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"it only makes sense that the stories have a basis in fact, "

I don't dispute that the stories had a basis in fact, but that doesn't necessarily mean the stories were meant to be taken entirely in a literal sense which is what a lot of Christian fundamentalists believe.

(adapted from An Urgent Plea to Pastors by Doug Phillips, J.D. in Back to Genesis, No.119, p.c.)

It is a dangerous thing for someone to say that the Bible is just 'subjective' or 'allegorical' when the plain meaning of the writers is literal as it is if a father warns his son of a dangerous snake but is just joking. The moment you undermine the authority of the Bible as God's Word you undermine faith and the possibility of learning to trust in the Creator, when the fact of the matter is that the Creator and His Word are utterly trustworthy.

And whilst it is true that some parts of the Bible are allegorical and poetic, the context will clearly indicate that it is so. If I compare my sweetheart to a tropical dawn everybody knows I am not being literal, but if I say that I am going to meet her at the bus stop at noon the following day she knows I am being literal. It is only the proponents of false religion who wish you to believe that the Bible is not to be taken literally or convince you that matter and pain are illusiory.

Pardon me while I put on my "Christian fundamentalist" hat.......

As a Christian, Zulu, how do you determine what is literal and what is not?

Are all things that are impossible for man (but not God) explained away by your interpretations?

Out of curisosity, I'd like to ask your interpretation of just a few things, though there are many more:

1) The Resurrection
2) Walking on water
3) Immaculate conception
4) Water to wine
5) Multiplying the bread and fish

These are only a few things that defy logic for man, yet we are told (and I believe) they indeed happened.

but that doesn't necessarily mean the stories were meant to be taken entirely in a literal sense which is what a lot of Christian fundamentalists believe.

However, just as we would teach using examples from things that have happened, so to would it be likely that God would teach from examples that actually happened.