Comment Re:So says the religious guy. (Score 1) 1237
Once you start to interpret the Bible as allegory rather than take it at face value, it becomes possible to make it mean almost anything you like, and is therefore reduced to an interesting curiosity like the prophecies of Nostradamus.
There is a wide variety of literature between non-fiction and fiction. To be an allegory does not mean that you can take it to mean whatever you want it to mean. The correct way to understand an allegory is to understand the intended meaning of the author.
As is readily apparent from the text, the historical context, and how later authors quoted this work, the author of the creation story intends to convey that God is the author of creation and that creation is good. Details such as how long creation took and the order of events are not meant as scientific facts.
Consider a different form, which you may be more familiar with: Stephen Colbert uses satire. This is neither meant to be taken literally, nor is it meant for the audience to understand it however they wish. The audience is intended to understand (and usually does understand) what Colbert means, even though he does not say it.