Do you question your faith? If not, you should try it

Somewhere along the lines in the history of Christian culture, we decided that the best presentation of our faith is to live as though we are perfect. Sure, we talk about not being perfect and we acknowledge the need for a Savior, but, for the most part, we act as if we have it all figured out and that everything is fine.

Come on. Are you going to act like you don’t have any questions? You know this hurts you, right? When you don’t ask any questions, you’re cheating yourself and those around you.

Questions are not only allowed, they’re encouraged

You’d be hard-pressed to find a community that explicitly states you’re not allowed to question anything about your beliefs. However, many communities act this way. Of course, they invite the easy Sunday School questions, but they try to shut out the hard questions with responses like, “Be careful asking questions like that or you’ll lead others down the wrong path” or “Have you been listening to Satan?”

These deflections have very simple goals: to keep you under control and to maintain the status quo. If you’re in an environment where you feel like your questions and concerns are being shut down, challenge the status quo or get out. Find a place where people will listen to you and wrestle through the hard questions with you. Because there are a lot of benefits to wrestling with the hard questions.

Asking questions for the benefit of yourself and others

Did you know God wants you to love Him with your mind? It’s true. We emphasize loving God with our hearts and with passion (which are great and have their place), but we downplay the mental part of loving God. This goes against what Jesus tells us:

“Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

See, when you ask questions for the sake of learning more about God or understanding His creation better, you are practicing loving Him with your mind. God created us to be creatures of free will so we can freely love Him. Asking questions can help you stretch your intellectual faith in the direction of God so that you can freely love Him better. And, when you love God better, you love others better. Which is what Jesus wants the church to do.

We won’t sugarcoat it. You probably won’t get the answers you want for many of your questions. However, what you find out along the can be more valuable than anything you originally sought to learn.