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  • Literal interpretation of the bible?

    From GB@NOTsomeone@microsoft.invalid to uk.religion.christian on Thu Apr 2 12:57:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

    I'm curious how people here interpret God's promises to Abraham in
    Genesis 22:17 and 26:4?

    "I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars"

    "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the
    stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore."


    The best estimate of the number of stars in the universe is a million
    million million million (10^24) so we can safely say that we are many
    orders of magnitude away from that.

    How about visible stars? Maybe around 2500. It depends on visual acuity
    and light pollution. That number's been well exceeded - by several
    orders of magnitude.

    But, in the same sentence, that number is compared to the trillions of
    grains of sand on the beach?

    As poetry, it makes perfect sense. "Your offspring will be so numerous
    as to be uncountable." That's fair enough. But, if you insist on a
    literal interpretation of the bible, how do you deal with it?



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  • From Timreason@timreason@hotmail.co.uk to uk.religion.christian on Thu Apr 2 17:31:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

    On 02/04/2026 12:57, GB wrote:
    I'm curious how people here interpret God's promises to Abraham in
    Genesis 22:17 and 26:4?

    "I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars"

    "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the
    stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore."


    The best estimate of the number of stars in the universe is a million million million million (10^24) so we can safely say that we are many
    orders of magnitude away from that.

    How about visible stars? Maybe around 2500. It depends on visual acuity
    and light pollution. That number's been well exceeded - by several
    orders of magnitude.

    But, in the same sentence, that number is compared to the trillions of grains of sand on the beach?

    As poetry, it makes perfect sense. "Your offspring will be so numerous
    as to be uncountable." That's fair enough. But, if you insist on a
    literal interpretation of the bible, how do you deal with it?


    Not a problem for me, as I certainly do not take the Bible 100% literally.

    But to be fair, I expect that most people accept that it's just meant to
    mean "So many you couldn't count them".

    The question really boils down to (for most people) which bits are
    literal, and which bits are poetic?

    Tim.




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  • From Kendall K. Down@kendallkdown@googlemail.com to uk.religion.christian on Thu Apr 2 21:08:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

    On 02/04/2026 12:57, GB wrote:

    As poetry, it makes perfect sense. "Your offspring will be so numerous
    as to be uncountable." That's fair enough. But, if you insist on a
    literal interpretation of the bible, how do you deal with it?
    I can't speak for every literalist, but those I know recognise that
    there are not only different types of literature in the Bible, but that
    the Bible uses parables, figures of speech, metaphors, similes and so
    on. It is only things like history or geography which must be taken
    literally - and then only when not clearly a figure of speech.

    Thus I have no doubt that Gideon really existed, but I do not - and
    never have - thought that the trees ever elected a king for themselves,
    as described by Gideon's son.

    Incidentally, I have never tried counting the stars, but standing out in
    the desert of Iraq and looking up at the sky where the stars seem close
    enough to reach up and touch, "uncountable" would certainly spring to mind.

    God bless,
    Kendall K. Down
    --
    This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
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  • From Kendall K. Down@kendallkdown@googlemail.com to uk.religion.christian on Thu Apr 2 21:09:56 2026
    From Newsgroup: uk.religion.christian

    On 02/04/2026 17:31, Timreason wrote:

    The question really boils down to (for most people) which bits are
    literal, and which bits are poetic?
    As the forms of Hebrew poetry are pretty well known, the problem is not
    as great as you pretend. Thus there is no doubt that Psalms 23 is poetry
    and Genesis 1 is prose and history.

    God bless,
    Kendall K. Down
    --
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    www.avg.com



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