Apr 15

Apr 15 Question:

Questions are great. I love to question, and disagree, and suggest different ideas. Sometimes people think I question too much... I once had a lecturer at uni take me aside and tell me that I wasn’t allowed to ask any more questions unless they would be helpful for the rest of the class. Their point being that I can’t keep interrupting lectures just to satisfy my own curiosity! Whilst I had to learn where and when it was appropriate to ask questions... It didn’t stop me having them! We need to keep questioning. Especially where faith is involved!

Tom Wright is fast becoming a bit of a theological hero of mine... because he is a genius! But even he, in all his genius-ness, likes to say to his students

“At least 20% of what I am telling you is wrong, but I don’t know which 20% it is.”
Tom Wright, Justification

Tom knows its important to challenge what he says and ask questions because that's how we all learn and grow. And when trying to figure out who God is and how we are meant to live in harmony with Him and one another, we have to ask questions so we can make doubly, triply, quadruply sure we’re on the right track.

All that said, questions can be uncomfortable. People don’t like being disagreed with. And they really don’t like being proved wrong. Particularly where faith is involved. Our beliefs are precious to us and we cling on to them. And this is good. But its possible to get so protective of them that we end up missing the Truth right in front of us.

The pharisees fell into that trap. They got so protective of their rules and practices that when Jesus questioned them, rather than realize that the way he had interpreted the Jewish law was more like God had intended, they got angry and fought back. I care about what I believe because I’ve spent a lot of time forming those beliefs. But I don’t want to be a pharisee. I want to be prepared to have to re think my ideas if it means understanding God more and becoming more like Jesus.

Love him or hate him, I’ve found what Rob Bell has to say on this matter very helpful and very challenging. He opens his book Velvet Elvis talking about the importance of constantly questioning our faith. He describes 2 types of faith: one which is built like a brick wall and one like a trampoline.

In brick wall faith, each brick represents a different bit of theology - a different belief. It all fits nicely together and looks strong. But the problem with brick wall faith is that the moment you remove a brick, the whole wall is weaker and may eventually collapse.
In trampoline faith, the springs that hold the trampoline up are the theological beliefs. The springs aren’t God but they help us understand who God is. Because they aren’t God, we can feel free to flex and stretch them with our questions. And because the springs flex and stretch and have room to move they can handle our questions. Springs can even be easily removed or changed or swapped around and the trampoline still works effectively. Faith is secure - and fun to bounce on!!

I want my faith to be like this trampoline. And I’m learning how to let my springs be pulled about a bit. Despite liking being right... I’m even learning to be happy when I don’t know all the answers... And that’s because I’ve learned something about God.

God is massive! infinite even. He is beyond our understanding. And yet he wants us to know him. One of the amazing things about God becoming Jesus is that it showed that God wasn’t OK with being this distant, far off, entity that you can’t see or hear or really get your head around. So He became human - someone we could see, we could speak to, someone we could touch, walk with, go fishing with, have a BBQ on the beach with - all things his disciples did. God wants to make himself known to us. But knowing is a process. Getting to know a subject takes time, getting to know a person takes time. Getting to know Jesus took the disciples 3 years and a lot of questions. And even after he left them they spent years learning to understand what he had said to them, asking questions of one another.

Science, History, Archaeology, Biblical Study, experience, those around us - young people - all of these and more help us raise questions that develop our theology. We need to be people who are prepared to listen to what they have to teach us, be open enough with our precious beliefs to let them ask questions of what we think, and then humble enough to go and find the answers. Even if we end up thinking the same thing we already thought.

I’m learning to be ok with not knowing all the answers... yet. I know God can never be figured entirely out, but he does want me to pursue knowing him anyway! And that takes time. And even if I think I’ve found an answer, I’m sure that science, history, archaeology, some kind of experience, or something a young person says to me will shed some new light on something which means my springs will have to flex and adapt again. And that’s ok too. God is still God. And I don’t have to defend him, I just have to keep on searching. Which is what I’m doing.

Question: what are you doing?