Slumped in my chair, perfecting my signature in a notebook, prepping for the day when I’d be famous, my attention was finally caught by my Bible teacher and drawn away from my page full of scribbles. Did he just say what I thought he said? Jesus doesn’t do miracles anymore today…huh. Interested in why he would claim such a seemingly contradictory statement, I started to ask questions.
“Can you prove that?”
“Yes, the Bible says so.”
“Where? What is your definition of a miracle? Is medicine a miracle? What about the reports on cancer being gone after prayer and revivals healing paraplegics?”
“Miracle–done by the hand of God. And those, they are just media hypes and coincidences.”
“So you’re saying God doesn’t have the power to do miracles today?”
“No, I’m saying he chooses not to.”
“But why? Jesus said we would do even greater things than he did when he sends his helper the Holy Spirit. And he said that if we believe, even with the faith of a mustard seed, we could throw mountains into seas.”
“He was just using metaphors and figures of speech that don’t make sense to us today but did back then.”
“I don’t agree with that at all. If the Bible is God-breathed and meant to be read for the rest of time it can’t lack understanding…”
“Cory, stop. It’s just how it is.”
My spirit on that day was defeated. Why wouldn’t God do miracles today? Why was this teacher trying to convince me of that? How could he get away with saying that’s “just how it is?”
Unfortunately, a lot of Christians have run into the “that’s just how it is” treatment from spiritual teachers–and it has damaged our longing to ever want to ask questions about our faith. Being told we’re wrong every time because “that’s how it is” doesn’t sit well, but when it’s the normal answer, you just live on and accept it. I even had a pastor tell me once, “Don’t ask questions just…believe,” when I was challenging the logic of predestination.
Isn’t the process of asking questions how we find “real faith” and believe on a level that is certain rather than wavering? It is required to ask questions in every other area of life, otherwise you get conned. We challenge falsity and truth all the time–is this relationship for real or not, is this car deal legit, are they being honest or lying? We must ask questions to understand. We should never allow ourselves to accept anything that is based on the excuse of “that’s how it is.”
We shouldn’t believe in Jesus because “that’s just how it is” either. That’s called ignorance, and too many people are doing it.
Similarly, because of the “don’t ask questions mentality,” 35% of Millennials report they don’t go to church because “Christians are too confident and know all the answers” (Barna Group).
What are we afraid of? That Jesus is confusing? That the Bible doesn’t make sense sometimes? That it’s hard to understand Biblical concepts in today’s world? And maybe…that Jesus isn’t real?
Good.
What we have to realize is that questions don’t show a lack of faith, they are an action of faith. It took the disciples a long time to figure out that Jesus was real, too. They asked stupid, annoying, and faithless questions all the time and finally Jesus had to be like, “Yo, boys, I’m the son of God. Do you get it now?” And we need to ask questions to figure that out as well. We have to make sense of what we believe, we have to discover it, make it our own, and we can’t do that without some soul searching.
In the situation of the questioner, don’t fear the unknown, embrace it. God is confusing and is supposed to be (he is God after all). And for the questioned, be willing to say “I don’t know” and don’t act like you’re opinion is the only right one and start offering Bible wide perspective instead.
Jesus says in Matthew 18, “Truly, I say to you, unless you convert and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Part of being a child is making sense of life by asking obvious, annoying, detailed questions. If having a child-like faith is the way to heaven, then when will your shameless question asking begin?
Going Deeper: Have you ever encountered the “that’s just how it is” answer? How did you respond to that? What questions about Christianity do you have that haven’t been answered–ask them below and I’ll do my best. **(Don’t be bummed if I say, “I don’t know.”)**
