Is the Bible only relevant to faith and salvation?

Brothers,

I am responding on the article I read about ET and other intelligent life.

The arguments presented from the Bible seem to me a stretch. As a believer my self I would like to say, that there is no use in using the Bible to justify or tell us how to think about issues similar to ET’s. I understand that some people might begin to religiously believe on those events. But I say that those people were not true believers of the word of God to begin with. Once someone is established and a relationship between the creator and us has begun, you need not look any further. God will give the answers that you seek. God never spoke of the world being round or flat, yet religion somehow said it was. God didn’t speak about ET’s and if there are or aren’t it is NOT relevant to salvation, faith, redemption, believing, understanding, prayer, awareness, love, and all the other gifts that come along the road once someone has grasped the rope that our father is pulling us from.

Debating and trying to find answers for every human experience from the Bible it is not possible. The grace and light of God is manifested in us, there we shall find the rest and peace. Better that disputing, don’t waste your breath shut your mouth if what you are saying is not stemmed from the spirit himself. For only what is of relevance and critical to our faith and salvation it’s written.

May God stand in your side and help you write ONLY the information that will click open the doors of our hearts,

Jose R. Soto

Jose,

If you had been specific about just which arguments we used that you thought were ‘a stretch’, we might be able to respond specifically either to justify those arguments or adjust them if they are indeed deficient.

There seems to be a principle of Bible understanding at issue here. Is the Bible ‘just about faith’ or does it speak with authority on other issues?

Some statements of faith used by supposedly evangelical institutions say that they believe that the Bible ‘is authoritative in all matters of faith and practice’. This deficient statement leaves open the possibility that the Bible might speak error in matters that are not related to ‘faith and practice’ such as on history, science, geography, etc. However, if the Bible is the inspired Word of God, it must speak accurately on all that it mentions. See the article, The Authority of the Bible. If the Bible were in error on something that you could check, why should you believe it on things you could not check (e.g. ‘matters of faith and practice’)? Indeed Jesus made this very point ‘If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?’ (John 3:12).

Of course the Bible does not speak specifically about everything (for example, to be silly, ‘Which brand of toothpaste should I use?’). However, you can be sure that whenever the issue impinges upon the biblical worldview, or a moral/philosophical issue, then there are principles that the Bible teaches that help us to chart a biblical course—issues like euthanasia, abortion, cloning, etc.

And the issue of extra-terrestrial life is certainly an issue that impinges on the biblical worldview, as explained in the articles on this website. In all our work we try to get Christians to think consistently from a Christian worldview (see the latter part of article with the diagram of ‘The Seven C’s’). We stand on biblical ground here, since the Apostle Paul said that he was ‘casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5, NKJV). Note that it says ‘every thought’, not just those that might seem to relate directly to salvation.

Also our website exists not just for believers, as your email seems to suggest. And one of our main aims is to equip believers with the resources to be effective in sharing their faith with unbelievers. One of the most common questions non-Christians ask is, ‘What about UFOs/extra-terrestrial life?’ That’s why one of the chapters in The Answers Book is devoted to this question, and why we also deal with it on our website.

Sincerely,

Dr Don Batten