The debate here was not about the existence or non-existence of god, but about the truth and varsity of a bunch of stories handed down since the Bronze Age. Did the whale swallow Jonah and then ralph him up a few days later unharmed? Did god make man out of dust and woman out of dust and the rib of man? Did god send bears to eat children who taunted Elijah? (I hope so, that scores god some pretty solid points in my book.) Did Jesus walk on water?
And those are just the fun ones. There are some very serious ones too.
Like many other people who have read it, and contemplated it, the story of Abraham and Issac is profoundly disturbing.
Are women inferior to men. (and that one is all over the book, and if so, I think you believers better quite down here because men-folk are talking, better get into the kitchen and make us a pie.)
Is slavery OK?
Is rape OK if you pay the girls father later?
Is the heart deceitful above all else?
And, once you start down a path of saying 'well this is no longer in effect' and 'that one is not true, it's meant as an allegory' then what are you left with? That quote above is not mine, but from Hans Kung, and he is not alone in re-thinking the Resurrection as not a literal event, but an allegory for how Christ's love can transform us in day to day life, for everyday that we forgive, and accept forgiveness we are resurrected, we have triumphed over the death of our souls and are born anew in Christ's love. I mean if Jonah is an allegory, who's to say that the Resurrection isn't an allegory too?
Of course, what that says in the end is that there is no life everlasting, no heaven, no hell, just this life, and we should find ways of making it better and not resenting it as some sort of test.
