Bill O'Reilly must have had quite the "road to Damascus" moment because he certainly has fallen off his high horse with regard to his evolution on, yes, evolution! In 2009, he bloviated that Jesus guided evolution and that science still hasn't "figured it out." In 2011 O'Reilly, in a heated argument with atheist Richard Dawkins, said that he was a creationist. That same year, he dismissed the scientific basis for the tides. Not only does he now embrace science, but he feels that it's his duty to lecture fundamentalist Christians, who interpret the Bible literally, on how their beliefs aren't scientific. Last week, he chided the producers of the History Channel's "The Bible" on their beliefs - and pimped is upcoming book on Jesus. In a subsequent "Tip of the Day" he suggested that those who don't share his views on the bible as allegory are like jihdadists. And last night, he continued his biblical exegesis with Pastor Robert Jeffress - and pimped his book. Meanwhile, Catholic O'Reilly doesn't seem to care about Jeffress' anti-Catholic views. Go figure!
Bill pressed Jeffress on Adam and Eve. He told Jeffress that if he believes in the Garden of Eden story, he's rejecting science because the story is "incompatible with science." Jeffress said he believed that the universe began millions of years ago. Bill mentioned that his Catholic education taught him that the stories in the Bible are allegories. He referenced Old Testament passages about stoning people and owning slaves. That Bill is not the biblical scholar that he thinks he is was shown by his comment that Jesus didn't want to stone anyone or have slaves when Jesus has not been recorded as saying anything about slavery. Bill noted that he knows that Jesus spoke in parables because "I'm researching Jesus for my book." Bill invoked human reason in citing how the situation in the story of Jonah "doesn't happen."
When Jeffress went to the Virgin Birth, Bill got a little huffy in asserting a difference between the Old and New Testament. (LOL, I don't think Bill would be down with the idea that Jesus is just another Middle Eastern Osiris type of resurrected divinity!) After saying that it's possible that Jonah could have survived in a whale, it isn't possible that Jesus would embrace the stoning of people or the enslavement of people. Bill was impatient as he continued his lecture about how you don't have to take the bible literally to get the theological message. (Hey Bill, how bout that Catholic eating the body of Christ thing?) In concluding, Bill pimped Jeffress' new book.
First, why is staunch and devout Catholic Bill O'Reilly giving air time to a guy who said that "Satan is behind the Catholic Church." And second, why is Bill trying to convince Jeffress that his view of the Bible is wrong? After all, in his Tip of the Day, didn't Bill admonish his critics that "a strong belief system is a very good thing, if your faith helps you and others. But if you're judgmental and demand people believe the way that you do, that's a very bad thing as we see with the jihad movement." When Luke said "physician, heal thyself," we know that he wasn't literally talking about doctors - but he sure could have been talking about Bill O'Reilly!
However, I have been unable to find any confirmation of that anywhere.