Stories??

[thinkandmull]

It is often stated on this forum that Genesis isn;t literal in the first few chapters. I am just wondering why the same thing could not be said about the Gospels. Why can’t it be claimed that these are just *stories *of Christ given to us by God for our spiritual growth. Faith and morals is what matter, not history… right or wrong?

 

[Avila123]

It is often stated on this forum that Genesis isn;t literal in the first few chapters. I am just wondering why the same thing could not be said about the Gospels. Why can’t it be claimed that these are just *stories *of Christ given to us by God for our spiritual growth. Faith and morals is what matter, not history… right or wrong?

Hopefully you will get better informed answers than my poor offering. There is evidence outside the Bible about Jesus, so we know for a fact that he lived and the eye witness accounts were written in the New Testament or were carefully passed on through the oral tradition. Faith matters, but surely our salvation history is important in preserving our faith? Surely we need to know how the faith grew, where the Bible came from and what sacrifices were made to enable us to read the Bible today? God has used many people to guide the faithful and as I read about the history of the faith in the Bible, the teachings of the Church and through the lives and writings of the saints, I am blessedly enriched. Even the not so nice stuff helps me to guard against some of my tendency to have an unloving or unforgiving attitude.

These are just my thoughts and I am looking forward to better educated responses.

 

[findingmyself08]

There are several reasons why the Gospels cannot be considered just as stories and not history.

One, Jesus was a real person in history along with the apostles. The Gospels are stories about Jesus and his ministry.

Two, if we only considered them as only faith and morals, they could be easily cast aside. But the Gospels are more than that. They describe the reality of our world and reveal God’s plan for the salvation of man. The Gospels are the fulfillment of the Old Testament and If we write them off as merely stories, we lose their Truth.

Finally, if we only think of them as stories, what was the point of Jesus dying on the cross? Or of the apostles or saints being martyred?

 

[Nelka]

This is the problem.

People are too into science and stuff to fit the Bible into their lives so they start to say this and that aren’t real and before they know it they no longer believe anything to be real.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

It is often stated on this forum that Genesis isn;t literal in the first few chapters. I am just wondering why the same thing could not be said about the Gospels. Why can’t it be claimed that these are just *stories *of Christ given to us by God for our spiritual growth. Faith and morals is what matter, not history… right or wrong?

It has a lot to do with the genre of the particular book. The Gospels are written in the style that was common to biographies of the era, so we can infer that they were intended to be read as biographical. In addition to this, we have extra-Biblical sources about Jesus’ life which support the historical narrative.

I don’t really know much about the genre of Genesis, but I’d imagine that it is similar to Jewish Allegory…

 

[TARRAT]

This is the problem.

People are too into science and stuff to fit the Bible into their lives so they start to say this and that aren’t real and before they know it they no longer believe anything to be real.

AMEN. And Amen.