a literal "god" in a metaphorical interpretation of the religion?

i was in a discussion recently, with someone that considers himself christian and goes to church. i asked him if he takes everything in the bible literally.

he said he takes it metaphorically. and sees it as life lessons that can be learned from.

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i have come to the conclusion that if one interprets the bible metaphorically then the same has to be done for "god". which implies that prayer has no purpose for christians claiming metaphorical interpretations.

and yet, i quite often see people claiming metaphorical interpretations but acting as though it is literal.

what do you think?

can there be a literal god in a metaphorical interpretation of religion?

 

I interpret the Bible metaphorically but also believe there is substantial evidence for an intelligent agent that can be called "God". I think of prayer as something I do for my own benefit rather than God's. I ask that God's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, and I find that prayer is always granted. God gets His way!

 

But both god and heaven should be taken metaphorically.

 

I agree Heaven is a metaphor. Heaven, like hell, is a state of mind we experience in this world instead of a place we go to in the next--in my opinion. For practical purposes, I'd agree that God should be taken metaphorically, since it's hard for humans to deal with the concept any other way. But I think my belief in God is based on the "too good to be trueness" of reality that suggests to me grounding in a Higher Power or Something Big Out There.

 

Whether there is or is not a God,prayer offers a similar function to meditation...It can focus the mind into producing positive healing energy like spiritual manna...This is the true message of all spiritual figures throughout history...Organized religion however is often a distortion of this in my opinion,and not something that I am much interested in,except from a historical perspective.

 

I prefer my placebos in tablet form.

 

Can you elaborate on why you believe this statement to be true? I don't see any particular reason why prayer should not be able to fit into a metaphorical interpretation of a religion. If a person's own interpretation of their religion includes the idea of connecting or communicating with their own interpretation of god then to that person prayer may be a sacred and spiritual act.

This is right on.

 

i don't see the benefit. if "god" has no will at all, then one could say his will is always granted too. so this is not saying much.

 

yes, everything can be interpreted metaphorically. but what kind of meaning is there left at this point? if one wants an interpretation of a metaphor, then i don't see why a religion has to be the basis of this.

 

Totally agree.

The prayer to a metaphorical god can also be metaphorical, I would say.

 

you are missing the point. as the title says; i'm talking about a literal "god" in combination with a metaphorical interpretation of religion. and i don't think these are compatible.

 

Really you are talking about a person's beliefs. I understand what you are saying...that if a person believes that the bible is metaphorical, then that person also HAS to believe that God is also metaphorical. (I'm sorry, I just have to capitalize God...that's one of my little hang-ups.) However, you need to understand that people can choose to believe whatever they want...beliefs don't necessarily always follow logic.
I think it is entirely possible for a person to believe that much, if not all, of the bible is metaphorical yet still totally believe in a Supreme Being. They could/would believe that He is the Master Creator...and not in a metaphorical way.

 

The question of God is not the same as the question of the interpretation of the Bible so there's no need to connect the two.

 

I think you should consider the fact that reality is "too good to be true" because we have evolved through our physical reality -- thus it suits us perfectly.

I don't see that reality being amazing is a reason to just shovel all the amazing off onto another guy, so we don't have to worry about where it came from in the first place.

 

no. the bible mentions "god" everywhere, so it's reasonable to assume that one would have to interpret "god" to interpret the bible.

 

But there are Christians, like me for example, who arrive at a belief of God independently of the Bible. So we don't have to interpret words in a book to talk about God.

Who said God has no will at all? What the prayer is saying is that, assuming that God is the source of natural law, I submit to it. That might seem tautological and not saying much at all, but it's a reminder that resistance is futile. As Cicero put it:"Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature..." But I do that a lot. Hence the need of a reminder!

 

The prayer to a metaphorical God is really a prayer for the person praying. It's a process of self-healing.

 

That would beg the question why it suits us so perfectly.

Oh, I never shovel that off. It's always a working hypothesis open to revision in the light of new evidence. Some folks believe in multiple universes so all the seeming improbabilities in our own universe can be explained as just a probabalistic outcome from a gazillion coin tosses. Is that "shoveling it off"? Only if they confuse it with "the Truth".

 

The reason that it seems to suit us so perfectly is that, through natural selection of the fittest, those who do not suit reality, die.

But how on earth does it seem MORE probable that, aside from everything happening to exist, there ALSO happens to exist some amazingly powerful being, with powers that bear no resembelence to anything there has ever been a shred of proof of?

Things just being is much more logical than a guy who has the ability to create everything, just being.

 

even then, isn't it reasonable to assume that you did actually interpret the bible (directly or indirectly) in order to call yourself a christian?

i didn't say god has no will at all, but it may just as well be the case.
"An expression that can mean anything, means nothing" -Michael Crichton