((Poking at it in the nicest way: Yes, it is pride in the way of your posting. That is what I'm poking at--people jumping on a tangent, which is once a joke, and skewing it on verge of insult--the generalizations of the topic does no good in expounding the humor, or advancing it either.
Pride, GWG. Take matters into hand on why-many people believe the topic; yet still there are scholars on the matter. Scientists of religion who delve deep into the matter. Historians and scholars, even until the archaic times which speak of the topic and elucidate it so the common adage of reading and believing what is put exactly on the page is furthered into the area of understanding.
Pride, which makes you post on a whim--which does not dictate if or whether what you're saying is neutral to many, or by how your wording may transgress any sort of unspoken rule, or be neutral enough to not confer a feeling of narrowmindedness.
The example at hand speaks of taking things literally-and the matter at hand being what is in the Bible. Most things, are not to be taken literally--they were written at a timeframe where the people would understand the metaphors, yet by time passing the line between us understanding the written text; given how it is transcribed and translated as-is, is blurred by how the ancients understood it. A line that is hard to understand without prior research.
Do not impute what you-or as a general matter, the populace of today sees in a book, and takes for granted-or in the least at hand, as determined fact-towards the time it was written and the people who wrote it.
And yes, carrying on an argument in-thread is quite irrelevant, which is also why I asked to stop it. PW was making...his own style of joke, but then it carried on. I kept to brevity to wonder if a PM would be done--my mistake is not doing it in the first place if it would mock your...pride.
For posterity: I have, and have never intended, to target anyone in particular--just the aspect of the person that is showing instead of the person. I also have not said anyone is an idiot-though the term may have gone into misunderstanding to how its usage stems. Do not take it personally, and I advise to take a moment and calm down before continuing this. Apologies if certain areas were hurt, but none of that was ever in my motive or intent.))