Quote Originally Posted by mperry View Post
I personally don't think anyone fully understands the Bible or the meaning of the words. Again if it is Gods words it was still written by man who has probably screwed it up somehow along the line.
The Bible has been poked, prodded, and examined under a microscope for centuries. Yes, there are some differences of opinion about a section here or there, or about interpretation, but if you take the earliest manuscripts we have of Scripture, today's Bible lines up to them remarkably well.

A lot of people say they "don't take the Bible literally." Well, no one should. To take something literally means you ignore metaphors, symbolism, exaggeration for effect and the like. Did Jesus really mean someone could swallow a camel? No. That was a metaphor.

The way the Bible should be interpreted is the same way any work of literature should be interpreted. It its entirety, and with the intent of discovering the author's meaning.