Is it sinful to ask questions?
The obvious answer is a straightforward no, there are some questions that are just part of daily living, what time is it? Where shall we go for holiday? Who ate the last chocolate? Then there are other questions that are part of learning, how do I tell the time? Where is Kielder Forest? How do I make a chocolate cake? These are obviously questions we need to ask and, my possible gluttony aside, are not sinful.
However, what we (for ‘we’ read ‘I’) normally mean when we say “Is it sinful to ask questions?” is much more nuanced. We want to know if God will be angry at us for wondering why our prayers seem unanswered. We worry that acknowledging the contradictions we see in the Bible will mean a Bible based faith will crumble apart. We are frightened that if we ask logical questions about how salvation works that we will lose ours. Asking questions is equated with doubt, and doubt is equated with sin.
Is that really the case?
Are we so scared of God, that when something puzzles us, instead of asking him, instead of prayer, thought, study, we hit the question hard with a Bible verse and run away singing “Shine Jesus Shine” (yes, I’m that old!). Is our faith based on a fear of ‘getting it wrong’ and punishment, only as strong as our current certainty? Do we have faith, or do we try our best to keep (and manufacture if it slips) a feeling of knowing rather than believing?
My answer varies. When I’ve had enough sleep, am rational, and not listening to my fears, then I believe this:
We are made in God’s image and God asks questions, even being omniscient and knowing the answers. He asked Adam in the garden, “Where are you?” He asked Isaiah “Who will go?” He asked Job rather a lot of questions, although in effect they were rhetorical, even so, they served a purpose. Maybe asking questions is part of who we are, part of how we were designed to learn and grow.
We are not called to an intellectual assent to a statement of faith. We are called to a relationship. We are not called to agree on every point with every Christian, we are called to unity. We are not called to determine who is in and who is out, we are called to love. We are not called to have all the answers, we are called to seek the one who does.
We aren’t called to a black and white faith but to bring all the colours of abundant life into the world. Colour can be scary, especially when we have tried to live with black and white, but grace and mercy are colourful words.
I don’t think asking questions is necessarily sinful. In fact, I think we have to ask questions, they are part of who we are, of who we were designed to be.
Of course that doesn’t always stop of the fear of ‘What if I am wrong?’ but it reminds me, reminds us, that God is bigger…than the boogieman!