Context illuminates: the macro view, church history, and 'how do you know'

• How do you know which parts of the Bible are literal or accurate and which are not?

The discussion deepens: backing out for context illuminates a text rather than absorbing or eliminating it; 'God is love' cannot be used to erase specific things God said, which forces the question of what love means; Jesus's own macro view was 'the law and the prophets,' which includes specific laws; two thousand years of church history weigh against novel readings nobody before considered; and hard clarity questions -- which parts are accurate, how do you know something isn't literal, did a church council alter the text -- expose a low view of God's ability to preserve his word. A tangent covers paraphrase translations, memorizing passages in archaic language, and how words like 'enemy' and 'grace' land differently today.