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Question: Should we take the Bible literally? Some say yes, some
say no. If yes, what about discoveries science has made? If no, how
do we know what's literal and what isn't? 

Intro: The Bible was written to be understood (Eph. 5:17). Context
must be considered. (cf. Rom. 5:12/1 Cor. 15.).
     There is a logical and an illogical use of scripture. Matt.
22:29-32; Mt. 4:5-7.

1. The Bible does contain figures of speech.
     a. Contains figures that we use in everyday life. Written so
that ordinary people can understand them. Does not in any way take
away from the inspiration and accuracy of scripture (2 Tim.
3:16,17). We must have the same view of scripture that Jesus did
(Matt. 22).
          1) Track: He runs just like lightning. Does this mean his
speed is 186,000 mph? Or that he lit up the sky? Just emphasizes
that he is fast.

     b. Examples:
          1) Mt. 23:27 Pharisees were like unto whited sepulchers
(Matt. 23:26) (simile)
               a) Like if you have two boxes. You understand what
box A is, but you don't understand box B. You could say box B is
like box A. A comparison, a simile.
          2) Often did this in teaching on kingdom of heaven. "Is
like unto": (Cf. Matt. 13) (Parables)
               a) cf. v.44: Point: value of kingdom.
          3) Metaphor (John 10) Door/ Shepherd.

          4) Allegory
               a) Gal. 4: two women, representing two covenants.
          5) Metonomy (1 Cor. 11) Container for the contents. Pot
boils.
          6) Part for the whole (synecdoche) Acts 20:7.
(E.W. Bullinger: Figures of speech Used in the Bible p.1104)


2. If yes, what about the discoveries of science? 
     a. This question poses a problem where there is none.
     b. The caller did not leave any examples of passages that must
be modified or reexamined in light of science.
          1) I wonder if what was meant was the kind of thing found
in Matt. 5:45 "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for
He MAKES HIS SUN RISE ON THE EVIL AND ON THE GOOD"...or Luke 4:40:
"Now when the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with
various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on
everyone of them and healed them."  Someone may object and say that
the Bible is unscientific because we all know that the earth moves
around the sun, not the sun around the earth.
               a) Of course, Jesus who made the sun and the earth,
knew that too. Just yesterday evening I made the same statement. I
was not lectured to about how ignorant and unscientific I was.
     c. Science has not, and will not, come up with anything that
contradicts the Bible. God is the author of both!
          1) Moses told the Israelites that the life of the flesh
is in the blood (Lev.17:11-14) But it wasn't known in George
Washington's day. He was bled to death through the blood-letting
process.
          2) The Bible affirms that the earth is wearing out
(Isa.51:6; Psa.102:26; Heb.1:11). This is precisely what the 2nd
law of Thermodynamics says.
          3) Isaiah said, in speaking of God, "It is he who sitteth
upon the circle of the earth" (40:22). Until relatively recently,
it was generally thought that the earth was flat. But informed
people will not charge the Bible with teaching that. 
          4) Moses wrote that all things reproduce "after their
kind" (Gen. 1:11ff). The science of genetics wasn't instituted
until around the year 1900.

     d. Though the Bible is not a book on science, it is
scientifically accurate. 


3) So far as how we know what's literal and what isn't, the key to
that is the context of the passage under consideration.
     a) A basic rule is that a words must be understood in their
literal sense unless the context demands a figurative or spiritual
connotation.










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