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II Timothy 2: 23 Don’t have anything to do with
foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. (NIV)
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“You have made yourself unnecessarily elaborate.”* |
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In
my former career, one of my responsibilities was the training of temporary
employees. Because they had so much to learn in such a short time, with one day
of actual application of their training, I wanted them to know that it was okay
if they had to ask for help. I told them, “The only stupid question is the one
you don’t ask.” I wasn’t lying to them – if they had a question about a
procedure, I needed them to ask it rather than to do it wrong – but there
really is such a thing as a dumb question.
And I believe that Paul would agree: “Foolish questions deserve no answers.”*
It was typical in the culture of New Testament times for
“learned” men to sit around and debate unanswerable questions. One writer
warns,
"A fool may put questions which a wise man cannot answer.”* He cites an example of a woman who liked to pose the question,
“How can God be without a beginning?” Her argument (there’s that word!) was
that if God never began, then there is no God. See how that kind of debate is
pointless?
In
our day, we’ve all experienced that guy in the Bible study who asks what he
thinks is a deep, probing question – one of those “unimportant subjects of inquiry and
debate.”* I admire those intrepid Bible teachers over the years
whose delicate handling of the situation avoided the quarrels about which Paul
warns Timothy. Not only does Paul clearly not want us to have anything to do
with such time-wasting activity, I think it is safe to say that he doesn’t want
us to be “that guy.”
God doesn’t want us to be afraid to ask
genuine questions concerning our faith. Our lack of knowledge or understanding
is nothing to be ashamed of as long as we keep seeking the truth. And as
someone has wisely observed, “There will always be issues and doctrinal nuances
that keep us debating unendingly. But Jesus is still there as the one thing
that keeps our relationships united.”*
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God loves an honest question.* |
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