Should the Old Testament Be Taken Literally?

Biblical literalists believe that, unless a passage is clearly intended by the writer as allegory, poetry, or some other genre, the Bible should be interpreted as literal statements by the author. ... WE AFFIRM the necessity of interpreting the Bible according to its literal, or normal, sense.

Why you shouldn't take the Bible literally?

Here are four reasons why: 1) Nowhere does the Bible claim to be inerrant. ... Rather, biblical authors wrote in order to be persuasive, hoping that by reading their witness you would come to believe as they did (see John 20:30-31). 2) Reading the Bible literally distorts its witness.

What is the belief that the Bible should be taken literally?

Some Christians believe that the Bible stories, including the Genesis account, should be taken literally . This means that the biblical accounts are to be taken as fact, ie that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, and that no alternative or scientific theory is considered.