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This sermon, titled “Eat This Book: It’s a Literal Meal,” navigates the complex dialogue between viewing the Bible as the literal word of God versus interpreting it with a blend of literalism and symbolism. It confronts the declining belief in the Bible as the literal word of God in the U.S., presenting statistical data to frame the conversation around modern perceptions of biblical authority.
Sermon Notes:
2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known
to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of
His majesty.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because
when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not
as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, …
Rule #5: All of the Bible is about Jesus
Rule #6: The Bible not only has to be Read, It has to be Interpreted
Rule #7: “A Text Taken out of Context is a Con”
Rule #8: Let the Bible interpret Bible
Rule #9: There is a Progressive Revelation in the Bible
Rule #10 Scripture is to be understood in its literal, normal, and natural sense.
Headline: Fewer in U.S. Now See Bible as Literal Word of God
20% of all U.S. adults believe it is the actual word of God
25% of Christian adults believe it is the actual word of God
49% of all U.S. adults belive it is the inspired word of God
58% of Christian adults believe it is the inspired word of God
29% of all U.S. adults believe it is an ancient book of fables
16% of Christian adults believe it an ancient book of fables.
30% of Protestants say that the Bible is literally true, compared with 15% of Catholics.
A record-low 20% of Americans now say the Bible is the literal word of God,
down from 24% the last time the question was asked in 2017, and down from 30%
of what it was in 2011.
This marks the first time significantly more Americans have viewed the Bible as
not divinely inspired than as the literal word of God.
1. THE BIBLE IS NOT AN ANCIENT BOOK OF FABLES.
2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known
to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of
His majesty.
Dear Dr Gott:
An infinitely wise God placed in Adam and Eve’s environment everything that
that was needed for optimum health. Because He did not place a rifle in Adam’s
hand or teach Eve how to build a trap, how did these two people capture moving
creatures to eat? It’s highly un- likely that Adam and Eve obtained enough vitamin
B12 from their skimpy diet of fruits and vegetables, Could they have suffered
vitamin deficiences?
Dear Reader:
Sure, anybody who fails to eat a well-balanced diet can suffer malnutrition and
vitamin deficiency. But don’t you think you are carrying this Adam and Eve thing
too far? It doesn’t take a theologian to conclude that much Biblical material is
symbolic not literal. No one has the faintest idea of what Adam and Eve ate
and that information is probably not important if, as I suspect the original man
and woman are symbols of an unsophisticated and primitive tribe that existed
without sin until its numbers became more human by obtaining knowledge–
a revolutionary and dangerous turn of events for the shaman and leaders
of such a culture.
Bill O’Reilly: “If you believe in Adam and Eve, there are a number of other things you
have to believe. You have to believe in incest because the race had to procreate
off the children that Adam and Eve had. If you believe in Adam and Eve, you
have to reject the science of evolution and carbon dating.”
Matthew 19:4 And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who
made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.”
The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Timothy 2:13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses …”
Exodus 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
Exodus 20:10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God …”
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it
2 Peter 3:8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as
a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day
John Schneider says “It’s time to face facts: There was no historical Adam and Eve,
no serpent, no apple, no fall that toppled man from a state of innocence.
Evolution makes it pretty clear that in nature, and in the moral experience of human
beings, there never was any such paradise to be lost, so Christians, I think, have
a challenge, have a job on their hands to reformulate some of their tradition about
human beginnings.”
2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known
to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of
His majesty.
2. THE BIBLE IS THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD, BUT NOT
EVERYTHING IN IT SHOULD BE TAKEN LITERALLY.
Revelation 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a
great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon
his heads.
Revelation 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did
cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready
to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
When the Bible uses the name Adam, it means a literal person named Adam and
not just a symbolic representative of the human race.
When the Bible uses the word “days” it means a literal 24-hour day and not a
symbolic representation of an era or an extended period of time.
When the Bible uses the word “devil” or “:Satan” it means a literal devil and not just
a symbolic representation of evil.
3. THE BIBLE IS THE ACTUAL WORD OF GOD AND IS TO BE
TAKEN LITERALLY, WORD FOR WORD.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because
when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not
as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, …
Genesis 3:1 “… the serpent said to the woman, “Has God said?”
1 Thessalonians 2:13 “… as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively
works in you who believe.
