That's A Good Question

   Isn’t it interesting that the first recorded words of God to man in the Bible after Adam had sinned in Genesis 3 is in the form of a question: “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him ‘Where are you?’” (Gen 3:9). Of course God knew where Adam was, so the question was not really about location, but self-disclosure. He was asking Adam to think deeply about the reason that he was hiding from him. God wanted Adam to think about what was going on in his heart.

    On previous occasions when God appeared in the garden, we assume that Adam and Eve would have come forth joyfully to engage in a most satisfying encounter with their God. But now they are hiding from him, avoiding him, afraid of him, unwilling to meet him in their sinful condition. And so God seeks to draw them out with a searching question: “Where are you?”.

    Questions can have a searching quality to them that examines our knowledge, motives and understanding. How we answer a particular question can reveal not only what we know, but how we think and feel. Questions are therefore an extremely useful technique in exploring our own hearts and in helping others think more deeply about life and the Gospel. Just think of how many times Jesus used questions to open the minds and hearts of people.

    Os Guinness in his book Fools Talk, suggests the importance of asking questions that raise questions, in order to break through the walls of indifference in a way that engages a person’s thinking about his own beliefs and views.

Guiness makes the point that, “in our age most people are untroubled rather than unreached, unconcerned rather than unconvinced, and they need questions as much as answers — or questions that raise questions that require answers that prompt people to become genuine seekers”.

    Whether we look at the questions posed in Scripture by the Prophets, the Poets or by Paul, we will find that there is an unraveling of the soul, an exploration of the heart, and a quest for answers contained in these well asked questions. Would we not be helped by this indirect and more subversive approach in our attempts to have Gospel conversations with people?

    Blaise Pascal (1623-62), the Christian Philosopher said, “I should therefore like to arouse in man the desire to find the truth”. Could it be that in our zeal for giving people answers, we have missed the important step of asking good questions that create interest or expose the great need for such answers? That’s a good question.