By All Means, Question God

Keeping with the theme of my last post, I urge you all to hit Christianity with your most perplexing questions. Take your best shot at the Bible. Both God's Word, and God's religion, will prevail, because they are rooted in Him. Both have been under assault for thousands of years; and on this very day Christianity is experiencing its greatest expansion, because it is true. The gospel is not news that merely persuades; it transforms. It changes hearts, because "it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (Ro 1:16).

It is common for some ignorant Christians to urge folks, especially their children, not to question. They are afraid that their faith can't take the hard hits. This is an embarrassing fear; for it assumes that the message and ways of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, are weak. But there is nothing weak about Jesus. And it is Him that always welcomed honest questions. Honest questions rooted in honest doubt are not offensive to Jesus, and should not be offensive to His people. Jesus appreciates integrity and curiosity. What He does not tolerate is insincere questioning from those who are out to disprove Him but cannot do so with integrity. He doesn't appreciate nonsense questions such as, "Can God create a rock that He cannot lift?" He does not take seriously those who would toss the Bible because they don't get the answers they like to such queries as, "Where did Cain get his wife?", "How can God condone the killing of children described in the Old Testament?", and "Why doesn't God prevent natural disasters?" Asking the questions is encouraged, provided the heart behind the asking is open to God's answers, and not hard against Him, and so seeking to discredit Him no matter His answer. Again, honest doubt is acceptable. Arrogant doubt is not.

It is not my mission in this post to answer these particular questions in any detail. However, off the top of my head I would say Cain married his sister, the killing of the children was a form of mercy, and natural disasters are meant as physical visible signs of invisible spiritual realities -- like universal human guilt. There are Scripture texts on all of this for those who care to seek.

I plan to continue with this theme tomorrow. But for now let me close by mentioning some New Testament characters that might interest you. Consider Thomas (Jn 20), often called "doubting Thomas" because he asked to see the scars of Jesus' crucifixion before he would believe. Jesus accommodated the request. Consider also Nathanael (Jn 1). He's the one who, when told by Philip that the Messiah of whom the Law and Prophets foretold had been found, asked if anything good could come out of Nazareth, meaning Jesus. Jesus' response to this was to say of Nathanael that he was "an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit." Or in Mark 9, there is the father of the demon possessed child, who goes to Jesus for help, but goes with doubt. He says to Jesus regarding his faith, "I believe, help my unbelief." Jesus did.

But then there are the Pharisees who relentlessly questioned Jesus but always to trap Him, or discredit Him. Jesus was not at all accommodating to them. He cursed them, embarrassed them, rejected them, and condemned them. He called them the blind sons of hell (Mt 23).

So go on, take your very best shot at Jesus. He can take it. And if you take an honest shot, He will receive it graciously, and just might rescue you too.