I think we’re largely in agreement as well.
And you are 100% right about the loss of evangelizing opportunities. Did you see the St. Augustine quote I gave earlier in the thread (post #28)? He says the exact same thing.
Forgive me my prickliness about taking the Bible literally. I used to be scientifically-minded agnostic and through a long struggle eventually came back to the Christianity in which I was raised. One of the hardest things for me to accept was the Resurrection. I couldn’t accept Jesus rose in a literal sense, so I played at the edges for a while, thinking it was metaphorical somehow. But the whole thing really didn’t make sense.
Well, to make a long story short, I was reading an article about the Shroud and St, John’s Gospel when it suddenly clicked in my brain....what if the Gospel was *literally* true? What if he actually saw what he saw and is just reporting that? All of a sudden the whole narrative made sense for me in a way it never did before. I’ve been a believer ever since, and even though I still have a skeptical streak, I’ve come to look with scorn upon those theologians who have a perennial beef against the literal sense of the text! :)
No problem with the prickliness! In fact, if I knew you back when you were agnostic and some Christian was trying to convince you of the literalness of the resurrection I would have smacked him upside the head and said “back off”.
We’re to SHOW the meaning of Christ, we’re to EXPLAIN the reason, but we’re to let GOD do the conversion. Anything that would have driven you from continual internal struggle would be a hindrance.
Preach the Good News; don’t beat people to death with it!