Is everything in the bible literal?

[Babylove]

For instance when Jesus said that if your right hand offends you to cut it off, or if your right eye offends you to pluck it out, it is obvious to any honest reader that Jesus is not really suggesting self mutilation.

Sorry, maybe I should have explained what I meant better.

I wasn't talking about things in the bible that are obvious metaphores (well, Revelations still has me confused, and I was pretty sure that this book is not a literal account of what will happen) but things that may really be literal. For example, I know that in the above, Jesus didn't literally mean for us to cut off our hand, but he did literally say that. Also, I know his parables were not literal, but he did also literally say those as well.

When I am asking if things are literal, I really mean the things that can be taken as being literal. For example, when Genesis speaks of everything on the earth being created in six days and God resting on the seventh, was that to mean seven literal, 24h days, or not? How about the book 'Song of Songs' is that supposed to literally be about (or maybe written by?) a newly wed couple writing love poems back and forth to each other? Was Noah's flood literally world-wide and did he literally have two of every animal on the ark with him? If some of these things were not literal, than how do we know that?

The main reason I'm asking, is because right now, I am studying the story of creation. There are some people who believe when Moses wrote that God created everything in six days, it literally meant six actual days, and some people believe that it was not literal, and it really was six days to God, which could really have been thousands or even millions of years to us. I believe that, if God wanted this story included in the bible, it is because he thinks it is important for us to know how everything was created...otherwise he could have simply had Moses write something like 'God created everything from nothing and once everything was created, he created the first man' and then continue on from there...but instead he inspired Moses to write how everything was created, from the beginning of the desolate earth, to the formation of all life, stating clearly at what stage (day) each thing was created.

The above was just an example, and I don't want this to turn into a debate as to whether everything was created in six literal days or not, but I am wondering if it is possible for things in the bible like the above to be figurative, not literal, and if so, how do we know that it is not literal?

[Guest shiloh357]

When I am asking if things are literal, I really mean the things that can be taken as being literal. For example, when Genesis speaks of everything on the earth being created in six days and God resting on the seventh, was that to mean seven literal, 24h days, or not? How about the book 'Song of Songs' is that supposed to literally be about (or maybe written by?) a newly wed couple writing love poems back and forth to each other? Was Noah's flood literally world-wide and did he literally have two of every animal on the ark with him? If some of these things were not literal, than how do we know that?

(snip)

The above was just an example, and I don't want this to turn into a debate as to whether everything was created in six literal days or not, but I am wondering if it is possible for things in the bible like the above to be figurative, not literal, and if so, how do we know that it is not literal?

When the Bible is speaking in nonliteral terms, it gives you indicators in the text such as metaphors and similes. Absent those devices, the text should be understood in the literal (plain sense).