Q & A

MESSAGE: Faith's Questions (podcast)
SCRIPTURE: Luke 7.18-23

This passage from Luke teaches us by way of John the Baptist that it is okay to have questions about our faith, and that questions, rather than being a display of doubt, is actually a display of faith. Think about it: if you actually have a good, reasonable, honest question about faith, God, the Bible, Jesus, or whatever, and you have a sincere and honest desire to find a good satisfying question, and you are willing to believe the answers you find - that's going to take a lot of work. You'll have to study, you'll have to spend a lot of time in prayer, you might spend some time fasting - you'll ultimately have to spend a lot of time seeking God. And what could be more of a confirmation of faith than a desire to seek truth through God? All that to say that questions about faith are good, and we should be ready to ask them, and willing to seek the answers to them.

But what happens when people have questions about faith, but they don't have anyone to help them seek the answers? I discovered at least one answer to this question when I did a project for one of my seminary classes this past summer. I had to interview some peeps who had grown up in the church and ask them what they thought about the mission of the church now that they were adults. I interviewed three people and got a wide variety of responses. I asked questions like: Do you think the church has progressed or emerged in ways that satisfy the spiritual and social needs of people in your age demographic? and What do you think the mission of the church should be? That is to say, what do you think is the purpose of the church’s existence? and What problems or disagreements do you have with the church at this point in your life?

One guy that I interviewed did NOT have a good experience in the church as a kid, and has grown up to hate the church, hate the faith, and really, hate Jesus (this really is an accurate explanation of the way he feels - I'm not going overboard here. How do I know he feels this way? He's told me - he's not shy about sharing how he feels!). And at least to some extent, his attitude toward the church today is partially based upon the fact that nobody wanted or was willing to answer his questions about faith when he was a teenager. I asked him this question: If you could give the church one piece of advice, what would it be? His answer is as follows:

“I feel the church didn’t stick with the younger people who they indoctrinated as children, who then grew up and started thinking for themselves. Rather than assist in the thought-process and exploration, they are too quick to tell you to “just believe what you were taught and don’t ask questions.”

Wow! Did you hear that? Read that again, because I think it's a very telling statement. Now let's get one thing clear: this guy is still responsible for his own salvation. That is to say that the excuse of "the church didn't help me when I had questions" isn't going to garner any mercy from God. Each man and woman is responsible to make a decision about Jesus, regardless of what someone or some church did or did not do to/for them. But still, I think it's a shame that when an individual comes to a religious establishment with honest questions about faith and God, the church tells them to be quiet and just believe because we said so. You will NOT find this kind of attitude towards questions about faith in scripture at all. That's obvious just from the passage we looked at at SHOUT last week - faithful, God-fearing Christians can have questions...and they can receive real, honest answers.

I was talking to a lady at church recently about our Christian Education ministries (Sunday School, Bible studies, Children's Church, etc.), and we were talking about what a person should be able to do as a Christian as a result of being a part of our Christian Education ministries. This lady has a young son, and she replied that when her son has grown into a mature follower of Christ, she wants him to be able to think - to be able to look at God, have a question, seek out an answer, realize truth when they find it, and believe it. Could there be a more valuable skill? To ask questions and to work to find true answers, and when found, exercise faith and believe? All Christians should be able to do this. In fact, I really believe that this is the foundation of faith - to be able to ask, receive, and believe.

Questions about faith and God aren't necessarily bad, but they do represent at least a bit of a danger. Most of the time people ask questions because they're trying to justify themselves in some way. What does that mean? It means that there's some part of the Christian life that doesn't really fit with what they want to do. For example, Christianity calls for repentance - turning from sin. Some people are ok with that - at least in most areas - but there are usually some areas where God and faith aren't allowed. There are some things that people don't want to give up, some areas of their lives that they don't want to surrender to Jesus. Thus they ask questions that plead their case - questions that justify their specific behavior or lack of belief, usually appealing to some cultural norm, or saying something like, "That was the way they did it back in Bible times. We don't have to do things like that today."

Also, questions can be dangerous because people tend to not believe the answers they're given, and they ask more questions. A lot of times if someone gets a biblical, honest answer from scripture, they don't want to believe it because it doesn't fit their lifestyle (see above), so they ask more questions until they find an answer that they like and that DOES fit their lifestyle. There is no faith in this. This is doubt. This is receiving a clear answer to a question from God, and denying it's truth. This is sin.

I mentioned at SHOUT this past week that sometimes it's discouraging to be behind a pulpit and hearing a chorus of "Amen's" from the congregation (don't get me wrong, I really appreciate it when people "Amen" me from the congregation - it's just that some times I feel that people switch their brain to "Amen" mode when they walk into church. People need to realize that things aren't true because the pastor says them - they are true because they are true). That is to say that I don't want you to particularly "Amen" what I'm saying simply because I'm saying it from behind a pulpit with assumed authority just because of my position. By all means, feel free to "Amen" all you like, but only after you've asked, received, and believed.