Recently, a reader named Kali has posted a number of questions here on my blog. She said, “I look forward to any answers. Even if only one question is answered. I know my questions aren’t always easy. Maybe the answers will come to us both.”
Well, Kali, here we go. Hang on tight, because we’re going to look for some answers. Maybe a few others will join us along the ride.
1. Can “good Christians” have questions and doubts?
Kali, I think this is the best place to start. It’s important for you, and others, to know that it is normal, natural and healthy to ask questions. Questions are the key to understanding. They do not invalidate faith. As you continue to mature in your faith, you should continue to ask questions.
Doubt is a different story. If it is allowed to linger in your life, it will actually cause you to stop asking questions. Don’t let doubt derail your journey.
Here are three other questions from the Scripture that I think you may identify with… questions worth asking, and answering.
What must I do to be saved? In Acts 16:30, the jailer asks Paul and Silas this crucial question. Read their answer in verse 31, “Believe in The Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” Then read farther to verse 33 and see what they did next.
Could this be the Messiah? In John 4, a woman encounters Jesus at the well when she was gathering water. Even though she met him face to face, and even though He said to her, “I am He,” her question still lingered. In verse 42, we find that many came to believe, not just because of her testimony (what she said), but because they too had an encounter with Jesus personally.
Why shouldn’t I be baptized? In Acts 8:31, we find Philip running up to the chariot of a wealthy Ethiopian traveling through the desert. He was reading from the Scriptures as he rode along, but it was clear he didn’t understand. The author of Acts tells us that Philip explained to him the Gospel. Look a little farther at the Ethiopian’s response to this good news: he ordered the chariot to be stopped so Philip could baptize him right then and there.
The truth is, our doubts should lead to questions, and our questions to knowledge, and that knowledge to action. If you only doubt, or only ask, but do not respond as God continues to grant wisdom and understanding, you are squandering his response.
James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
2. Do people who grew up in the church have fewer questions?
Kali, unfortunately I think people who grow up in the church often hide their doubts and questions better than others.
Have you ever had a science class? My guess is that at the beginning of the class there were a whole lot of things that you didn’t know you didn’t know. You didn’t know the difference between a vacuole and mitochondria because you didn’t know there were vacuoles and mitochondrion.
As you continue your study of the Scriptures, and continue to ask questions, my guess is that you will find there are many more things you didn’t know that you didn’t know.
That’s OK. Don’t give up learning, growing and seeking answers to your questions.
1 Corinthians 4:1 says, “This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.”
If you keep seeking, He will continue to reveal the mysteries of his Truth and Will.
3. Does God speak through means other than the Bible?
Kali, my short answer is yes. God speaks in a myriad of ways.
He speaks through the Bible.
He speaks through His people. John 3:34 says, “For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.”
1 Thessalonians 2:13 also says, “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.”
God clearly uses His people, whom He has sent, to speak His words on His behalf through the guidance of His Spirit. We must be careful to consider their words, and their alignment with everything else God has said, that only when these things are in alignment, do we receive them as the words of God.
He speaks to us through His Son. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”
Jesus came to this world as the exact representation of the Father (verse 3). And Jesus himself said in John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” And we can assume, anyone who has heard from Jesus has heard from the Father.
He speaks to us through creation. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
God brought all this into existence to show us a Himself. It is not just a picture, it is reality that we can touch and feel, that teaches us about the One who made it all.
It’s interesting also, if you look at Luke 19:40, you will see that Jesus says to the Pharisees that if His followers did not speak up about who He is, then “even the stones will cry out.”
God has not deserted us. He has not stopped speaking to us. He has not hidden himself from us.
Psalm 50:1-3 says, “1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth. Our God comes and will not be silent…”
This is a periodic series. Here are the other questions we’ll be answering over time.
4. If something is not a conviction for me, will it condemn me?
5. Are faith and convictions personal, or one-size-fits-all?
6. Is the church a human institution?
7. Why do people in the church “push baptism”?
8. Why do they make it their life’s mission to get people baptized?
9. Is baptism a heaven and hell thing, or a God and individual person thing?
10. Is baptism just a public testimony, or something more? What’s the point?
11. Does something “super insane” happen when you get baptized?
12. Is it wrong to wait to be baptized? Is there a timeframe for baptism?
13. Has God told me to be baptized yet?
14. What happens if I don’t get baptized?
Thank you, for answering some of my questions and being willing to answer more. Honestly, that isn’t something I find common, in really anything. I have a mind that wonders and I know many others do. I have a tendency to voice my questions which seem endless and can really annoy people. I don’t try to annoy them but it happens.
It is good to know that asking questions, in the church, isn’t wrong. How can you learn if you don’t ask. Sometimes questions can be seen as doubt, I suppose. Maybe that is why people are so uncomfortable with it. It’s like there is this unspoken rule that the Bible has everything we need to know and beyond that all questions are doubt. At least that Is the feeling I often get.
I don’t doubt God, or the Bible. The Bible is the ultimate Historical Textbook. Everything in there, I believe is true and there is a lot to learn. I just don’t always understand God. Unfortunately, I know that I’m not always the kind of person that jumps when someone says jump. I stand there and ask them why. I know I’m sometimes that way with God, we all are. It’s not wrong to ask the church questions about God or the Bible.
But here is another question, (I’m sorry), is it wrong to ask God why? We can ask why He sent Jesus to die on the cross and the answer is always “Because I loved you enough”. Throughout the Bible God was going to destroy people but saved some, even one. Noah and the ark, Lot and Sodom and Gomorah, come to mind (I don’t have scriptures at hand, sorry). He saved them because He loved them enough and they believed in Him.
Questions on why get baptized or why do these other tasks that He calls us to do…the answer always seems to be “Because I said so.” Why we question the one who made everything, is beyond me, but I know I do it, sometimes. God says to do it, so why isn’t that enough for us? Why do we pause to ask the how and whys of someone who made every delicate part of the universe?
Before God had a name, He was real to me. I’ve heard His voice, done most of what He asks of me. Sometimes I question for too long. Abraham didn’t even question sacrificing his son. Here I am questioning why we are told to be baptized among other things. What kind of Christian does that make me? Why do I have to understand something before I do it, when what He says in the Bible should be enough?
By the way, thanks for the scriptures! I have them written down and will look them up. I don’t know why I don’t take my Bible everywhere I go. I always seem to read your blog when I’m not near it.