Posts Tagged: the use and abuse of questions

“QUESTIONING OUR ANSWERS”

On November 5, 2023 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

“Luke 20:3 He [Jesus] answered them, “I also will ask you a question.” (English Standard Version)

We all would like to have our questions answered. However, as I get older, I tend to question my answers a lot more often than I used to. You probably have questions about the preceding sentence. Let me anticipate your questions by giving you some non-answers.

I am teaching an online biblical studies course right now on how to interpret the Bible. The technical term for the art of interpretation is ‘hermeneutics’. One of the brilliant things that this biblical hermeneutics course does is that it asks students to ask questions of the passage from the Bible that they have chosen to study and explain. They are not initially to make statements.

No, I did not craft the course, so I can’t take credit for this approach. And I admit that at first, I was a bit skeptical about encouraging students’ questions. You might say that I had some questions about this approach. However, I’ve come around. Why? I finally realized that, when you make statements, you think you already know the answers. When you ask questions, you show that you are still learning.

And the problem is not simply that if you make a statement about the Bible. you may be wrong. Of course, that is possible, and questions might help you to avoid such a pitfall. But the usefulness of questions cuts even deeper than that. A good question helps us to understand more deeply, even when we are fundamentally correct.

This is a broader principle even than biblical hermeneutics. If I am talking to my wife or a friend or a stranger, and I ask one or more good questions, I stand a very good chance of coming to understand and love my wife or a friend or a stranger better. Furthermore, I am honoring them with my questions.

Of course it is possible to ask the wrong questions of the Bible, or my wife, or anyone. It is also possible to ask too many questions or to ask the right question at the wrong time. Like all good things, questions can be abused and abusive. But that doesn’t negate the fact that many questions are fundamentally good things.

It is often said that Jesus is the answer. That is, I think, profoundly true in some ways. On the other hand, as someone has said, “Jesus is the also the question to all our answers.” This is an equally profound truth.

A quick google search suggests that Jesus asked 307 questions, according to the four writers of the Gospels. Jesus was asked 183 questions. He only answered 3 of these 183 questions directly. I’m not sure how accurate this is, but even if it is close to right, it shows how much Jesus valued questions.

Those of us who say we follow Jesus might want to ask ourselves some serious questions about how much we value questions. If Jesus was such a questioner, and if we claim to follow him, perhaps we need to be a lot more inquisitive and considerably less impressed with our answers.

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