You do not believe the Bible is 100 percent literally true.No one does.You may claim the Bible is the unerring, verbatim word of God. You may firmly believe the Bible’s commands, the holiest of laws, are to be followed to the letter.That’s fine. You still do not follow all of its commandments.How do I know this? Because you’re reading this article.Matthew 18:9 says, “And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”Matthew 5:28 says, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”It seems few LSU students really take these words as law. If they did, there would be far fewer guys sporting eyeballs on campus.And all you devout women  — do you like participating in church?1 Corinthians 14:34 commands that: “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says.”This makes “get back in the kitchen” look progressive in terms of gender equality.Most of us believe slavery is wrong. Yet 1 Timothy 6:1-5 insists that “all who are under the yoke of slavery … who have believing masters … must serve all the better since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved.”If anybody really believed this passage, we’d view Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass in a completely different light.This is just from the New Testament. The arcane laws, personal behavior commandments and exhortations to genocide the Old Testament contains are enough to make even the most literal-minded theologian question its utterly inerrant applications to our lives.There’s absolutely nothing wrong with believing the Bible, taking its commands as law, and following its guidelines as a way to live your life.The Bible is full of some of the most beautiful language in history. It contains calls to human compassion, self-sacrifice and love for your fellow man that are as applicable to the age in which we live as the age in which it was written. It’s as good a book as any to take advice for living your life.But the book was written centuries ago. Unless you believe the writers received the words verbatim from the spirit of God — word for prophetic word — it seems impossible to deny that the times have changed.If the Bible were a simple rule book, most major denominations wouldn’t require a doctorate in divinity before they can preach on it. When consulting the Bible on almost any issue, there are arguments to be made for and against, either in direct quotes or through contextual analysis.The issue of biblical literacy is just as relevant now as it has ever been.Those who oppose gay    marriage — or in extreme cases, gay rights at all — often find justification within the pages of the Bible for their arguments.Likewise, those who oppose the teaching of evolution in school point to the creation story in Genesis as evidence that the theory is untrue.Because opposition to these issues, among others, is so vocal among some Christian communities, it can begin to seem like all Christians take the same stand on them.This is the simple truth: We don’t.It is entirely possible for a Christian to believe that gays should get married. It is certainly possible for a Christian to believe in evolution.The Bible is not a list of formulas. It is not a physics textbook, providing in concise, unquestionable language the method for solving each problem.It is more like a law textbook. Within the huge volumes of its prose, different interpretations can and do occur on almost any of the subjects on which it speaks.Don’t believe Christianity is a religion of lock-step conformity, where bibles and priests move the flock like drones. On the contrary, there are churches of all stripes. There are churches that welcome gays, even churches with gay pastors. There are churches that teach evolutionary theory alongside the story of Adam and Eve. None of these place any less reverence on the Bible than their contemporaries who march at funerals, yelling, “God hates fags.”The Bible is a wonderful book, one that has stood the test of time and is still a guiding compass for millions around the world.It is not such a book because of indoctrination, but because it is a book that speaks to everyone — and speaks to everyone differently.And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.–Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]