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The Bible Means What It Says - and That Is the End of the Matter

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“The Bible means what it says – and that is the end of the matter.” Discuss.

This is a topic that has been debated many a time, and by a large group of people. This is because it has such a large effect on a large amount of people. This statement can be said to be the reason for splits in religions such as in Christianity where there are denominations based on how each group of people perceive and understand the Bible. Examples of this are fundamentalists who believe the Bible should be taken literally as it is the direct word of god; another example is liberalists who believe that the Bible is more a set of guidelines that should be interpreted to modern day to help conquer more contemporary issues such as abortion and euthanasia.

An argument that would disagree with the statement put forward is that by not taking the Bible at face value and looking deeper you can find its true meaning. Some people are put off believing in the Bible due to unrealistic stories within it such as the creation account instead of looking at it as a metaphor which makes it easier to understand and still maintains the meaning and teachings of the Bible. The method of hermeneutics (the art of interpretation) also enables us to put stories into context and discover the deeper meaning that can make sense to our present day. It also helps us to relate the bible to contemporary issues such as IVF Treatment as issues like that were not present when the Bible was written. This is supported by Bultmann who believes by interpreting the bible it allows Christianity to be understood from a wider range of perspectives and that it lets us demythologise it.

Another point that disagree with this statement is that if the Bible says what it means, then it makes it very hard for a reader to grasp a complete understanding of it. This is because of the many contradictions in the Bible such as in

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