The Power of Questions
The Power of Questions
The power of questions is
undeniable. Who do men say that I am? What manner of Man is this? Who shall
I send? Or this one: What church should I join?
The power of questions is formidable A question can destroy as a
demolition ball, ruthlessly swinging back and forth and damaging everything in
its path. But questions also create. They create destinies, identities, lives.
They set trajectories, unite communities, create meaning and purpose. Questions
fuel the furnace of inquisitive minds and transform the very world we live in. Without a doubt, questions are powerful!
It’s questions, and not assertions of the
truths we already know that have turned Columbus’ Terra Incognita into
our own backyard. It isn’t the I-already-know-it-alls, but perhaps-I-don’ts
that account for our growth and development.
When we stop asking questions and seeking
for more truth, like patients on life support, entrusted into the hands of
others, we concede to spiritual euthanasia and watch our spirits flat
line. This quote from Elder Faust captures this notion:
Brothers and sisters, as good as our previous
experience may be, if we stop asking questions, stop thinking, stop pondering,
we can thwart the revelations of the Spirit. Remember, it was the questions
young Joseph asked that opened the door for the restoration of all things. We
can block the growth and knowledge our Heavenly Father intends for us. How
often has the Holy Spirit tried to tell us something we needed to know
but couldn’t get past the massive iron gate of what we thought we
already knew?”[1]
Standing at the iron gate we feel safe and fully
protected from having to continually learn and relearn what we know to be true.
And in the process, we inadvertently put ourselves behind the iron bars of ‘having
enough’ (2 Nephi 28:29).
Choosing not to question is hardly an act of faith. Faith requires
courage, while doing as you are told does not. When we choose to accept what
others tell us “on faith” we are entrusting our personal salvation and pursuit
of intelligence into the hands of others. Now, it is up to them what we know
and how much of it. And while we know, that the more intelligence we gain in
this life the better our condition in the next, we seem reluctant to be independent in
its pursuit.
“Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith”. The phrase
is catchy, but what does it mean, really?
“Doubting your faith” suggests undermining the truths we already
have, which is different from having an open mind and “seeking for further light
and knowledge”. Without realizing it, by trying to keep ourselves spiritually
safe, we shut the door on the very thing we covenanted to be open to.
Afraid to lose the knowledge we have, we squeeze our poor bird in the hand nearly to death, refusing to even
consider the possibility of two in a bush.
Terrified to
ask questions we put ourselves in the crawl space of Fear and ironically put in
jeopardy the very Faith we were hoping to protect, since the two, Faith and
Fear, like water and oil, do not mix.
Our perception of doubt is comparable to that of the Black Plague which seems deadly to all things spiritual. We are mortified that somehow it will
blow out the candle of our spiritual existence and leave us in the dust of
ashes with no knowledge of anything veritable. To us doubt and desolation have
become synonymous.
But asking questions doesn’t render us
devoid of everything we ever knew to be true. Doubt isn’t a plank we have
been sentenced to walk, but a springboard allowing us to dive deeper spiritually.
Doubt is not an obscure back exit we
take to abandon all of the spiritual wealth accumulated over our lifetime,
but the front porch of knowledge, where we get to be the welcoming hosts. Will
we unlock the door or pretend we are not home?
Like passengers getting on the cruise ship
of the church, we do not dare doubt that we are going to our desired
destination. We go along without pulling out the doctrinal map for fear of
finding out that for the longest time the trajectory of our vessel has been
ever so imperceptibly off the divinely intended course. And as optimistic passengers of Titanic we ‘stay
in the boat” certain that ‘this boat cannot sink’…
Asking questions and doubting our understanding and perceptions
has everything to do with receiving answers. As well as obtaining more...
May we always
have the audacity to question and ask. For how else can we receive? And, will we ever have too much? I
doubt it...
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