israeltour wrote:They why even engage?
Look. If we can limit ourselves to the specific example that was brought up, the Theory Evolution, I have reconciled it with Genesis without being metaphorical, and even using literal wording within the scripture. Therefore, by your definition, I have used neither the liberal nor the fundamentalist approach you describe.
You appear to be accusing me of having made up my mind before even entering the game. It appears that that's exactly what you have done. I presented an argument that I have never read here, and so probably has not been considered. Looks like you still haven't... you just put me in your box. What if I'm right? I am not simply parroting back what my church has taught me. I supposed that my faith was true, and then tested the hypothesis, finging that scripture reconciles with scripture. I have given you an example for consideration. Dismissal and generatlization is not an argument. Perhaps you are the one not being intelletually honest.
Reinterpreting Biblical claims from their plain meaning to make them fit (more or less) with science would be the liberal religionist, not fundamentalist, approach. By picking and choosing and twisting, then downgrading to metaphorical status when all else fails, the Bible can be made compatible with anything. In other words, the approach renders the Bible unfalsifiable, in that nothing we ever find could, even potentially, disprove it. In contrast, science rejects the unfalsifiable as meaningless. A key requirement for something to be considered even a hypothesis is that it must make falsifiable claims.
Of course, once you show a willingness to render Bible claims metaphorical when pressed, I have to ask how far you're willing to go. For example, is God really just a metaphor for the universe, a literary anthropomorphization? Some liberal religionists say so. Do you?
TC