Packing Lunches and Bible Silence

A common response to biblical teaching on most any subject is ""Show me where it says we can't."" Just show me where it says ""Thou shall not have a piano"" or ""Thou shall not sprinkle babies"" or ""Do not ever use anything on the Lord's table but unleavened bread and grape juice."" These challenges are difficult to meet. Everyone knows the passage of scripture being requested does not exist. No passage explicitly spells out direct prohibitions of any of the items just mentioned. Thus, many feel justified in these practices. Why? Because the Bible doesn't say we can't.

Such thinking cannot stand the test of scripture. The Bible is clear that God's people are only free to act in the presence of positive instruction. A host of scriptures can be marshaled to demonstrate that man has to be told what to do, for it is not in man to direct his own steps (Jer. 10:23; note David and Nathan's wrong assumptions in 2 Sam. 7). Yet without appealing to any sophisticated argumentation concerning the silence of the scriptures I can demonstrate easily that biblical silence is not permissive. All I need to do is talk with my eight-year old daughter, Sara.

Sara takes a lunch to school every day. A few weeks ago Dena was to be out of town, leaving ol' Dad in charge of domestic responsibilities. I kidded Sara endlessly that there was no telling what might show up in her lunch. Dads don't know how to make lunch - she might get candy bars and canned ham, or worse, something still alive! Sara did seem some concerned. She finally disappeared into the kitchen, emerging some time later with a comprehensive list of what was to be packed in each day's lunch. She took me by the hand and guided me around the kitchen, showing me where everything was and how it was to be put together in her lunch. Assured all would be well, off to bed she trundled. Somewhat dismayed that (1) my fun of teasing Sara about her lunch was over and (2) that she really thought I needed lessons on how to properly build a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I tried to decide what to do. With delight I found a small plastic rhinoceros figure and bagged it with Sara's PB & J sandwich. ""You never know what's in your lunch today, Sara. Maybe a wild animal!"" I said jokingly the next morning. ""Dad!"" Sara groaned. When school let out, I gleefully asked if anything unusual had been found in her lunch. ""Yes,"" Sara allowed. ""There was a rhino in my sandwich!"" ""Well,"" I responded, ""Nowhere on that list did it say I couldn't pack a rhino."" With exasperation Sara said ""Dad, I gave you the pack list. Not the no-pack list!""

Read that last sentence carefully. It shows clearly that an eight year old child understands the nature of positive instruction and the absolute lack of any need for endless prohibitions and ""thou shalt nots."" Sara was saying, very seriously I might add, that when she gave me the list of what to put in her lunch, that excluded everything else. This was what goes in. This was the ""pack list."" Thus, since the pack list eliminates everything else, there was no need for a ""no pack"" list. Sara didn't think she needed to tell me ""No rhinos, no spinach, no Brussel sprouts, no live snakes."" By telling me what to pack for lunch she had effectively done away with the need for a ""no pack"" list. I was expected to simply pack what she told me to pack. Simple. Easy. No need for a ""no pack"" list. Her silence on the rhino issue did not, I assure you, mean that putting rhinos in her lunch was okay!

The application to our service before God is plain. The Lord has given us a ""pack list."" He has told us to put in singing (Eph. 5:19). There is, therefore, no need for Him to issue a ""no pack list"" with exhaustive and detailed listing of everything He doesn't want. Singing is on the pack list. Put it in. Fruit of the vine and unleavened bread are on the ""pack list"" (Matt. 26:26ff). Put them in. Baptizing adults who confess faith in Jesus Christ as God's Son and who turn from sin are on the ""pack list"" (Acts 2:38). Put them in too. Don't run around asking the Lord to tell us all the things not to pack, or decide that since God didn't say explicitly ""Thou shalt not"" we can go ahead. Follow the pack list, knowing that when we do so we please God. What more is there?

Could I add here that this business of silence not granting permission is manifestly not a ""preacher rule."" This is another favorite dodge of those who are determined to do what God has not told them to do. When approached about their lack of divine authority for what they are doing, the whole idea of finding Bible authority is denigrated and made fun of. ""Legalist!"" ""Direct command, apostolic example and necessary inferences - some preacher just made that up."" Indeed not. The principles by which God instructs are simple communication principles. They are used every day in every walk of life by ordinary people, even eight year olds. Even my daughter knows that when I send her into the store to buy a loaf of bread, my positive instruction to buy bread excludes her buying candy. I don't have to say ""And no candy!"" I gave the pack list and that is sufficient. The no-pack list is not needed. Sara understands this and applied it (ruthlessly) to her dad and the rhino. If an eight year old understands this matter, shouldn't responsible adults, supposedly interested in serving God according to the scriptures, be able to get a handle on it?

I could argue from Hebrews 7:14ff that the Bible itself sets forth the principle of silence not being submissive (because it does). I could affirm from Noah's example that God never forbade other woods, but simply authorized gopher wood and Noah knew what that meant. I could turn to many other scriptures and develop these ideas. However, such seems unnecessary. From now on I'm just going to ask folks if they know what a ""pack list"" is. And I'm not going to put any more rhinos in Sara's sandwiches!