More than five hundred years ago a man named Copernicus challenged the current belief that the earth was the center of the universe. Instead, he said the sun was the center. He wrote a book about his belief and the Catholic Church branded him a heretic demanding that no one read his writings. He died before anything else could be done to him such as excommunication. Then roughly 100 years later, a man named Galileo confirmed his belief also that the sun was the center of our universe. He was branded a heretic and the church confined him to home prison for the rest of his life. One of the Bible verses that the Catholic Church used to justify this was when Joshua, under the instructions of God, told the sun to not move so the Israelites could have enough time to win their battle. Today we would consider this argument ridiculous. Our modern technology sides with Copernicus and Galileo. However, because of the misuse of Scripture, these men were both persecuted.
If the leaders of the church at that time would have been more familiar with the Scripture, they would not have persecuted these men. Had they properly used the Bible for their resource, they would have noticed that Isaiah 40:22 spoke of the circle of the earth, also challenging that the earth was flat. The Bible is not intended by God to be a science book. Still, when the Bible refers to something that is relative to science it is always right! For instance, Psalm 135:7 speaks of vapors, lightning with rain, and wind. Psalm 136: 7-9 speaks of light, the sun, and the moon. Job 38:31 mentions constellations. Job 39: 13-29 discusses the habits of an ostrich. Of great interest to me in the past was Proverbs 6:6 that speaks of the ant and how they gather food for the winter without a leader.
So many times, people use Scripture as a way to justify their behavior while at the same time they ignore specific Bible verses that condemns their behavior. An example of this is the admonition by God that we should love one another. However, God condemns homosexuality in various verses such as Romans 1.
We must take the Bible as it is written. We must not put our own spin on Scriptures as a verification that our preconceived lifestyle or attitude, or sinful behavior or rejection of Christ is valid. In the same way the Bible was not written to be a science book, is also not written for people to manipulated to only apply what God says to their daily lives. If the verse that you read in the Bible pricks your heart, it very likely the Holy Spirit is telling you that you should pay attention to something about the way you live.
Of most importance, and what is often rejected by people, is Jesus who said he is the only way to the Father. Just because we don’t understand fully what that means, we cannot stand with people like Oprah Winfrey who says she does not believe there is only one way to go to heaven. She uses her own thinking that is prejudicial against God’s Word. Since she is so popular, just think how many people she is influencing who will end up in hell! The cliché is correct: God said, and I believe it.
Christian Writer 