The Questions

I love when God's people asks questions of God and the Bible. When a saint of the Lord asks a question, they are showing a desire to learn, grow, and better understand who God is and what He reveals to His children. In my Sunday School class recently, a dear older saint asked a very important yet thoughtful question. She slipped me a piece of paper with the question on it and asked if we could work through her question during Sunday School, in the near future. I was excited to explore her question and teach what God and His Word answered for her. The question she asked was, "does the Bible teach human free will"?

As I began to explore her question, I used four important resources that help answer questions. The four resources I used to answer her question, is what I want to explore a little in this post. The four resources I turned to, to help answer her question, are four areas all Christians can turn to, to help answer their questions. The four resource areas that help discover answers to hard questions are; Bible verses, word definition, other people, and related questions. These four areas brought a deeper understanding to her question. They also gave the full depth and width of what God had to say about the question. Let's explore each resource.

First, I turned to what the Bible had to say about free will. If a question is being asked of God or God's Word, the first place God's people must turn is God Himself. Maybe the Bible asked the same questions. For example the Bible asks, "who created the world"? Yet the Bible also answers this question for itself. So taking a question, whether we are asking it or someone asks us the question, and turning to Scripture is the first place to start. I took her question about free will and explored what the Bible had to say about human nature, the human will, the condition humans are born in, the power of God, and the plan of salvation. I took her question and went right to the truth of God's Word to discover what God's Word says. The Bible is the first place we must turn when answering a question.

The second resource I went to, to answer the question, was the dictionary. When a question is asked, many times we have to define words and what words in the question mean. In the case of the question asked of me, I turned to Webster's Dictionary and found definitions for words like "will" and "free". I also turned to my theological dictionaries and found definitions for words like regeneration, conversion, human nature, and desire. Finding the definition of words will help clarify the question being asked and the answers that are given. Finding definition of words can also help get everyone on the same page with what is being asked and how words play a major part in answering the question. This resource is critical to answering questions asked of God becasue it gets everyone on the same page with both God's Words and human expression.

The third resource that I turned, in answering her question, was other writers, theologians, and pastors. The church has been around for 2000 years. This means, this was probably not the first time this question has been asked. Discovering how others in the church have answered the question is a huge resource in working through questions that are asked now. We are God's people, saved by a community (the Trinity) for a community (the church). This reality means we are not an island and have an individual arrogance of thinking we know all and understand all. Getting help to answer questions from past and present Christians is a huge resource in answering questions. We must turn to others in the church (who are clearly orthodox in thinking) to find help in answering questions. This resource was a huge help for me becasue the nature of humanity and free will has been a huge discussion since the church began 2000 years ago.

The final resource to turn when asking a question, is other questions that are being raised. In the case of the dear saint's question of free will, it raised at least 8 other questions that I could think of. A question is never asked in isolation. In almost every situation, when a question is asked, it brings with it numerous other questions. Questions that are related to words, other authors, or other Bible passages. A single questions is never a single question standing by itself. Exploring the other questions that are raised will help lead to answering the original question that was asked. In the case for my Sunday School class, exploring the multiple other questions asked by the original question helped the discussion and discovery becasue it clarified and simplified the original question.

As finite human beings, we are always asking questions. Asking questions is a good thing. I made it clear to the dear saint in my Sunday School, her question was valid, important, and a great opportunity to learn more about God and human nature. No, not every question we ask, will have a clear, full answer. God is a holy infinite being that is mysterious. But many questions that are asked, when explored and understood with the four resources above will have an answer. In the case of the saint's question of free will, the Bible was explored (what God says), words were defined (unity in question and answer), others were consulted (other answers to the question), and other related questions were explored. And I praised God an answer, that was full and satisfying was found. This dear saint found an answer to her question as we explored these 4 resource areas.

So we must ask questions, yet remain humble and diligent enough to explore all the resources we have in helping us find the answer. By God's grace we will be given many answers to the many questions we ask of God and revealed Word.