Isn’t the Bible just a collection of stories that have been embellished over the course of hundreds of years so the original stories are lost? Why do we not also hold Kiplings’s Just So Stories in as high regard? The stories are just as fantasized as the Bible stories.
— A participant at the 2010 Portland, Oregon, Youth Summit
A. This is a great historical question, one that every sincere Bible student asks. I think I would say that the answer to your first question is yes.
I don’t think the original intent of the stories is at all lost, however. While they have been redacted, edited, and perhaps, as you say, “embellished” over the centuries, this in no way diminishes their primary purpose. These stories continue to be great instruments of teaching, building a moral foundation for humankind and providing wise insights on how we can all live together in peace.
