The Bible has only been taken literally in very modern times.
Up until the Protestant Reformation, Christian theology would
have had absolutely no problem with the concept of a
metaphorical Adam and Eve separated in Time. It was already well
known that the 7 days was metaphorical. The Reformation was a
step backwards in theology in a very big way.
I was raised Methodist. I was led to believe that Big Bang,
evolution, the timeline, everything - anything that the sciences
have said about such things, is likely true. The Garden of Eden
was taught to me as a metaphorical or symbolic device.
Perhaps there are those who take it literally. I was never
taught to and the idea of taking the Bible literally seems
entirely ridiculous for ANYBODY to do, whether they are "for or
against". It's not a book that's meant to be taken literally.
It's meaningless without interpretation.
"Biblical version" to me is meaningless. People who take it
literally, to me, have always been ridiculous. My first exposure
to a Fundamentalist on TV as a teenager who took it literally
was ridiculous to me - and I considered myself a Christian at
the time, and the guy on TV, a snake-oil salesman.
My first exposure to a self-declared Atheist who took the bible
literally (just enough to say, "and this is why it's wrong") was
in the early 90s online in some religious debate chat room.
That was also my first exposure to a debating evangelical.
They were trading bible verses back and forth like legal
statutes at someone's Trial.
I was like, "wtf guys, Bible's not a literal document, are you
stupid?"
They both hated me for the rest of the talk. The evangelical had
the "inscribed by God Himself" attitute, the Atheist had the
"Well, it says it so it must be what they mean and it's wrong"
Neither one could understand historical context one bit. Neither
one understood an inch of Theology, Symbolism. Just two very
literal people, being literal at each other.
Perhaps I had a weird background that didn't take the Bible
stories as literal. But I don't think so.
