Questions
exerpts from Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell
“Questions, no matter how shocking or blasphemous or arrogant or ignorant or raw, are rooted in humility. A humility that understands that I am not God. And there is more to know.”
“Central to the Christian experience is the art of questioning God. Not belligerent, arrogant questions that have no respect for our maker, but naked, honest, vulnerable, raw questions, arising out of the awe that comes from engaging the living God.”
“Maybe that is what God is looking for - people who don’t just sit there and mindlessly accept whatever comes their way.”
One of my main beefs with mainstream Christianity is the lack of room for doubt and questions. I always felt like a heretic for simply wanting to know for myself. And I’ve seen the fear in people’s eyes when I’ve asked questions. They tended to shut me up without really hearing me, afraid of where my questions would take me or them. I learned to keep them to myself.
Critical thinking. If you are that afraid of your belief system falling apart, then it is not worth that much.
I remember sitting in church thinking that everyone was just allowing themselves to be swept up in the charisma of the leader and not having any real passion or thoughts of their own. And each week, they came back for their next fix.
Perhaps I’m being judgemental. I really don’t know whether or not they actually felt it. I just knew I didn’t and I couldn’t pretend I did anymore. This led me to start asking a lot of hard questions. Some I’ve seen more clarity with. I’ve also gotten a lot more questions. But I’ve also discovered and experienced God more than I thought possible. The real God.
“A Christian doesn’t avoid the questions; a Christian embraces them. In fact, to truly pursue the living GOd, we have to see the need for questions. Questions are not scary. What is scary is when people don’t have any.”