Sunday, September 29, 2013


Why?
So I am thinking about starting a blog.  Why?  Because there are not enough words out there?  No, I think there are enough words out there.

I think it will be as much for me as it is for the potential readers.
I think it could be a place for me to put some of my thoughts out there and see if they resonate with anyone.  I am an introvert and most of the time I don’t really have a chance to say the things that I think.  Perhaps in saying them, they will become more clear for me as well.

So, why, is my title "Why?"  Basically, I have not come up with any clever sounding trendy name.  Also, because I think we actually need more questions than answers.  I have been impressed by people with all the answers, but it isn't too long until I see the veneer crumble.

When the Biblical character, Job, debated with his friends, it sounded like a broken record.  The bulk of his book in the Bible seems to go around in circles all wrestling with the problem of evil and by extension the meaning of life itself.  "What's really happening here?" seems to be the underlying question, and the book is full of theorization. 

And I love the climax near the end.   God himself shows up, and here is the amazing thing, he doesn't give the answer.  He sounds so unlike the religion and philosophy departments of the world -- at least the Western streams of the thought to which I belong.  Rather than giving answers, he gives more questions -- quite a few in fact.  The next several chapters are filled with question after question. Why?

It seems that Job didn't need answers, he needed questions.

The climax grates on our Western nerves.  Why doesn't God explain?  If only He would tell us the real story?  What is really happening here?

Two or three millennia later when God himself comes to earth again He's not much different.  He tells entertaining stories, the point of which we continue to debate to this day.  So many questions;  so few answers.  The people longed for resolution and sanity.  He gave them none, so they killed him -- but others loved him.

Peace and resolution to the chaos of the stories of our lives comes less in having the right answer and more in asking the right questions.

So on this soap box, I want to offer questions and random observations.  Perhaps you will start to think of a few questions of your own.  I would love to hear them.  

2 comments:

  1. The Irony is that people who don't know (teachers, philosophers, Lawyers, politicians and myself) love to give answers, while God's way of giving answers is quite elusive most of the time. I would like to guess from my tutoring experience. When I see a student with gift and drive, I like to not answer the questions directly. Rather, I love to guide and help him to figure it out himself. I always enjoy the look on his face when he figures it out.

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    Replies
    1. Makes sense, and I have always liked teachers like that.

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