What the Bible is, and is not

When we read the Bible, we must understand what is and what it is not. The Bible is the inspired word of God, given to the human race as a guide to direct us in all matters of faith and practice. It is the revelation of God given to us to tell us things about God, ourselves, and spiritual matters that we have no other way to know. It is in essence a love letter from God to mankind, telling us of His love for us and the great lengths He is willing to go to in order to restore a relationship with Him. A relationship which we turned our backs on. It is our rebellious nature that needs to be fixed in order to be have a right relationship with God.
When the Bible speaks on a subject, it speaks authoritatively and truthfully. We must, however, be careful to accurately dig out the meaning of scripture. How often have cults or misguided spiritual leaders twisted scripture to support their own perspective. If we are to be diligent in our efforts to determine the true meaning of scripture, we must dedicate ourselves to study. By prayerful study and being open to learning from qualified, godly teachers, we will do well in our efforts to learn the true message of the Bible.
Now we must talk about what the Bible is not. For this discussion I must say the Bible is not a science text. The goal of scripture is not to teach us science. When scripture touches on science, it speaks with authority, but we must be careful in how we interpret it. When scripture says 'the sun rises', it does not mean that the Earth is stationary and the sun is revolving around the Earth. That was the teaching of the Church in the middle ages, but we no longer believe that; science has revealed that our planet is not the center of the universe, that it in fact moves around the sun. The world is not flat. When scripture says 'the sun rises', it means from the perspective of the viewer, the sun appears to rise in the sky. Do you now see what I mean about being careful when we interpret scripture. Look at it this way; how many of you would have surgery performed by a doctor whose only knowledge of surgery was learned from the Bible. Or, how many of you would fly in an airplane built by an engineer whose only knowledge of aeronautics was learned from the Bible. Why do we then settle for an interpretation of the physical creation based only on what the Bible says about it? God tells us in Romans 1:19-20, that He reveals Himself in creation. He has also given us the tools to study the creation, the sciences, even if we are imperfect in how we use the sciences. We must be as diligent when we interpret the findings of science as we are when we interpret scripture, and we must sometimes question the motives of some scientists as we must sometimes question the motives of certain religious leaders.