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How To Read The Bible. Literalists vs. Contextualist. The Literalist. “The bible means exactly what it says.” --William Jennings Bryan Not all literalists agree: Example: What is a day? Jehovah Witnesses – a day can be interpreted as a “era” Church of God – a day must mean 24 hours .
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How To Read The Bible Literalists vs. Contextualist
The Literalist • “The bible means exactly what it says.” --William Jennings Bryan • Not all literalists agree: Example: What is a day? • Jehovah Witnesses – a day can be interpreted as a “era” • Church of God – a day must mean 24 hours
A literal biblical calendar – creation took place 6,000 years ago • Literalists have a bigger problem – two stories of creation
The Contextualist • First, a lesson on body language! • What is Body Language? • Non-verbal, usually unconscious communication through the use of postures, gestures and facial expressions.
How does a contextualist read the creation stories? • To understand the creation stories, one must first understand the people and their beliefs : • were polytheistic - worshipped the sun, moon, stars, even animals • creation happened by chance • believed the body was evil – it warred against itself • considered all the days of the week to be of equal importance This is the context in which the creation stories were written.
First creation story -- Genesis 1: all – 2: 1-4 • Second creation story – Genesis 2: 4 - 25