THE BIBLE IS NOT A BOOK OF ALL KNOWLEDGE- BY PASTOR GREG ELKAN

_I have seen a limit to all perfection: but your commandment is exceedingly broad.”_ – Psa 119:96 

There’s a thin line between poetic eulogy and extreme literalism; and this is even more important when it comes to the Bible. There are many glowing tributes about the vastness and comprehensiveness of God’s Word: how it has a message for every profession, and how it covers every known topic. 

Manifestly poetic as these statements are, there are Christian who take them literally, and assay to receive insights from the Bible about _everything_ in their life – from the location of far-out galaxies, to the kind of diet they’re to live on, to the identity of the wife that they are to marry! 

People who approach the Bible with this mentality evidently do not know the purpose of the Bible. The Bible is a compendium of God’s wisdom to us, not an encyclopaedia of _all_ wisdom in the world. While the Bible is factual in everything it touches, it does not contain facts about everything. 

To be fair, reading the Bible does give that impression. Take science, for example. The inspired authors – living in primitive times – declared that the Earth is round (Is 40:21-22; Pr 8:27; Job 26:10), that the Earth is suspended in space (Job 26:7), that there are underground roads at the bottom of the oceans, (Ps 8:8), that there are springs supplying waters to the oceans (Job 38:16), and that there’re mountains at the bottom of the seas (Jon 2:5-6)! 

With the verification of these claims by modern science, it is easy to get so enthralled by the Bible’s scientific accuracy that you start looking at the Bible as a scientific book. It isn’t. And a keen Bible student would observe that all the above statements, accurate as they may be, were made while talking about something _else!_  

And that “else” is what we must always focus on. The core message of the Bible is SALVATION (Dt 29:29; Joh 20:31; 2Ti3:15,16). While it presents this message through a rich variety of media: histories, anthologies, genealogies, songs, correspondences, prophecies etc; we must not get so fascinated with the

_incidental_ truths they hold to the point where we leave the main message and latch on to them.

As has been stated severally here on _The Word For Today,_ “The Bible does not teach everything. It does, however, teach _everything_ we need to know about salvation and eternal life!”

AMEN...

PASTOR GREG ELKAN

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

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