I think a good way is to look at some other religions and their use of metaphor. The Hindu epics are alien enough to western readers that annotations about metaphor layers seem a lot more plausible. I'll also note that Catholicism will outright tell you a prophecy can predict two things, say, both Jesus and the Maccabean Revolt. This is a truly excellent dodge and one I'm very fond of.
Alternatively, you could just refer to Hexbear's official Religious faith, the Tribunal Temple from Morrowind, with this line-by line analysis of the game's central religious text. He goes on at length about the deliberate use of metaphor and imagery in religious texts, and how to read a text with that metaphor in mind.
Finally, you can just read the bible where it will describe a dream/prophecy/symbolic event, have the characters explain the meaning, and then show it to be correct. This allows you to begin constructing a symbolic language for metaphor.
Fequently some asshole will have a dream that's fairly nonsensical to someone not trained in symbolic readings, and it's all "This angel ladder means god is now directly communing with humanity" or "These sheafs of wheat mean I get to own you nerds and also I'm going to become minister for agriculture".
I think a good way is to look at some other religions and their use of metaphor. The Hindu epics are alien enough to western readers that annotations about metaphor layers seem a lot more plausible. I'll also note that Catholicism will outright tell you a prophecy can predict two things, say, both Jesus and the Maccabean Revolt. This is a truly excellent dodge and one I'm very fond of.
Alternatively, you could just refer to Hexbear's official Religious faith, the Tribunal Temple from Morrowind, with this line-by line analysis of the game's central religious text. He goes on at length about the deliberate use of metaphor and imagery in religious texts, and how to read a text with that metaphor in mind.
Finally, you can just read the bible where it will describe a dream/prophecy/symbolic event, have the characters explain the meaning, and then show it to be correct. This allows you to begin constructing a symbolic language for metaphor.
Fequently some asshole will have a dream that's fairly nonsensical to someone not trained in symbolic readings, and it's all "This angel ladder means god is now directly communing with humanity" or "These sheafs of wheat mean I get to own you nerds and also I'm going to become minister for agriculture".
And the ending of the words is AlmSiVi