[zeek]

Originally Posted by awareness

Based upon what I grew up with, the Bible was not meant to be read symbolically.

I thought your problem with religion was based on the religion you grew up with. Now it seems your defending it. I don't get it.

And those in the past that did read it that way did not produce orthodoxy. The orthodox way prevails.

Not true. Orthodoxy is highly symbolic. Here are examples from a cursory Google search:

The Church is both material and spiritual. Things in the material
world are on earth and include a building and objects used for services.
Those things that are of the spirit are revealed to us through symbols.
The word symbol comes from the Greek words “syn” and “balo”
which means to bring two things together and place them side by side.
There is a difference between a sign and a symbol. A sign shows
something we can see or think about. A symbol shows more.
To understand a sign is to translate the meaning of an object to another object, event, thought, or idea.
To understand a symbol is to participate in something spiritual. Symbols represent knowledge of God and things eternal.
The Orthodox Church has a history of more than two thousand years
and a rich tradition of signs and symbols that still today help people to
understand the Faith. Because signs and symbols do not use words,
anyone of any language can understand their meaning.
LIGHT - The Church uses candles to symbolize Christ, the Light of
the world, as well as the mystical presence of God as the Uncreated
Light. Candles are a way of communicating our reverence for the
Holy. A candle set before an icon helps us to communicate our prayer
to Christ, the Theotokos, or a Saint.
INCENSE - The Orthodox Church follows the Bible in its use of
incense. Incense is the symbol of the rising of our prayers to God,
to His Saints and Angels, and of the sweet-smelling fragrance of the
Kingdom of God.
ALPHA - OMEGA (first and last letters of Greek alphabet) - Jesus
Christ, the beginning and the end of all things
CIRCLE - Eternity, the Kingdom of God
CROWN - Christ the King; royal martyrs, “the crown of life”
EYE - the “all-seeing eye of God” - God is omnipresent (everywhere)
FISH - the initial letters in Greek: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior”
form the word ICHTHUS, which means “fish”
FLAME - God’s energies, God’s Uncreated Light, God’s presence
OIL - God’s healing, blessing, forgiveness; “seal of the Holy Spirit”
STAFF - Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd, God’s guidance
SUN - Jesus Christ, the “Sun of Righteousness,” the source of Light
TRIANGLE - The Trinity - one God in three persons, undivided
VINE - Jesus Christ the Savior; grapes symbolize Holy Communion
WHEAT/BREAD - Christ the Bread of Life, Eternal Life
Source: https://stmichaeljermyn.org/files/CH...doxSymbols.pdf

https://www.atlantaserbs.com/learnmo...dox_symbol.htm

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14373b.htm

https://www.patheos.com/library/prot...lism/symbolism

But then, speaking of the ascension, the first quandary is when did it take place? One account has it 40 days after the resurrection, and another has it happening right after the resurrection. A spiritual symbolic reading doesn't help that, nor does it provide a deeper or higher meaning. Reading it symbolically leave us guessing as to meaning. Where Jesus ascending to the Father doesn't. It doesn't require reading it symbolically. Factual does the job.

Those are historical, factual and/or textual problems not symbolic ones. The 40 days clearly has a symbolic meaning as shown here: https://jesusalive.cc/number-forty-s...ance-in-bible/

But doesn't a symbolic reading strip out the historicity of Bible accounts?

I don't see how. Why would that be?

That way means that Jesus rose after 3 days because every month the moon dies and rises from its death after 3 days. And the 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 disciples, represent the 12 signs of zodiac.
Does that provide a higher degree of meaning?

The cycles of the moon and the signs of the zodiac are heavenly patterns from a traditional point of view. The microcosm reiterates the macrocosm. It's like a fractal. The traditional principle was "as above, so below". Jesus taught his disciples to pray 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Looking at event cosmically certainly does imbue them with a higher degree of meaning. Symbols are doors connecting the phenomenal to the spiritual world.