Silence of the Scriptures If the Bible contains no scripture concerning a certain topic are we to interpret that as permitting and prohibiting? For instance, the Bible contains no specific commands or examples about driving a car. Should we then view that silence as God permitting the use of cars or prohibiting them? There is a third option; God may just have decided to leave the choice of driving cars up to us. Silence in and of itself is not an answer one way or the other. In John 8:3-7, we have the story of the woman caught in adultery. The religious leaders had brought this woman to Jesus and questioned Him as to His thoughts about how the law of Moses dealt with the issue. After they asked the first time Jesus kept silent and they continued asking Him. The scribes and Pharisees understood that Jesus' silence did not constitute an answer. 2 Samuel 7:1-7 tells us of King David's desire to build a temple for God. The prophet Nathan told David to "do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee." However Nathan did not consult with God before giving David that advice. Later God told Nathan to instruct the king that he would not be allowed to build the temple. God even said "In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar? (vs. 7)" David seemed to think that he could build the temple simply because he thought it was a good idea and God had not spoken previously about it. Our Heavenly Father decided that David needed permission to do such a thing for God. Biblical silence on an issue does not necessarily give us permission to do a certain thing. It also does not necessarily prohibit it. We must look to scripture as a whole before we decide on an issue. We must also use some common sense. Nowhere in the scripture does it specifically give us permission to have a church building. However common sense tells us that if the Bible tells us we are not to forsake "the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25) then there must of necessity be a place to "assemble" together. Let us always speak where the Bible speaks and keep silent where the Bible is silent. In Christ, Steve Preston Sign up for BibleTalk, short messages from God's word, by sending an email to bibletalk-subscribe@... or on the web at www.freegroups.net/groups/bibletalk.