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Gallup: Only 24% of Americans Believe Bible is Literal Word of God
Cybercast News Service ^ | May 19, 2017 | 2:45 PM EDT | Michael W. Chapman

Posted on 05/20/2017 10:17:33 PM PDT by Olog-hai

A new Gallup poll shows that only 24% of Americans believe the Bible is the “literal word” of God, which is a decline from the 1970s, but the survey also shows that the number of Americans who think the Bible is the “inspired word” of God, 47%, has stayed pretty steady over the last 40 years.

In addition, an overwhelming majority of Americans, 71%, believe the Bible is a holy document, inspired by God or containing God’s own words.

“Fewer than one in four Americans (24%) now believe the Bible is ‘the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word,’ similar to the 26% who view it as ‘a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man,’” reported Gallup on May 15.

“This is the first time in Gallup’s four-decade trend that biblical literalism has not surpassed biblical skepticism,” said the survey firm. “Meanwhile, about half of Americans — a proportion largely unchanged over the years — fall in the middle, saying the Bible is the inspired word of God but that not all of it should be taken literally.” …

(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Moral Issues; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics; Theology
KEYWORDS: bible; christians; fakenews; fakequestion
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To: Ezekiel

PS. When we are advised to live by every word of God, none of it is “fluff”. Using the word “fluff” implies it is to be ignored or discarded; but without it, we would not know how to love one’s neighbor as ourselves, or how to love God.


81 posted on 05/21/2017 8:52:07 AM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: SkyPilot; SaveFerris

Amen!
These ridiculous polls here in America suggesting 60% plus of the population as Christians are absolutely bogus!

5%? Perhaps...
10%? Maybe 10 years ago.

Few find it indeed


82 posted on 05/21/2017 8:54:56 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Americans are modern day Amorites ripe for destruction)
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To: daniel1212
IOW, Scripture is the literal word if God, but we should not read it in a literalistic way.
83 posted on 05/21/2017 9:10:01 AM PDT by Gamecock ("We always choose according to our greatest inclination at the moment." R.C. Sproul)
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To: Olog-hai

So, half the population thinks it is the word of God, 25% thinks it probably is, and 25% thinks it isn’t.

But the headline is about those who don’t.


84 posted on 05/21/2017 9:14:34 AM PDT by xzins (Retired US Army chaplain. Those who truly support our troops pray for their victory.)
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To: TalBlack
"then fail to literally be the word of God, but far from all being literal language."

Sophistry. There are no limits on the Author of all things. That you do not see the literal meaning in the words does not mean it is not there. We don’t like the meaning we sense in the words, a sense breathed into our dust by the Author, so in defense of ourselves we start lawyering up and throwing around words like “literally”. God said what he meant. HE is TRUTH. The words cannot be other than literal.

No, it is just the opposite of sophistry and "lawyering up." If you do not recognize different forms of language in what is literally the word of God and TRUTH then you can easily engage in sophistry and "lawyering up."

85 posted on 05/21/2017 9:34:12 AM PDT by daniel1212 ( Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned and destitute sinner+ trust Him to save you, then follow Him!)
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To: abigkahuna
"There are also encoded numbers that relate to the Sacred Geometry. The Bible is not only the only religious tract that has such encoded numbers."

“So let the Brahman hear the praise we utter. This has the four horned buffalo emitted. FOUR are his horns,. THREE are the feet that bear him. His heads are TWO. His hands are seven in number.” RG Veda

Don't forget.....His anal orifices are FOUR to accommodate all of the shittite he spews forth! PRAISE be to the DILLY DALLY LAMBA......pi$$ be upon the fools that follow!

The BIBLE is more than a religious tract it is our life preserver in a world of foolish thinking!

86 posted on 05/21/2017 9:57:49 AM PDT by crazy scenario (We can't take you anywhere)
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To: TalBlack
said, "It makes no sense that an entity that can create Time itself and put Men in it would then inspire men to write words that then fail to be literal"

Some of the words were quotes most were humans interpretation of what transcribed. Either way it was god they observed which would be inspiring in itself.

87 posted on 05/21/2017 10:29:50 AM PDT by Steve Van Doorn (*in my best Eric Cartman voice* 'I love you, guys')
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To: daniel1212; Olog-hai; redleghunter; Springfield Reformer; kinsman redeemer; BlueDragon; metmom; ...
Actually while it is can be said that the Bible literally is the word of God, it is not all the literal word, since much of it ...

It is comments like these that is the reason few believe the Bible is the literal word of God. It cast doubts.

If the Bible states something, it is up to me to understand it-not to question it. I may not understand what Revelation is all about, but I know that there is a reason that God took the time to write it down for my teaching and edification.

88 posted on 05/21/2017 10:36:19 AM PDT by HarleyD
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To: TexasRepublic

Amen.


89 posted on 05/21/2017 11:26:11 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism5" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: HarleyD

Better to say the inspired word of God because it is.


90 posted on 05/21/2017 11:40:49 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism5" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Gamecock
IOW, Scripture is the literal word if God, but we should not read it in a literalistic way.

Or, we should not always read it in a literalistic way, but as usually in everyday speech, according to its manifest form. Historical accounts for instance are to be taken literally, but language as that the Promised Land was “a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof” (Num. 13:32) metaphorically.

91 posted on 05/21/2017 11:47:27 AM PDT by daniel1212 ( Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned and destitute sinner+ trust Him to save you, then follow Him!)
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To: All

The Holy Spirit inspires and humans write down the words of the Bible.


92 posted on 05/21/2017 11:51:13 AM PDT by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism5" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: HarleyD
It is comments like these that is the reason few believe the Bible is the literal word of God. It cast doubts. If the Bible states something, it is up to me to understand it-not to question it. I may not understand what Revelation is all about, but I know that there is a reason that God took the time to write it down for my teaching and edification.

No doubt should be conveyed if the Bible is affirmed as literally being the word of God, but I should have said "while it is can be said that the Bible literally is the word of God, not all the word is literal language, since much of it is figurative." But the problem is with the pollster not making the necessary distinctions, as many who believe the Bible to literally be the word of God would object to calling it all literal.

When 47% affirm the Bible is the “inspired word” of God, 47%, and 71%, believe the Bible is inspired by God or containing God’s own words, then it seems they are affirming that the Bible literally is the word of God, if not all the word being literal, in distinction from other forms of language.

93 posted on 05/21/2017 12:01:27 PM PDT by daniel1212 ( Turn to the Lord Jesus as a damned and destitute sinner+ trust Him to save you, then follow Him!)
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To: Olog-hai

[It’s not relevant what Muslims think the Koran is. That book is lies and the Bible is truth.]

Correct.


94 posted on 05/21/2017 12:21:26 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for ... some have unwittingly entertained angels)
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To: TalBlack; Everyone Else

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” -2 Corinthians 13:5 KJV


95 posted on 05/21/2017 12:23:02 PM PDT by SeargentPrestonoftheYukon ("All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable...")
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To: Olog-hai; ifinnegan; 21twelve

Yes, they cook the question, and then that gives liberals a talking point “truth” they can use as a weapon.

The answer that those who deny God and oppose Christianity would pick is phrased exactly according to their beliefs, however:
“a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man.”


96 posted on 05/21/2017 12:25:26 PM PDT by Faith Presses On (Above all, politics should serve the Great Commission, "preparing the way for the Lord.")
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To: DocRock

[The fall of man in the garden was the result of doubting God’s Word. The first recorded words of Satan were “Yea, hath God said?”. Then in John 1 we see that Jesus is the Word and in Revelation 19:13 when Jesus returns, He is called the “Word of God”. Doubt the Word at your own eternal risk.]

Absolutely correct.

I read (on FR years ago) that Mormon’s “celebrate” what Eve did. Stunning, in blindness.

Not nearly as stunned as I was when I saw four Mormon “scholars” on TV affirming this as core doctrine. Absolutely shocking.


97 posted on 05/21/2017 12:27:00 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for ... some have unwittingly entertained angels)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

I was amazed how people could go to church and praise Obama as “Heaven-sent”.

A man who is basically Pharaoh, Herod, Pontius Pilate and Herod Agrippa rolled into one.

I’ll have to post more evidence of this from another computer.


98 posted on 05/21/2017 12:33:46 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for ... some have unwittingly entertained angels)
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To: HarleyD

[ If the Bible states something, it is up to me to understand it-not to question it. I may not understand what Revelation is all about, but I know that there is a reason that God took the time to write it down for my teaching and edification. ]

Thank you.


99 posted on 05/21/2017 12:35:22 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for ... some have unwittingly entertained angels)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

The Spirit of Antichrist is expanding in America.


100 posted on 05/21/2017 12:35:57 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for ... some have unwittingly entertained angels)
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