Do you 'Cherry Pick' the Bible?

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Namaste Jesus

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Do you 'Cherry Pick' the Bible? Meaning do you only accept those Biblical passages that suit you?

Let me see if I can answer my own question without getting into trouble. Hey! If you keep rolling your eyes like that, they'll get stuck.

For me, the real value of the Bible is not in the individual stories contained, but in the overall message conveyed. In order to fully grasp that message however, the Bible needs to be considered in it's entirety. That said, I do tend to add more weight to those passages that resonate with me on a personal level. I'm not really sure if that amounts to 'Cherry Picking' though as I do give at least some consideration to every passage.

Be that as it may, for me, the Bible is one of those things where you have to pay more attention to the lesson being taught than you do the actual story being told. If that makes any sense.

Now many, and I'm among them, are quick to point out the Bible's short comings. Mistranslation, possible omissions, embellishments, so on and so forth. In some cases these things do change a few of the details, but the lessons being taught by the individual stories are not significantly impacted. Nor is the overall message being conveyed.

In conclusion, if you're looking for solace, inner peace, validation or what have you, 'Cherry Pick' away, but if you're truly trying to understand the Bible, it needs to be considered in it's entirety.
 
Everybody cherry picks the bible...

Just look at the anti gay bible thumpin evangelical crowd... They scream about homosexuality being a sin in the bible...yup there it is in Leviticus...stone'm... and the adulterers, and those that eat shellfish and those that wear clothes of two cloths...stone'm all? No, just the gays that they cherry pick.
 
No it doesn't.... but as you are aware those same folks believe in a short earth (biblical you know) that A&E were created by G!d in the garden and tempted by an actual snake (who had legs)....

I don't believe you believe that...I believe you believe it to be metaphor (choose not to pick the literal cherry)...

Do you know someone who doesn't cherry pick?
 
That's a very specific definition of cherry picking though, you should define those things from the start, I think.
 
Let us define cherry picking...

Why wouldn't discounting some passages as metaphor or mythology not to be taken literally as cherry picking?

What would it be if it wasn't that?
 
wil said:
Why wouldn't discounting some passages as metaphor or mythology not to be taken literally as cherry picking?
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Because it depends on the reason. D'you think science works by cherry-picking theories?
 
What is cherry picking by your definition?

And of course scientists cherry pick theories and studies....depends on who is signing their paycheck....they do science for the benefit of their company (not all, but having someone pay your mortgage and college expenses goes a long way)
 
I don't have a clear idea of what cherry picking is here, but it's something akin to not putting any value or completely dismissing a passage. If one turns a passage into a metaphor on the other hand there can be a lot of value and meaning in a text.
wil said:
Why wouldn't discounting some passages as metaphor or mythology not to be taken literally as cherry picking?
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But we can't pick and chose what is a metaphor or not, it is a metaphor or not. Are there passages that are unclear if they are metaphors or not?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor said:
A metaphor is a figure of speech that identifies something as being the same as some unrelated thing for rhetorical effect, thus highlighting the similarities between the two. It is therefore considered[by whom?] more rhetorically powerful than a simile. While a simile compares two items, a metaphor may compare or directly equates them, and so does not necessarily apply any distancing words of comparison, such as "like" or "as". A metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech which achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance - including allegory, hyperbole, and simile.
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I have no idea where it's correct to call Biblical texts mythology. Thomas?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology said:
Mythology can refer either to the collected myths of a group of people—their body of stories which they tell to explain nature, history, and customs[1]—or to the study of such myths.[2]
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wil said:
What is cherry picking by your definition?

And of course scientists cherry pick theories and studies....depends on who is signing their paycheck....they do science for the benefit of their company (not all, but having someone pay your mortgage and college expenses goes a long way)
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That's not science though and I tried to explain the difference between science and everything around it in my other thread but I saw that I didn't make myself clear enough. But I don't know where to go from there.
 
Our millions of evangelicals believe it is all the word of G!d and all literal... Thomas believes some is metaphor...I believe more is metaphor...

I believe the bible is metaphor the reader to interpret as applicable to their life experiences.
 
wil said:
Our millions of evangelicals believe it is all the word of G!d and all literal... Thomas believes some is metaphor...I believe more is metaphor...
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Indeed, a position I don't understand at all, but I'm not required to so I don't loose much sleep over it.
To get a better idea of what you're talking about, what would be a metaphor you and Thomas would disagree on?

wil said:
I believe the bible is metaphor the reader to interpret as applicable to their life experiences.
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What does this mean?
 
That doesn't answer the question.... If it suits me as metaphor, myth, metaphysic, mystic, or hypebole....that isn't cherry picking?
 
Absolutely! Only accept those Biblical passages that suit you.

But it is more than that, too. It is acting upon those passages one chooses to believe while ignoring passages that do not suit you as if they didn't exist.

Christian fundies cherry pick the Bible to try to force social change on everyone else in America.

ISIS fundies cherry pick the Koran to justify the outrages they perpetuate.

It doesn't have to be as severe as that though. Here is a more benign example.

American Catholics cherry pick the Bible to allow themselves freedoms that are not Pope approved. Most American Catholics, for example, believe and practice birth control. They don't think of themselves as any less Catholic for doing so. They are, never the less, choosing which parts of the Bible to follow according to their social belief structure.
 
A Cup Of Tea said:
That's not science though and I tried to explain the difference between science and everything around it in my other thread but I saw that I didn't make myself clear enough. But I don't know where to go from there.
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You are too hard on yourself, Tea. Your statements overall where solid. But no one really replied to your post. We rather went on a tangent as to why science has been corrupted in modern society by Big Money. What we said was true; it was not a reply to your supposition about the relationship between science and faith, or lack thereof.
 
wil said:
That doesn't answer the question.... If it suits me as metaphor, myth, metaphysic, mystic, or hypebole....that isn't cherry picking?
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I suppose if you're trying to shift the meaning of the thread it doesn't. The question posed in the thread however, was not intended to address political or religious organization agendas. Otherwise I would have posted it in the 'Politics' section.

It's just a general question posed to members. In other words, what do you do personally and why. For example; someone might say, "I don't consider everything in the Bible important, because some things are just metaphorical", or whatever reason you may have for taking one Biblical passage into consideration and not another.
 
I consider all the allegory, metaphor, myth, metaphysic, hyperbole to be important! I just don't consider them as historical fact, absolute truth, or written by G!d (or Moses)
 
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