The Creation story

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Dandelion_Wine

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But it is considered “myth” {which does not equate to not happening}.
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Is this correct? If so, how do I explain it to a literalist?

Thanks!
 
a myth is a story that contains jungian archetypal images - like serpents and cups and gardens and virgins. human history is full of mythological stories, most of which are probably not literally true.

cs lewis points out that the gospel story is one of the very few mythological stories in the history of mankind that also happens to be literally true. the events in the story really took place.

so myth just means ‘a story that employs images which mean more than themselves’ (that’s a bit simplistic, but it conveys the idea), and the gospel story is a myth that literally took place. as are, i believe, the stories from the OT.
 
by the way, great monicker. i love that book by bradbury. he’s a genius.
 
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jeffreedy789:
a myth is a story that contains jungian archetypal images - like serpents and cups and gardens and virgins. human history is full of mythological stories, most of which are probably not literally true.

cs lewis points out that the gospel story is one of the very few mythological stories in the history of mankind that also happens to be literally true. the events in the story really took place.

so myth just means ‘a story that employs images which mean more than themselves’ (that’s a bit simplistic, but it conveys the idea), and the gospel story is a myth that literally took place. as are, i believe, the stories from the OT.
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Myths whether in the OT or elsewhere are just that, myths. In other words a good story that carries literal truth under the guise of a story that is pure fantasy. Unless of course you are an Evangelical Christian who takes his translation of the Bible as carrying no meaning beyond the exact words used. The New Testament has parables, which are much like Aoesop’s fables, excellent lessons buried ion a fictional account.
 
your understanding of the word ‘myth’ is limited, unless i’m misunderstanding you. do you mean that a myth is not ever literally true? or do you mean just in the OT?
 
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jeffreedy789:
your understanding of the word ‘myth’ is limited, unless i’m misunderstanding you. do you mean that a myth is not ever literally true? or do you mean just in the OT?
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A myth, in my opinion, is never literally true except in the sense that it is often connected to some real event or circumstance. For example, say an aborigine saw a plane fly over. At a campfire he might tell a story about a very large bird that flew high above and did not flap its wings. It made a horrible sound and he hid because it may have been a bird of pray. The story passes down about his escape from death through several generations. Is the story true? Was it an actual event? Was the story accurate in all respects? A modern historian would probably shudder at the inaccuracy.
 
I think that the word “myth” as used by many academics in the field of religion, simply means an event or story by which some ultimate meaning is communicated. The events of the story may or may not be literally true. But calling something “myth” in this sense does not mean that it is untrue, or that it did not literally happen.
 
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