Hard Questions and the People Who Ask Them

So many places we could possibly go with this today!  Last week I wanted to weigh in with some thoughts relating to the big letdown everyone in Columbus was facing following Jim Tressel’s suspension. Then there was the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. This week March Madness hits with full force and productivity in offices everywhere comes to a screeching halt.  Then there’s the Rob Bell “Love Wins” controversy.  Since the book comes out today, he wins.

Before I go any further with this, I want to be perfectly clear about one thing: I have not read the book (nor has anyone else who has been going crazy for the past week) and so I’m not here to take a position on that right now. Maybe after reading it I will, but not today.

There is one thing that I find striking though, after reading through the interview he did last night and watching the video everyone saw a couple of weeks ago promoting his new book, and that’s what I want to get at today. 

Questions are good. Questions are healthy. Questions force us to think through what we think we know or what we’ve been told and reach a conclusion.  A lot of times questions make us uncomfortable, particularly when it comes to things near and dear to our heart.  That makes sense I guess. We’re protective. We don’t like to look foolish.  And we really like to argue, and often times a tough question is just the invitation we need to go to battle.  How you respond says a lot more about you than the person asking in most cases.

Here’s the thing though. If you ask questions, you also have to be willing to answer questions from others. You can’t simply deflect each question with another one of your own.  You have to be ready to provide some answers at some point, as Peter lays out in one of his letters. 

I don’t mind that Rob Bell is asking hard questions and making people think, even challenging their assumptions about things that Christians often take for granted. I kind of like it.  We need to engage our intellect with our faith, in part so that we can ANSWER tough questions.  What causes me some concern is that Rob isn’t answering many questions. And they are big, ready to stand up and fight questions.  Generate discussion. Sell your book.  But give us some answers.  Don’t be like every politician, who takes a question and then answers a question that we aren’t asking. Give a straight answer, whatever it is. Even if it’s unpopular. Or maybe it is popular and that would hurt your reputation? I’m not sure. I want to understand. I’ve liked a lot of Rob’s work. I want to like him. He is a person of great influence, especially with a generation that is in desperate need of people who know how to lead them.  But I feel like need to hear from him on some important issues that at the moment he’s not really talking about, he seems to be talking around it.

Let’s be clear about one more thing. These are questions I have about one guy, but this is not all about Rob Bell. Let’s not see his name and deflect everything on to him.  How do you do with hard questions?  How do you do at answering questions? How do you respond? Do you have an answer?  If not, take some time to think, pray, study, learn.  Know why you believe what you believe.