That seems to be only marginally on topic for this context. But if that is what you are interested in, I can give other extreme examples. In the Talmud, an-eye-for-any-eye is interpreted as meaning monetary damages. Also, in the Talmud, the section of Deuternomy 21 which mandates a death penalty for rebellious children is interpreted in a way such that it becomes close to physically impossible for a child to trigger it even if they want to (they need to steal a large amount of money from their parents, take the money to purchase an extremely large quantity of meat and wine, and then consume it all, and all of this needs to happen in a short time span). The Talmud then asks the question about why the Bible would have such a rule if it would obviously never trigger, and it replies that it was placed there so that there would be more text for scholars to study.
That's interesting. Do you have references and the time to post them?
Background: Apostles' Creed, Tsuyoku Naritai
Related to: A Parable on Obsolete Ideologies
Just something I thought I might add to the annals of cases where someone tries to re-interpret an old religious text to mean something more acceptable to the modern ear, in contradiction to what most people (especially its contemporaries) think the texts mean. And this is not some random person, but Gene Callahan, who makes sure you understand he holds a doctorate in philosophy, and pretty much makes a career out of defending this and anti-reductionist views in general. Here's the post:
I suggested that this is not what most people mean when they say the Creed, but (surprise) the comment was deleted.
(Yes I know Tsuyoku Naritai is not quite the same as Callahan's interpretation, but it's the closest short LW term for the general idea.)