Quotations showing three different interpretations of the Bible:

There is general agreement within most Christian denominations about what the Bible says. However, there are major differences about how to interpret the Bible. Thus there is no consensus on what the Bible means:

	Many Evangelical and essentially all fundamentalist Christians believe that the authors of the Bible were inspired by God, and that their text is inerrant (without error). Most interpret the Bible literally, unless otherwise indicated. Most follow creation science and regard the "day" in the first two chapters of Genesis as referring to 24 hour intervals. Conflicts among biblical passages can be harmonized.
	Many mainline Christians interpret Biblical passages as God's revelations to the ancient Israelites. They were adequate for their understanding in that era, but which are not to be taken as scientific descriptions. "The Bible is considered the 'fallible human rendering of divine inspiration'." 2
	Many Agnostics, Atheists, liberal Christians, Humanists, secularists, and others look upon these creation stories as being beautiful myths which were attempts by a pre-scientific society to understand their environment. Some find poetic and spiritual significance in most of the hundreds of creation stories taught by the world's faith groups.

Various groups conclude:

	Bible inerrancy: "We teach that God has created heaven and earth, and that in the manner and in the space of time recorded in the Holy Scriptures, especially Gen. 1 and 2, namely, by His almighty creative word, and in six days. We reject every doctrine which denies or limits the work of creation as taught in Scripture....Since no man was present when it pleased God to create the world, we must look for a reliable account of creation to God's own record, found in God's own book, the Bible...." Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod's doctrine of creation; adopted 1932. 1
	Bible accurate on morality, salvation, etc.: "The Bible is not a science text; the scientific method was unknown in biblical times. ...The purposes of religion and science are completely different. Science seeks to describe, explain, and predict. The Bible tries to tell the purpose of creation, and to point the way to morality, righteousness, and salvation. It should not be surprising that their methods are different and even incompatible." David F. Beck 2
	Bible not a scientific document: "Looking in the Bible for a scientific account of origins is like looking in the phone directory for a recipe for angel cake