Opinions may have started to change with discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospels found in the Nag Hummadi Library among other archaeological findings. I do not think people take the Bible as anything less important that it was before some of these historical documents were found. If anything they have expanded upon and created a far reaching discussion of Christianity and the lives of those in that time. I think it has broadened our collective awareness of just how strong a foundation together we can achieve when all types of paths in and outside of Christianity come together in an attempt to understand just what these doctrine and gospels mean and what is being communicated by the authors that were not put in the Bible.

Answer 3

Where is it historically and scientifically inaccurate?

Where are there contradictions?



Most people only can point out 'contradictions' when they

A) take out only a single verse rather than the whole passage or book it was in

and

B) have to wildly interpret that verse



There is a considerable amount of scientific evidence that points to the existence of a God and even scientific evidence, believe it or not, that points to a young Earth rather than a older Earth.



In saying that, there is also considerable historical evidence that the God who exists is in fact Jesus Christ and that so-called 'prophets' like Mohammad and Joseph Smith are fakes.



But then again, if you are bent on there not being a God, then you will be blinded by bias when given the evidence.



Christianity is not about blind faith, God gave us clear and present evidence. Christianity is about faith in the truth.

Answer 4

If you study the bible you will find there are no contradictions in it. By study it I mean look at what you think to be a contradiction and research it some more. Research by reading other documents printed in or around that time period by historians etc. as well as in other scripture. Secondly the bible is the inspired word of God. No ifs ands or buts. Christians have always and will always take the bible literally. You are either misinformed or mistaken. God bless.

Answer 5

A true Christian believes the Bible to be the infallible word of the living God. If someone believes otherwise, then that person is calling God a liar.

I take the Bible literally. I believe it to be God's truth. It is not symbolic. It is not just a good example of how God would want us to act. It is God's word, given by men that were filled with the Holy Ghost.

People that say that the Bible is not accurate? Not the Body of Christ. False believers of a false God and a false Christ, that do not know the Holy Ghost, which is also God.



The Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is completely centered around Jesus Christ. All of it. It is about God's people, their origins, their heritage, their lineage, and their history. But their Messiah, Jesus Christ, is at the very center of it. The very heart of it. It all points to Him. It is to be taken very literally. To do otherwise is to put your very soul in danger.



You will know the true church, the Body of Christ, by those that BELIEVE in the words of Christ. Those that do not believe are not followers of Christ, but followers of themselves.

Answer 6

I don't know which ones are the mainstream Christians, but I've certainly never heard anything like that from posters on here. I've always thought the deeper meaning of the Bible was what was important, but I'm not a Christian.

Answer 7

When wolves in sheep's clothing crept in unawares, and when church leadership began standing as judge over God's Word instead of humbly bowing the knee to it.



There were some minor copying errors from scribes - a letter here and a letter there (VERY few discrepancies) - but when the manuscripts are studied collectively, we have an accurate picture of the original. As far as scientific and historical inaccuracies, I do not know of any. Do you? The Bible is not a science text, but in my studies I have found no claims of science which disprove the Bible.



Probably the strongest case that science has against the claims of Scripture is in the age of the universe. First of all, please be aware that not all paleontologists agree on the earth being billions of years old. One highly respectable authority who holds to a young universe theory is Dr. Kurt Wise who received his PhD from Harvard. There is also the strong possibility of gap in time of an undisclosed size between Gen 1:2 and Gen 1:3.



Regarding historical inaccuracies, I am certain that you won't find any.



Peace...



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I should add, as others have pointed out, that there are passages in Scripture which are obvious metaphors and allegories. Sound hermeneutics has to be applied when studying the Bible. God gave us brains, he wants us to use them. However, it is not wise to apply allegorical meaning to Scripture if a literal sense is implied in the text. This is part of what I meant when I said "standing as judge over God's Word". This method of interpretation allows the reader to assign about any meaning to the text that he wants. It can only lead to error.

Answer 8

As Salaam to you all,



To understand when Christians would even admit to there being inaccurate statements within the Bible, is when the ground opens up and eat them up. But realistically, when is a date known when it is not, all that we can say is that there are inconsistencies within the Bible, for example:



The Bible was only meant for the children of Israel, for that time. It is mentioned in the Gospel of Mathew, Ch. No. 10, Verse No. 5 and 6, Jesus Christ peace be upon him tells his disciples… 'Go ye not in the way of the Gentiles.' Who are the Gentiles? The Non-Jews, the Hindus, the Muslims 'But rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' Jesus Christ peace be upon him said in the Gospel of Mathew, Ch. No. 15, Verse No. 24… 'I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.' So Jesus Christ and the Bible, were only meant for the children of Israel. Since it was meant for them, to analyze the Bible, you have to use the meaning of the word, which was utilized at that time.



The creation of the Earth and the Heaven - the universe was in six, 24-hour days. Light was then before the source of light – In the beginning, 1st Book, Book of Genesis, 1st Ch., it is mentioned - It says… 'Almighty God created the Heavens and the Earth, in six days and talks about a evening and a morning, referring to a 24 - hour day. Today scientists tell us, that the universe cannot be created in a 24 hour period of six days. Light (Day) came into existence before creation of Earth. Bible says in Genesis Ch. No. 1 Verses No. 3 and 5,…'Light was created on the first day.' Genesis, Ch., 1 Verses, 14 to 19… 'The cause of light - stars and the sun, etc. was created on the fourth day'. How can the cause of light be created on the 4th day - later than the light which came into existence on the first day? - It is unscientific. Further, the, Bible says Genesis, Ch. 1, Verses 9 to 13… 'Earth was created on the 3rd day. How can you have a night and day without the earth ? The day depends upon the rotation of the Earth Without the earth created, how can you have a night and day?



Earth came into existence before the Sun. Genesis, Ch. No. 1 Verses 9 to 13 says… 'Earth was created on the third day.' Genesis Ch. No. 1 Verses 14 to 19 says…'The Sun and the Moon were created on the fourth day.' Today science tells us… 'Earth is part of the parent body… the sun.' It cannot come into existence before the sun – It is unscientific.



Vegetation came into existence, before sunlight The Bible says in Genesis, Ch. No.1, Verse No. 11 to 13…'The vegetation, the herbs the shrubs, the trees - they were created on the 3rd day And the Sun, Genesis, Ch. No. 1, Verses. 14 to 19, was created on the 4th day. How can the vegetation come into existence without sunlight, and how can they survive without sunlight?



Light of the Moon is its own light. That the Bible says in Genesis, Ch. 1, Verses No.16, that…'God created two lights the greater light, the Sun to rule the day, and the lesser light the Moon, to rule the night. The actual translation, if you go to the Hebrew text, it is 'lamps'…'Lamps having lights of its own.' And that you will come to know better, if you read both the Verses – Genesis, Ch. No.1, Verse. 16, as well as 17. Verse No.17 says…'And Almighty God placed them in the firmament, to give light to the earth… To give light to the earth.' Indicating, that Sun and the Moon has its own light - which is in contradiction with established scientific knowledge that we have.



The earth - Will it perish or will it abide forever? Regarding the concept of Earth, there are various Scientists who have described… 'How will the world end.' Hypothesis - Some may be right, some may be wrong. But either the world will perish or the world will live forever. Both cannot take place simultaneously – It is unscientific. But this is exactly what the Bible says. It is mentioned in the Bible, in the book of Hebrews, Ch. No.1 Verses No.10 and 11, and the book of Psalms, Ch. No.102, Verse No.25 and 26, that… 'Almighty God created the Heavens and the Earth, and they will perish.' Exactly opposite is mentioned in the book of Ecclesiastics, Ch. No.1, Verse No.4, and the book of Psalms, Ch. No.78, Verse No.69, that… 'The earth will abide forever.' One has to be unscientific - Both cannot take place. The world cannot abide forever as well as perish – It is unscientific.



Diet and Nutrition: 'You can have all plants and all vegetation, including the poisonous plants?' The Bible says in the book of Genesis, Ch. No.1, Verse No.29, that… 'God has given you all the herbs bearing seeds, the trees bearing fruits - those that bear seed, as meat for you.' New International Version says… 'The seed bearing plants, and the trees bearing fruits bearing seeds are food for you, all of them.' Today, even a layman knows that there are several poisonous plants like wild berries, stritchi, datura, plants containing alkaloid, polyander, bacaipoid - that which if you ingest, there are high possibilities you may die. How come the Creator of the universe and the human beings, does not know, that if you have these plants, you will die.



There are many more such items that can be levied towards Christianity and at the Bible, the work of man for man's own ends.



Wa Salaam

Answer 9

-I have not heard of mainstream Christians saying this. I have heard the concept of liberal theology tho. Put it this way, anyone belonging to the World Council of Churches is not relying on the Bible completely, and they do not speak for Mainstream Christians. They speak for feel-good Christianity. So, if your concerned, do some research to find a good Bible believing church. Many are out there.

Answer 10

There were errors and there are errors now. Words are what we decide they mean, as with the Queen of Hearts. The errors are part of language, many nuances here and there. But the main thrust of the Bible is the code for living a civilized life.

Answer 11

There are still lots of people who take it literally. As always it happens in stages. I would say though that it was probably around 1500 or so when Copernicus started to realize that the Sun was the center of the known universe and not the Earth.

Answer 12

As others have said, I think it's been since the Enlightenment in the 18th century, if not earlier. Only recently has there been a renewed literalism.



Certainly none of my Christian friends (who are in their 40s and 50s) take it literally. But then this is the UK. Perhaps things are different elsewhere?

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Answer 13

The true Church which Jesus Christ founded, which compiled the Bible and which alone has the authority to accurately interpret it, has never taken every individual word literally. That would be plain foolish. The first step in accurate exegesis is knowing what to take literally and what is meant to be figurative. No-one ever made a claim for absolute literality until Protestant fundamentalists came onto the scene in the 19th Century. They are the ones who claim to interpret the Bible literally. Of course they don't actually do so. Ask them what Christ meant when He took bread, blessed it and said "This Is My Body". Ask them why they still have both hands and both eyes when the Bible says to cut off your hand or pluck out your eye if it causes you to sin.

Answer 14

Today I reflected on the "resurrection" theme in the Bible and made the following findings to prove that the Bible was written by human beings just as smart more or less like any of us...



Nobody paid any attention to write anything about the resurrection of God the Son Jesus Christ until about 40 years later when most people who knew somebody who knew somebody else who heard about the “resurrection” passed away… Everybody else knew that Jesus is dead... even the Roman authorities! Only Saint Paul was spreading the news that he was alive…



Acts 25:19 Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.



Saint Paul's logic was based on the simplistic "FACT" of the resurrection of the dead, if not then vain is the Christian faith! And so on… Now if you don’t believe that the dead raise then forget about Jesus Christ! Isn’t that clever? Nobody can fool Mother Nature, I guess!



1 Corinthians 15:16 (NIV) For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.



Christians based their believe in the resurrection on Jesus teaching that a SEED MUST DIE to germinate and grow into a tree or plant… Anything that DIES IS DEAD!!! Period! Don’t teach kids in school that a seed MUST DIE to germinate!



John 12:24 (NIV) I* (*Jesus says) tell you the truth,* (*DUCK!) unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.



So good luck!

Answer 15

Thousands of years ago is your answer.



People have always doubted things in the Bible and argued over meanings of various words, themes, passages, books etc. What we have going on today is nothing new.

Answer 16

I'm not aware that any Christians are saying this. But if they were, I can see it's something that happens to alot of texts. Just look at how many revisions and alterations Darwin's "Origin of species" has gone through since the original text was written 150 years ago.

Answer 17

"When did Christians start taking the bible not to literally?"



It began with St. Origen in 220 AD. Please don't tell me your an atheist who's never researched a subject you're commenting on. There's enough of those as there is.





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Answer 18

seriously guys, cut the crap! you all knew the bible has been altered countless times, even by the POPE!!!! all the controversial stories back from the time of Constantine, till present! its all fake, their WAS however a true bible, but it is lost now! you guys seriously r messing up your own religion!! wen did jesus ever say he was God in flesh!!!! and wen it SAYS clearly in your commandments not to make idols or pictures for WHATVR reason, which means NO JUSTIFICATIONS will make it ok, u still continue to do so!! bloody hypocrites r wt u all r an immature an its all because of AMERICA! no wonder u dorks got bombed!!

Answer 19

because people take the Bible to litterally. we need to look at the things in the bible not only litterally but also in a symbolic way

Answer 20

Your question is not based on fact. There are those who have done as you say - not Christians as a whole. But to answer your question - Whenever those who do and have done as you say grew weak in their faith and teid to apply their own logic to things they don't understand.

Answer 21

Any one that states that is probably not a true Christian! If any part of the Bible is false then the whole thing is, No one has shown it to be in error yet!

Answer 22

Hmm, I wasn't aware the Bible shouldn't be taken literally...

Answer 23

When they read the part where God told parents to bring in their rebellious teenage son and have him executed.



Deuteronomy 21:21

Answer 24

True Christians will never dilute the word of God, or start to question its meaning or accuracy!!

Answer 25

Its never happend. THen they are not Christians or once were.

Answer 26

Mainstream Christianity declares the Bible to be inerrant so I think you're fishing rather than asking.

Answer 27

In the 1930's thanks to the archaeologists Leonard Woolley and the likes.

Answer 28

When people started getting smarter.



Might as well get your moral lessons from Dr. Seuss

Answer 29

It came in as the church began to slip away from God into the apostacy of the last days. That was predicted 2,000 years ago and is happening now.

Answer 30

They are not mainstream Christians who are saying this. They are counterfeit Christians.

Answer 31

When we studied it and figured that it is more symbolic than anything.

Answer 32

Too many contradictions and obvious falsehoods in it.