When you hear the word "myth" associated with the Bible, what is the first thought that comes to your mind?
Many use the term myth in a pejorative sense to mean that the stories described are not factually true. Others define myth as non-historical tales that contain a moral message. Both of these definitions miss the richness of the term. Mythology is a form of literature that expresses fundamental truths in a way that ordinary discourse is inadequate to describe. The stories that make up the myths are often anchored in some historical reality, but this need not be so. Mythology adds a richness of detail and a concreteness to metaphorical language. Reading Biblical stories as mythology gives me the freedom to understand their underlying meaning in a way I never did when I was taught as a child that these stories were factually true.
Why do most modern scholars reject a reading of the Bible as history much less as literal fact?
1. In an age of science and technology, too much of the Bible is simply unbelievable to today's mind and turns people away from the underlying messages. From a scientific standpoint, many of the "facts" in the Bible are simply wrong. One of many examples: according to Genesis, the universe is just over 6000 years old. According to physics, the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago.
2. Many of the stories are also scientifically impossible, like the tale of Joshua stopping the sun moving across the sky. This story assumes (as was the thinking then) that the earth was flat and was at the center of the universe. We simply know this to be false. Second, for the sun to stop would mean that the earth would have to cease rotating on its axis -- an event which would destroy the planet.
3. For many of the miracle stories, natural explanations exist. The authors of these stories lived in an age when people believed that solar eclipses were divine omens, disease was divine punishment, and mental illness was caused by demon possession. In the case of Jesus, healing was an important part of his ministry. However, today we can find faith healers in Haiti who practice voodoo and in tribal Africa who practice witchcraft. Many of these modern-day faith healers have patients who are actually healed by these practices. Doctors call this the placebo effect, an effect so powerful that drugs must undergo double blind experiments.
4. Some of the mythological stories in the Bible are not original, but were borrowed from other traditions. The Epic of Gilgamesh -- a Sumerian poem detailing the creation of the universe that predates the writings of Genesis by many centuries -- contains a flood story whose plot points are almost identical to the story of Noah.
5. The other world religions also contain rich histories of mythology and fantastical sounding (to us) stories. On what basis can we Christians claim that our miracle stories are legitimate, yet theirs are flights of fancy? The mythology surrounding the Buddha, who lived 500 years before Jesus, includes tales of how he healed the sick, walked on water, and flew through the air. His birth was foretold by a spirit (a white elephant rather than the angel Gabriel) who then entered his mother's womb! At his birth, wise men predicted that he would become a great religious leader. Twentieth-century scholars Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell wrote that certain archetypal religious myths are found across cultures, histories, and religions. Examples include the Cosmic Tree, the Virgin BIrth, and The Resurrection.
6. The Bible itself is full of inconsistencies. How can it be an accurate historical record, when the various books contradict each other? Here is UNC Religion Professor Bart Ehrman:
"Just take the death of Jesus. What day did Jesus die on and what time of day? Did he die on the day before the Passover meal was eaten, as John explicitly says, or did he die after it was eaten, as Mark explicitly says? Did he die at noon, as in John, or at 9 a.m., as in Mark? Did Jesus carry his cross the entire way himself or did Simon of Cyrene carry his cross? It depends which Gospel you read. Did both robbers mock Jesus on the cross or did only one of them mock him and the other come to his defense? It depends which Gospel you read. Did the curtain in the temple rip in half before Jesus died or after he died? It depends which Gospel you read ... Or take the accounts of the resurrection. Who went to the tomb on the third day? Was it Mary alone or was it Mary with other women? If it was Mary with other women, how many other women were there, which ones were they, and what were their names? Was the stone rolled away before they got there or not? What did they see in the tomb? Did they see a man, did they see two men, or did they see an angel? It depends which account you read."
7. Reading the Bible as a literal historical account of events from the past limits the power of these stories. Rather than expressing universal truths, a literal interpretation limits the actions of God to certain events in history. God's actions in the world become finite, confined to certain historical events: like the chess master making individual moves on a chessboard frozen in time two thousand years ago. Reading these same stories mythologically, however, can bring forth their universal qualities.
8. A literal reading of the Bible alienates much of our society. The stories were written in a different age with different views on social justice -- an age in which slavery was legitimate, an age when discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation was the norm. Too often because of this history, the Bible is used to justify intolerance today.
Reading the Bible as mythology is not a new concept. Two of the early Church Fathers, Origen (185-254 AD) and Augustine (354-430 AD), both interpreted Genesis metaphorically, rejecting literal interpretations. Early in the 20th century, German theologian Rudolf Bultmann called for a "demythologizing" of the New Testament for many of the reasons given above. Rather, the movement in many fundamentalist circles today to read the Bible as inerrant (an extreme form of literalism, in which every word of Bible is viewed as true) is a late development from the 19th century as a response to the chipping away at the historicity of the stories since the Enlightenment.
I fear that an insistence on a literal or historical reading of the Bible will ultimately lead to the irrelevance of Christianity in our society. By throwing off the shackles of having to believe in the historicity of the Bible, we are free to interpret the stories as a testament to the religious experiences of people from a different age -- a testament that communicates a meaning about their experiences of Ultimate Reality, of God. I understand that their experiences of the divine ground in their lives were interpreted through the lens of a pre-modern view of the world, and my own religious experiences will take on a different form today.
Follow Jeffrey Small on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jeffreysmalljr
Interpreting the Bible as a myth is worse than not interpreting the Bible at all. The problem I see today is, unfortunately, not that there are "issues" with the Bible and that we need to revise our vision of how we view the Word of God. The problem is there are issues with people and therefore they strive to change the Bible in order to suit their way of living and thinking.
If you are a true person seeking God, you will change yourself to be inline with the Bible, and not the other way around. May God bless you all, I hold nothing against the author but strongly disagree with the demeaning statements made about this Holy Book.
6. If Professor Bart Ehrman actually said that, I suggest he go to theology school and/or reread his Bible very carefully. Misunderstanding of the Word of God does not constitute inconsistencies; it constitutes misunderstandings.
7. Good point, but misleading. Just as with many reports, works, or other studies, there are different parts within each covering different topics or areas such as history, methodology, findings, etc. In a similar sense, the Bible also has different books. The Old Testament is primarily historical data as well as prophetical books (also good reference points). The New Testament is where our faith is developed (as the Bible says, we come to Jesus Christ through faith). So if you accept Jesus, the Bible will EXPAND God's greatness and glory, not limit it.
3. Unfortunately, God's works are not placebo acts. If for every event in the Bible you seek a natural explanation, then unfortunately you must first understand nature in all it's fullness to do that.
4. Borrowed? Perhaps the answer is that such stories simply reinforce the fact things actually happened as described.
3 UnfortunatÂely, God's works don't exist.
4 Well did the gods promise not to drown us again because they were hungry from the lack of sacrifices or because god realized he had screwed up. Which description is correct?
1. From a scientific standpoint, there is nothing in the Bible which can dispute what God can do. The statements in the article try to point out the Big Bang Theory is a fact and the Bible's account for how we came into existence is false. I disagree. Just because science is impaired in its ability to understand the power of God does not indicate the Bible is wrong. Especially given the fact that "modern" science has failed to give any moderately realistic explanation of how we came to be.
But common sense and science can say there was never a flood 29,000 feet high (or deep depending on your perspective). The heavens are not a bubble surrounded by water. Every person in the world did not live together in one city in Mesopotamia. π is not equal to 3. You know myths.
The bible does leave some gaps, as well. Personally, I love to find novels that expand on people or stories that the bible touches upon. For instance, a recent favorite is "The Lost Moonflower" by Isaac Karoor - http://thelostmoonflower.com/
It's about Phoebe, the woman that Paul mentions in Romans 16:1. Great read to anyone interested in women in the early church.
In addition, in some instances the summer-solstice rising sun illuminates a statue or other image or representation of John the Baptist, which is fitting since John's "birthday" has traditionally been placed at that time, a reflection of his role as the summer-to-winter sun, at which point he is replaced by Christ as the winter-to-summer sun. This transition is reflected in the enigmatic biblical scripture at John 3:30:
"He must increase, but I must decrease."One of the more important aspects aligning sacred sites with astronomical events, such as the daily, weekly, monthly and annual movements and phases of the sun, moon and other celestial bodies. This practice dates back thousands of years in countless archaeological sites globally, across a vast diversity of cultures from numerous eras. Astronomically aligned sacred sites can be found in so-called Pagan sites, as well as those of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The combination of the astronomical alignments with sacred sites is expressed in what is called "astrotheology," which is most apparent in the myths of the various cultures who built these monuments.
rYet moreExamples of this tradition, asIn Christianity in particular. The fact that winter-solstice alignments, for instance, discovered AtChristian sites reflects theirArchitects and builders were well aware of the significance of that date, originally the "birth" of year'sNew sun but observed over 1,700 years as "Christmas" ORpurported birth OFJesus Christ.
bill or anyone when its well known
that we do not know everything,
some of us know a lot more than others ,at least in some areas,
experience teaches us a lot more
but cannot be really measured,
children know far more than what they can express.
we have innate, deep knowledge of many things, genetically inherent,
and acquired, developed, during evolution and other experiences[related or not] denying evolution of the human, Brain, intellect,
is denying knowledge,
I do not know or not yet, is a better answer.
sometimes humans elect to be less educated or less demanding.
some ascribe knowledge to gods,superhumans,politicians atc, that is their choice,
it may not be needed, we may find the answer within us,
or the
"Answer my Friend, You May Never find"
may help us, from time to time.
but always think, we can find the answers, we have always done, with our collective abilities, and intellect.
distortions, assesment of facts, with and without political/religious intrference,
all proceed in various mixed ways.
we find it difficult to identify the
souce of influence or how the influence change the concept of what is right and wrong
or what can be eventually acceptable.
humans direct, control, manipulate
and decidethe course og history
and how factsand myths are manipulated,
Usually its for the gratification of a desire,
with no direct connection to faiths, religions, cults , philosophy etc.
there is much deception,
but the clever manage[AKA Manipulator can alter the direction of the investigation and the conclusions]
like many other attempted definitions?
we have not defined what god or godsare normal, what do they claim ,as acceptably normal.
some claim that absence of abnormality is normal.
or Iam normal
anything opposed is abnormal?
I am trying to get into details of this,
hopefullt for people to understand,
improve on the deficiencies,
add to human knowledge,
develop independant development of intellect,
listed to all dogman.
but try to be creative withing this dogmatic, finance based,dogma[how many churches ofany religion do you know
that only gives, without ever looking for growth orriches?? these riches buy corruption,
as shown in history,
old notion ,created in ASIA, with the creation
of gods, devils
andreligions.
sometimes it appears to be so.
we need to keep correcting, changing ,challenging dogman, in all fields.
past has clearly shown,
that all dogma, without the ability to change or correct,
can be eventually totally abolished.
that is why we create and then park one god after another.
soon they are seen as opportunities by others
to make power, moneycolect wealth,
control counttries, pollitics, manipulate the world.
that is historically coorect.
the methods and approach is always disguised.
allows the facts to be entwined in the myth, lie or deception.
without careful control,
and not allowing the common usage ,to lead to deception,
and the final forced acceptace,
is dangerous.
Even today, many myths are engulfed in faith, teachings
words of gods, or devil or other creators[many believe in fairy tales, potter is a good recent example, there are many others]
Humans ,like any other animal can be trained to do anything, yes
even believe in myth ,lie, fairy tale
and
with sufficint cohersion,
minds altered,
and they accept and follow lie Robots.
If one looks beyond their noses
they will see many examples
but the people who want to enrichen the deception,
for more gain[often more deception]
will find ways to bypass this, and get to the people.
Advertising is a common example.
one can create anything via creative advertising.
the rules trying to control this
almost always fail to see the loopholes used
to sell anything.
CUlts, ideas, religions, gods, devil ,politics,
all included, plus many more, to numerous to list.
come up in a text created, written,
edited[altered to fit the times]
and sold as absolute ,,perfect word[explaing away all the errors[now gods do not err, they are so absolutely error free[or shall we say, what is accepted[gods ,many of the 100,000 or more, that we created,[still do, but not fully named, or elected, because it many need 400 yrs or more, for people to forget, and acccept the election of Devils and gods]
Are all these myths or facts,
and if Mythology has fully acceptable[ to many segments of the intelligent society,not to those who want to promote a concept, however erroneous it may be,then let it remain as myth.
Let any other partially accepted new information, make it more likely to lead to some truths.
But we must stop the pollution of human intellect[as politicians excel in this, we elect so many to declare USA, totally Bankrupt, as they cannot Pay the wasteful debt created, under really 2 regimes[Regan, BUsh JR]
type of extravagence, without even remote compensatory earnings,
in the history of Mankind,
and in the history of USA presidents and political leaders.
they were not bad men,
associated with the Bible, what is the first thought that comes to your mind?[why did the
Things like the Flood myth can be explained as the massive flooding that occured at the end of the last Ice Age that created massive floods when ice dams broke and or breached barriers like the Bosporus . If you are a primitive tribesman who survived you would likely think the "whole earth" was covered with water and you certainly would pass it down to your descendants.
The problem is not the mythology but the extent to which those who have limited capacity to interpret , other than literally, will try to fabricate and extrapolate even more myths of their own to support the "literal" and physically impossible notions in the Bible...the 6k old earth and claims that fossils are "planted by a demon" are but just one example.
The myths transmitted to the Jews by the Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, and others and reproduced in corrupted form as well as the Origin myths for the Hebrews themselves are simply stories and meant to impart "knowledge" or had a "moral teachings" relevant to the time ...such as not to be rude to strangers like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah for example