The Dangers of Arguing from Scripture’s Silence

To quote from another of my webpages:

Although the Old Testament clearly forbids men relating sexually with men, there is stony silence about the female equivalent – lesbianism. In fact, reference to women seems deliberately omitted:
Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (23) Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion (Leviticus 18:22-23)

By itself, the omission of reference to women in verse 22 does not seem to say a lot, but when read in context, it is startling, given the specific mention of women in the very next verse. One could build a seemingly strong, but seriously wrong, case from this peculiar omission that lesbianism must be acceptable to God. There in nothing in the Old Testament to clearly indicate otherwise. The gospels are also silent, as are the writings of Luke, James, Peter, John, Jude . . . Thankfully, God in his mercy included one verse (and only one) to protect us from making a disastrously wrong assumption (Romans 1:26). The Lord clearly, however, did not expect all the earlier generations to conclude that the Bible’s silence implies God’s neutrality on the subject.

Scripture’s silences are frustrating, but much of our frustration is because we often come to the Bible as if God has died and left a book of instructions. In reality, the Lord is our ever-present teacher and personal tutor. He has thoughtfully handed us a text book – a written summary of his teaching – but he is constantly with us to guide our reading of it and to help us with our questions.

The Bible is all that God wishes to reveal to humanity as a whole, but there are additional, personal things he wishes to whisper in the ears of individuals. Personal guidance is a glaring example. We sometimes think we need to know when we don’t, but when your need to know is genuine, God will reveal it to you as you seek him. Don’t, however, expect what he tells you to necessarily be identical to what he tells others, any more than you would expect the Lord to tell every Christian to go to Africa as a missionary.

Life would become oppressive and evangelism severely curtailed if we were to shun everything not specifically approved by Scripture.

For example, the Bible gives no divine approval for the use of microphones – or even electricity or glass windows – in churches, nor for reading Scripture in any form other than hand-written scrolls, nor for using anything faster than animals or sailing ships for international communication and missionary endeavor.

Scripture’s silence is not an invitation for us to dispute with each other, nor is it a license for us each to go our own way. It is a divine invitation for us to draw close to the heart of God, hear his intimate whispers, and joyfully honor him in holy submission to his greatness, delighting in his right to rule every aspect of our lives.