"The link I posted would indicate the split was not quite that civil. It would also indicate that the NT should not be taken in it's literal form today. Of course, it is from a very different perspective than that of the US Christian right."
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sarai...
I saved the article you posted - started to read it but it was very long and looked more like a weekend project <gg>. - Thanks for posting it.
If you read the New Testament, the split was most certainly not "civil", with contention between Jews and both gentile Christians and Jewish Christians. Paul was beaten up and stoned in several places and ended up in Rome (where he was executed) after the Jews tried to have him killed in Jerusalem. My point was that theologically, the matter was settled by the early Church council at Jerusalem (Acts, Chapter 15) and endorsed by Paul, Peter, and James, acting on the will of God. Unfortunately, just because a matter has been settled does not mean that everyone is willing to obey, as such items in history as the Crusades and the inquisition woefully prove.
As for taking the New Testament literally, I strongly disagree. There is no other written literature from antiquity with more attestation than the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, with some fragments dating back to shortly after they were originally written. Liberal scholars for many years argued that the book of Daniel could not have been written by the prophet himself because the extensive and totally accurate prophesies in it demanded that it was written after the events actually occurred. Oooops - they have now found fragments of Daniel that date back well before the events, leaving the liberal scholars scratching their heads. Similarly, the liberal scholars claimed that many parts of the Old Testament were false tales, since archeology could not confirm it. Ooops - newer archeology has confirmed it.
Finally, there comes the matter of faith - if there is an omnipotent God, creator of universe and all that is in it, it would be but a small matter for Him to preserve His Word through history as His testament to Man. Personally, I believe every word of it, and believe it literally except when obvious metaphors, etc. are used.
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