Questioning

I like to think that in the last few years I have learned a lot. I mean, a WHOLE lot. When they say college changes you, they mean it. I think, however, it wasn’t college that changed me, it was the people I surrounded myself with. I think that is always what changes a person. I would perhaps say that we can only be changed by people. We are not shaped by our own selves, we are shaped by others.

The immense amount of growing and learning that I have done has come about just the way my mom told me it would in elementary school, high school, at home… It came about by asking questions. The few years I participated in public school as a child, I was much too timid to ever raise my hand and ask a question about something I didn’t understand. What was the outcome? I didn’t learn. In high school nothing had changed, I was far too uncomfortable to make myself so vulnerable as to do the unspeakable and actually ask a question. What was the outcome? I didn’t learn. Now it didn’t help that I didn’t and still don’t care about my education when it comes to mathematics, U.S. history, grammar, though I did manage to scrape some interest in science out of the recesses of my head.

It was only later in college when I was finally able to put myself out there. I found the one thing I had never had before in an atmosphere of growth. Comfort. Don’t get me wrong, I still never raised my hand in class, I guess I still didn’t care enough. But I was introduced to something that I cared enough about to feel a desire to learn more of: the person of Jesus. I immersed myself in a group of the best friends a person could ask for and they intentionally and unintentionally placed dump-truck loads worth of questions in me.

These questions were scary and uncomfortable, as are most new things to a person like me. But I was influenced to ask them anyway.

The point of this post isn’t to describe the questions themselves, but the very idea of questioning. Especially questioning things, ideas, beliefs, presumptions we have held dear for years. I see the importance of questioning in all areas of life, but primarily I want to focus on questioning when it comes to our faith. Whatever that faith is in, whatever you most closely identify as: be that a Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, Jehovah Witness, Agnostic, anything! In my experience, one of the few things I know with absolute certainty is that you will never get anywhere without asking questions. Even if you think you are already where you are supposed to be, you must keep asking, keep exploring. Circumstances change, people change, you change, whether you want to or not, you change. In the midst of constant change, we must be willing to grow with the change that the world forces upon us, as opposed to sitting stagnant and falling out of touch with the changing world.

I can guarantee you that if I compared everything I believed about life, God, the supernatural, people, the afterlife, and myself four years ago to now, one thing would be the same. God exists. That is all that is the same, and even though I’m pretty content with all the beliefs and ideas I have come to terms with up until this moment, I can say with certainty that four years from now, I’ll reject many of the things I now hold dear, embracing others, be they extremely different or only a little. And I’m fine with that. It took a long time to come to this place of comfort, and I’m still getting here, but it is wonderful here. It’s peaceful.

Now this is in fact primarily a theology blog, so it is no secret that what I’m really talking about is God. I cannot stress the importance of questioning God. If anyone has ever told you that to question God and his ways is wrong and that doubt is evil, maybe you should question that. Think of one thing you believe about God and then ask yourself: Is that true? Could it be another way? What if God were like this? How would I feel about that? How would that change the way I live my life? How would that change the way I interact with the people around me? I’m not asking you to reject everything you now believe and embrace something completely foreign to you just for kicks. I’m asking you to analyze yourself. I am asking you to let yourself grow.

Nothing would change without its previous state being challenged. People used to think the earth was flat and that the sun revolved around it. That’s not entirely relevant, but you get my point. If we want to grow as human beings we must be willing to ask questions, and not stop there but ask questions knowing we could be wrong. We must be willing to listen to the questions that others ask. If we want to learn more about God, we must be willing to ask questions of his character, his alleged actions, the stories told of him. In the Old Testament, God’s own people thought that God was interested in conquering the world with violence, and then Jesus came and proclaimed a God of love and nonviolence. He stirred up what people believed with new questions, new ideas.

Questions are of great importance no matter what we are seeking. Next time someone asks you a question that you find offensive and ridiculous, stop and let the question be asked before you reject it or ignore it. Let the question sink in, pull your experiences, your knowledge, your desires into the picture and at least consider the question. Don’t answer right away, mull it over in your head for a while. Let yourself grow as a person in the answering of the question. You will grow not by agreeing or disagreeing with someone, but by considering their position.

Sometimes questions come from outside, sometimes from inside, no matter where they come from, don’t push them away, see them as an opportunity to grow and add something to the unique and different person you are.