Ask Yourself out of the Box

Dave Haywood made a point today in his blog:

"The question is more important than the answer. To press it further: the question is the answer. Jesus often answered questions with a question. He did this because he was answering (questioning?) people who needed a fixed answer and who lived according to their answer and demanded that everyone agree with their answer. They questioned Jesus to expose his disagreement with their answer so they could justifiably execute him. Jesus answered them with questions to expose the vacuity of their answer and the fear which sponsored their answer and the murderous hatred which their answer spawned."

Dave makes a great point: Ask the question!

A couple of years ago I was doing a teaching in one of our cell groups on doubt. "Doubt," I said, "is not a bad thing. God has no problem with doubt." One of the old timers took me to task on that. But I don't think he understood my point. The question is the key, and if we don't ask the question, how are we ever going to evolve personally?

Doubt is not disobedience. Let me make that clear. There is a vast difference between doubt and disbelief. Doubt requires more information; disbeleif requires a release from conviction. Doubt says "I don't get it." Disbelief says "I get it, I ain't buyin' it."

When I teach or preach, I like to ask questions, even during a sermon. (I guess I'm just a teacher at heart. Plus, it keeps the congregation awake.) Because questions lead to answers which lead to more questions. Some may call it the Socratic Method, but let's call it the Jesus method. So what Socrates lived four hundred years before Jesus; Jesus was In The Beginning, right?

So then, asking questions will lead to greater understanding. Jesus answered questions with questions because his critics expected answers. "When asked if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, he turned it around and asked "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?" (Matt 12:11) This had the effect of making the Pharisees stop and think about what they were asking. Jesus was telling them (and us) "You have to get out of your box, think in a new way, say "what if?" and then go on to the next conclusion."

The other day on CMF we were discussing "great" guitar solos in popular music. Now, this is a bunch of guitar players, who mainly started critiquing them from a technical and musical point of view. Many of the "great" solos do not hold up in that light. But then I suggested dropping the guitar player personas, and looking at them as a fan. "What if," I asked "you weren't a guitar player?" It opened the conversation up to what others view as a "great" solo.

Same goes with God. "What if?" is a great way to approach someone. Often we meet rejection and objection in witnessing to others. A simple "What if?" can put those aside (for the moment at first) and help someone expand horizons. And it gives them a time to talk, and time for you to learn about them and where they are. So ask the question.

The old adage holds: Listen twice and speak once.

More later...