Literal meaning is just one of the messages that God is giving us.
John’s words are God’s words. One big Book.
Your logic is based on a faulty premise.
Only they aren’t. They are John’s words describing his revelation. In Genesis we have a quote from God.
What about Paul’s words?
Who did the “revealing” to John?
How can you be sure that Moses didn’t misquote the exact words that he said God had said?
2 Samuel 6:14
And David danced before the Lord with all his might
Why not just state what that is? Just give literal proof from Genesis, that the serpent was Satan. Literal proof being him referred to as Satan. That’s what literal means.
If you can’t, and you can’t, then just admit that in Genesis there is no evidence that the serpent was Satan (the fact you need to refer to Revelation proves that). Therefore, your belief that it was Satan is an interpretation that you and others believe but which is not the only interpretation and those other interpretations, though you may not agree with them, are just as valid as yours since you are not the final authority on the Bible. In short, you will be admitting that you do not take a literal interpretation of scripture (only weirdos do anyway). This is proven by the objective fact that you cannot provide literal evidence that John was saying the serpent in Eden was Satan. Again, it is an interpretation you were told and which you believe.
And this gets to your faulty reading of the Bible; you seek clarity, which does not exist. This is a theological work, not scientific. Thinking theologically, which most people cannot do, seeking clarity in the Bible is pointless. See, it doesn’t matter if the serpent in Eden was Satan. Trying to find some evidence to prove that is, in the end, pointless. It changes nothing theologically. Reading the Bible theologically, you can admit you don’t know. But you can’t do this; you need to have an answer or explanation for everything and this leads you to confuse literal meaning, figurative meaning and interpretation.
So you can believe John was referring to Satan but it is your opinion. Your belief. Your interpretation. But it isn’t literal. It most certainly is not an objective fact within the text. A person who can think theologically would say, “John COULD be referring to Eden and the serpent, but we can’t know for sure. There are other valid readings of Revelation.” They would also be satisfied with that answer as they could accept not knowing. Part of faith is accepting there are ambiguities and mysteries that may be revealed one day but for the moment are really not that important with regard to one’s relationship with God.
Why ask a question when you don’t believe the premise it hinges on? This is a peculiar tactic to use in a discussion. You don’t believe Moses misquoted God so how about you answer your own question?
Point of order.
It should be YHVH which is translated as the LORD (all caps) in the KJV and sometimes GOD (all caps). Elohim is translated God.
He would have said Jesus. But was he told these things by Jesus or God or were they shown to him in images? He does describe what he saw and mentions what angels said. So in effect, he is not transcribing God’s words.
Once again, the passage has a literal meaning.
The remainder of you post just differs with the method that I commune with God in His written word.
Good for you, you went into great detail to win a disagreement with the word serpent.
For you to add credibility to your position on the serpent, could you interpret Genesis 3:15 where it makes some sense in the context of the passage?
No. It has a meaning. The meaning can be understood literally or figuratively (in need of interpretation, possibly can have more than one meaning).
Is your way the only way? The only valid way?
I am trying to understand you, not trick you with a tactic, other than actually trying to understand what God is saying in the Bible.
Where does the quote from God in Genesis start and where does it end?
I need clarity here. I didn’t what to assume that you are saying that Genesis in its entirety is a quote from God. Even though, that is what I believe.
Easy. Snakes bite our heels, we smash their heads. One constant across many cultures is fear and revulsion of snakes. Many snakes don’t seem to like people that much either. There is the enmity God spoke of.
Do you believe that the verse in that passage has a spiritual message?
I already posted it. It starts at Genesis 3:14.
Then maybe religion isn’t for you.
It;s not however, if you believe that Genesis or the entire Bible all came from the “mouth” of God, then to call it a long quote can be tricky as it is written in the third person much of the time. How does one describe Revelation when John says “I” saw? So technically, it could maybe be called one long quote from God but that can lead to misunderstandings when we have quotes from other protagonists in the Bible. We would then have to say, “God said that Job said… God said that Noah said…”
It never has been. I am all Bible. Don’t expect me to enter into conversations about religion.
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An unnecessary constraint
When did the quote end?
How can you be certain that God actually said those words?